upgraded Taunus P3 was a commercial success. 669,731 were produced. The figure includes 86,010 station wagons. In the sales statistics for several months of 1961/62 the success of the model even enabled Ford briefly to overtake Opel on the German market, becoming the second best selling auto-brand, beaten to the top spot only by Volkswagen. The Taunus P3 was replaced by the Ford Taunus P5 which would come with a wider range of engines and which would sell at approximately the same rate. However, the overall market size was growing through the 1960s, and with it grew the sales of the Opel Rekord. After the Taunus P3 no future Taunus model would come close to challenging Opel’s dominance of the large lucrative middle-market portion of the German auto-market. Fifty years on The Taunus P3 continues to generate enthusiasm, and most of the surviving vehicles in Germany enjoy the financial privileges and responsibilities available, in Germany, to owners of cars designated and maintained as oldtimers (the term used in Germany for a classic car). In 2006 484 Taunus P3 sedans/saloons were registered in Germany along with 21 "Turnier" station wagons. There were thought to be fewer than 10 in the USA, a relatively high content of registered and/or roadworthy vehicles in the Scandinavian countries and a handful still survive in other countries (for instance some of the countries in Eastern Europe and Latin America where it was marketed) where statistics are less readily accessible than in Germany. External links Ford-M-Modelle 1952–1972 Ford-Oldtimer Ford-P3-Register References Tuchen, Bernd: Ford Taunus 17M P3 - Die Geschichte der legendären "Badewanne"'', Verlag Dr. Faustus (2007), P3 Mid-size cars Cars introduced in 1960