Unlike in Britain, Ford Germany saw a niche in the market for a more "sensible" coupé model than the Capri, which also meant that care was taken to retain as much as possible of the saloon's luggage and rear seat accommodations.

[1] The Ford Taunus TC series was conceived in the late 1960s to be a "world car" alongside its technical sibling the Cortina Mk III, with development and design work taking place on both sides of the Atlantic.

The car is often nicknamed "Barock 2" (recalling the Taunus P2 series of the late 1950s, commonly known as the "Barock-Taunus") or "Knudsen-Taunus" in Germany, because of the prominent hood/bonnet scoop that, as the legend has it, was put there on direct order from Knudsen.

Rather than specify optional extras from a long list of possibilities as might have happened a few years earlier, customers were now encouraged to select from a range of "equipment packages", identified by suffix letters.

The sporty GT (not available as a 1.3, as for the GXL) received bucket seats with built-in headrests, full instrumentation, a leather steering wheel, and twin headlamps amongst other equipment.

Lastly, the top-of-the-line GXL added all the comforts of the XL with the sporty equipment of the GT and additional extras such as a vinyl roof, a dual-tone horn, and deeper carpeting.

The unification of Ford Europe's model range had started with the Escort and Capri and was continued (albeit to a lesser degree) with the Taunus and Cortina.

The Taunus TC and Cortina Mk III were thus both developed under the auspices of Ford of Europe, and most major components, including the entire floorpan, were identical.

[2] The front wheels, no longer driven, were suspended with a conventional wishbone suspension, which eschewed shock absorbers and gave the car a soft 'freeway' ride and, with the heavier 6-cylinder engines, a tendency to excessive understeer.

Press criticism of the trade-off between the car's road-holding and ride comfort[6] soon evolved into a more general critique, not convincingly addressed by the manufacturer for several years, that Ford had launched the Taunus TC before they had finished developing it.

[2] A telescopic steering column designed to collapse in the event of a frontal collision (rather than penetrate the driver's chest) had been mainstream in competitor models from Opel and Volkswagen for some time, and with the TC Ford now also incorporated this safety feature on their new mid-size range for Germany and mainland Europe.

[9] All the Taunus engines except the smallest 1.3 litre unit could be specified in combination with a Borg-Warner B35 three-speed automatic transmission in place of the standard four speed manual box.

Through the 1960s rival manufacturer Opel had set the pace in terms of frequent model changes and facelifts, reflecting North American practice and the deep pockets of its General Motors parent.

The mainstream German owned automakers that had survived till 1970 had not attempted to follow Opel down this path, but Ford had settled into a pattern of generally four-year model changes.

A new Taunus was not yet ready for launch, but in September 1973 the existing model received a facelift with various changes in respect of trim package and engine combinations.

[10] The other major change was to the interior, with the steeply sloping and highly stylised dashboard of the original car replaced by a more angular and plainer design but with much improved ergonomics — this fascia would stay with the Taunus into the TC2 and TC3 versions.

At this time lateral stabilizer bars were also fitted front and back which provided a belated answer to widespread criticism of the original car's propensity to wallow when changing direction or driving on irregular road surfaces.

Despite its strong performance in the market place, by 1980, with new contenders from Volkswagen and Opel arriving, the output data suggest that the age of the Taunus TC's basic design was beginning to count against it.

In a sector which gained in significance during the increasingly cash-strapped 1970s, as many buyers traded down from larger cars such as the Opel Rekord, the Taunus TC2/TC3 (like the TC before it) achieved market place success through a combination of good looks and aggressive pricing.

The mechanically conservative car was widely regarded as dependable, despite never entirely ridding itself of irritating defects and weaknesses which a more rigorous development process should have prevented.

The rear light clusters were made substantially larger and adopted the same 'sawtooth' design being rolled out across the Ford range and also wrapped around the corners of the car sufficiently to be visible from the sides.

As part of the 1980 upgrade, Ford introduced a face-lifted version of the "TC1" fastback coupé, since 1975 produced only in Argentina, featuring the TC3 nose and its own unique taillights layout.

Apart from the five-speed option, the transmission choice, as for the European Taunus TCs, lay between a four-speed manual and, for larger engined cars, a three-speed automatic gearbox.

The most powerful engine available in the Argentine Taunus was an updated version of the "Lima" with an upgraded camshaft, new exhaust headers and a twin barrel 36/36mm Solex carburetor.

Based on the Taunus rather than the Cortina, it also did not use the South African load-bed structure, preferring their own design which featured foldable sides (reminiscent of the Peugeot U10) and it used the shorter front doors from the four-door body.