SOLVED: Djetset #669 - Ford Redwing V4 (prototype for USA)

[Djetset]

Precise make and model name please to earn a point, and this being Autopuzzles, it's not as obvious as it first looks!

[Frisian Rhodesian]

1963 Ford Taunus 12M

[Djetset]

It's a Ford for sure, but this one is not a Taunus 12M.  So, what's its model name?  Locked to you until your next reply.

[Frisian Rhodesian]

Its model name is the Ford Taunus P4

[Djetset]

Sorry, but this one isn't called Taunus.

[Frisian Rhodesian]

Ford Cardinal.

[Djetset]

I like your thinking, as this car was part of Ford's Cardinal programme, but this is not called Cardinal.

[Frisian Rhodesian]

Ford 12 M

[Djetset]

Sorry, not 12 M.

[Frisian Rhodesian]

Ford P4

[Djetset]

Sorry, but not P4.

[Frisian Rhodesian]

Ford P4 Taunus Limousine! I've been through all the Ford sites and cannot find any indication that this car was produced anywhere else but in Germany!

[Djetset]

Welcome to the fun and frustrating world of AutoPuzzles, as things are not always quite what they seem here! That's the fun part, searching for one thing and discovering something entirely different.  The Ford in this photo was part-built in Germany, but not 100%.   

[Djetset]

Up a level...

[WayneB]

Ford Falcon?

[spider]

Mustang 1??

[mekubb]

Ford Cardinal ?

[D-type]

Was this one branded as a Mercury?

[WayneB]

Interesting how the glasshouse, front grille and turn signals are almost the same as the Consul Cortina Mk.1

[fyreline]

It will be interesting to see the actual solution to this one. The vehicle pictured is, without a doubt, the car that began life as the American Ford Cardinal which was given as a fully-finished design to Ford of Germany when Dearborn decided not to make the car in the United States. It was produced there as the Taunus 12M, or P4. That much, we all know and can agree on. However, the particular version of the car pictured is slightly different and proving very difficult to positively and unequivocally identify.

What a great and interesting puzzle, Djetset, and well done. I can see what's different, but damned if I know what it signifies. Time to keep looking!

[WayneB]

As "cardinal" was an internal company name Ford USA had for the project, I think Djetset is looking for the name Ford intended to sell the car as.

One of the Ford USA Cardinal styling proposals was very similar to the British Ford Corsair.

Wonder If Corsair is the name he is looking for?

[fyreline]

That's certainly possible . . . most of the American magazines of that period that show "artists renderings" of the proposed "New Ford Small Car" do show drawings that look more like the British Ford Consul Corsair . . . but they're still labeled as "Cardinals".



About the only thing the aborted USA Ford Cardiinal program left behind was its V-4 engine for the original Ford Mustang I sports car. Lee Iacocca didn't feel the proposed USA Cardinal could sell in enough volume to sustain it.

[WayneB]

That Ford V4 was a horrible engine, I used to drive a Transit delivery van with one, I can still remember the lack of power and the nasty noise's it made.

V6 (Essex)version wasn't bad though, had a few V6 Capri's and a Granada S with that powertrain.

[fyreline]

Yes, I've heard more than a few horror stories about that Ford V-4. Fortunately we were spared that particular disaster in the US . . . Not that we didn't have plenty of our own! 

I've been considering your line of thinking, that the puzzle car represents the aborted American car (whatever it's intended name), which I tend to think it does. That emblem on the front of the hood is the emblem used by Ford USA during the early 60s. Looking back through the posts, most names that make any sense have already been mentioned. If it's one of those "XP-999" monikers that automakers love to use, I haven't found it yet.

And Djetset must be sitting back, laughing at us. As he should. 

[qwaszx]

when you open the bonnet of a Ford Taunus P4 you can see how engineers had to puzzle to fit engine and prowertrain in the compartment to drive the front wheels. the short V4 had to be moved further upfront to make room for the driving axles. so the radiator had to be removed and was substituted by an overtly clever but overtly awkward cooling fan system based on the heater...