The reason I mention this is because the P2 features several design elements from American Ford Motor Company cars of the mid-1950s when the P2 was styled. These are noted below. Images are factory-sourced or are from cars actually or apparently listed for sale.
The entry-level P2 has a two-element grille used only for that model year.
This fancier De Luxe Taunus has a different grille
Compare the passenger compartment greenhouse to that of the 1952-54 Ford Tudor shown below.
American Fords were larger than German Taunus's, so the greenhouse designs are not identical. That said, they are clearly similar.
The zig-zag side chrome strip was used as two-tone paint delimiter.
It seems to have been inspired by the zig-zag feature of 1956 Mercurys.
Aside from vestigial tail fins, the tail light assemblies also reflect mid-1950s American Ford practice.
This tail light assembly design first appeared on 1955 Fords and Ford Thunderbirds.
Ford imported Taunus P2s to the USA in 1960, so these stylistic similarities might have been useful from a marketing standpoint. However, I am skeptical that the features discussed in this post were included with export in mind. That is because the large-scale import boom led by Volkswagen was not underway when the P2 was styled, so there was little motivation to borrow American Ford styling for export sales purposes.
3 comments:
The hooded, slightly canted headlight shells of the '57 P2 are also very reminiscent of the '56 Merc you pictured.
The overall shape of the 1957 Taunus front end is closest to a 1955-56 Plymouth, and they had just enough time to copy it.
The relationships between big 3 American cars and their European products back then are always interesting. Maybe Detroit just told their European designers to follower the mothership designs, maybe some of the work was just done in Detroit, maybe they sent stylists back and forth. It's pobably different combinations at different times and companies. Usually the Euro cars followed by a couple of years, but the 1960 Taunus 17m is clearly up on 1960 Ford Falcon and Galaxie style, and a year ahead of the related 1961 Lincoln.
Then there's the unrelated 1958 Humber Super Snipe (the Brits had a strange way with names) that everyone points out is very much 1955 Chevrolet derived stylewise. The 1956 Hillman Minx and Sunbeam Rapier (there they go again) look rather like 1953 Studebakers, but that's because they also hired Raymond Loewy Associates to do a lot of the design work.
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