There’s no harm in a bit of window shopping, and collector car auction site Bring A Trailer has become one of the go-to places to have a gander at the enthusiast car market. From six-figure Camaros to seven-figure Porsches, it’s fun to dream every now and then. However, most of us don’t have six figures to blow on a car. Many of us don’t have $15,000 to drop on a whim. Even $7,500 can be a stretch if you’re saving for a rainy day and grappling with the cost of living. So what does $202 get you on Bring A Trailer? Well, it gets you this.
It’s a pair of Ford Taunus 17M two-door sedans. Not Taurus, Taunus. This late 1950s family car from Ford Germany is about the same length as a new Toyota Corolla hatchback, and it had some pretty spiffy styling for for the period, which was austerity-focused postwar Europe. Powered by a 1.7-liter four-cylinder engine, it made about 60 horsepower on a good day.
Clearly, the 1957 to August 1960 Taunus 17M — otherwise known as the P2 Taunus — was definitely more about style than speed. Fortunately, it had more going for it than just flamboyant American-influenced looks. A fairly early application of MacPherson strut front suspension helped earn it the nickname “Fliegender Teppich,” German for flying carpet.
While it wasn’t exactly common for European Fords to make the journey across the pond in the 1950s, the Taunus 17M was officially imported to America between 1958 and 1960. According to the North American Taunus Registry, only 14 units of this generation were known to still exist on this continent in 2007, making these cars exceptionally rare. While these cars are particularly obscure in this corner of the world, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that $202 gets you not quite two whole Taunus 17M examples, as you can probably tell from the photos.
Yes, these are bonafide barn finds, one actually stashed in a barn and the other found in a field. While Colorado certainly isn’t the worst climate for cars to sit and decay in, time hasn’t been too kind to these German Fords. The one with the sliding sunroof seems to be in better shape, with its glass intact and most of its lighting and brightwork accounted for. However, likely thanks in part to the sunroof fabric being missing, the interior’s decayed in a spectacular fashion. The seats have been reduced to wireframes, the steering wheel and dashboard are properly cracked, and the door cards are looking tatty indeed.
What’s more, the floors are largely theoretical. Each footwell along with parts of the trunk floor have simply returned to the earth, and it’s hard to tell how much solid metal remains that can be welded to. While much of the body looks a bit crusty but solid, fabricating and welding in new floors could be a job and a half, not to mention getting this unusual classic running again.
Thankfully, that’s where the other Taunus comes in. While it’s significantly more rotten than the black-and-white one, it features a treasure trove of spare parts including a straight rear bumper, a decent-looking steering wheel, and an entire engine and gearbox, although there’s no word on whether the engine turns freely or the transmission is still good. Add in a small collection of spare parts like extra hubcaps and a spare carburetor, and this looks like a project for someone with plenty of space and time.
Oh, and there’s one other potential issue regarding this Taunus 17M pair — neither of these two cars is being sold with a title. Instead, both were sold on bills of sale, and since neither is evidently roadworthy, whoever bought them may need to navigate the bonded salvage title process in the State of Colorado. Still, for $202 plus auction fees, you could probably make one decent Taunus 17M out of the pair with a ton of labor and a whole lot more spent on parts.
At the end of the day, this is one of the cooler listings I’ve seen on Bring A Trailer in a while. Not only are we looking at some rare machines, these are cars that the winning bidder will actually have to bring a trailer to collect. Anyway, hats off to the user who placed the $202 bid, because this looks like one hell of a project.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer)
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Thomas, I think you misspelled Ford Tetanus.
Come and see them soon in the back parking lot at Galpin Ford next to David’s other “treasures”!
Getting a title in Colorado for these won’t be too hard, but it will be a several day affair. The VIN inspection and value appraisal will be the hardest parts, simply because the cars have to be hauled to a dealership to do both. A friend had to go through this for a vehicle he bought at auction for his company and the state did not accept the auction value as the appraised value, so he had to take it to a dealership (who appraised the value at less than he paid, amusingly enough).
The annoying part is that the seller could have done the titling themselves, as there is a part of the process where they can state they are doing the titling process for the purposes of selling the vehicle, and they likely would have gotten more money for the cars had they done so.
I mean, “BRAND NEW CLEAR COLORADO TITLE WITH THE INK BARELY DRY ON IT” is a very strong selling point, especially in an auction situation.
While I don’t have the money or space, nice find. My state doesn’t require a title on anything over 10 years old, bill of sale works. Also no “back taxes”. So that wouldn’t be an issue.
I would like to think whoever bought these already has one or more. These are a trove of extra parts for next to nothing.
We shall call this type of project a “Dr. Who”.
That’s exactly what I was thinking!
Ford Tardis?
😀
When I first saw the picture I thought someone had painted these to look like cows.
Fat and docile, big and dumb. They look so stupid, they aren’t much fun.
Now that I’ve read this that’s all I see. More cars should sport bovine motifs.