The Ford 17M had been a part of Ford Germany’s family car range since 1957, having been added to the long-running Taunus series and was known for its first three iterations as the Ford Taunus 17M, Taunus being the name of a mountainous part of Germany north of Frankfurt – I lived on the edge of the region in 1987-88, and it’s a very nice part of the country, but I digress….
Earlier versions of the Ford Taunus 17M
This changed in 1967 with the introduction of the Ford 17M, with the name “Taunus” dropped. Internally it was known as the P7, short for Project 7, as it was the seventh new car designed by Ford Germany since the end of WW2.
The 17M had always been a large family saloon, but the P7 took things a step further. Bigger than its main rival at the time, the Opel Rekord, it was offered with engines starting with a 1.5-litre V4 (not taken up by many buyers, unsurprisingly), a 1.7 V4, a 2.0-litre V6 and a 2.3-litre V6. The first three were familiar to buyers as having been available in previous generations of Taunus, but the 2.3 was new.
Body styles included 2 and 4-door saloons, an estate, and a big 2-door coupé. These were large cars, with considerable interior space and vast luggage compartments. For those prepared to pay a considerable premium over the standard price, a Karl Deutsch built cabriolet was also available; I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.
The P7 range was expanded upwards to include the Ford 20M and 26M, heading towards Mercedes-Benz W114 and BMW E3 territory, although this was only right at the top of the range. The 26M had a 2.6-litre V6, and came with then-luxurious appointments such as automatic transmission, electric windows, power-steering, sunroof, tinted windows and twin headlamps.
The P7’s main rivals at the time included the aforementioned Opel Rekord, as well as the Audi 100, launched in 1968, and from France, the Peugeot 504. In fact, these rivals were good enough to have a negative impact on the new Ford’s sales, so much so that a significant facelift was carried out within a year of the 17M’s launch.
Some of the P7’s rivals
As a result, P7’s produced in that first year are unofficially known as P7a, cars built from 1968 are known as P7b. The differences are mostly in styling details, size and profile remaining the same. The original “cheesecutter” grille was replaced with a sleeker parallel-bar look, and many of the original car’s design external tweaks and details were dropped to create an altogether simpler aesthetic, with a considerably re-designed rear among the most obvious changes.
A 1.8-litre V6 engine was added to the range at this time, and the 2.3-litre was upgraded to produce 123bhp. The 26M, besides all the upmarket add-ons, came with a new 2550cc engine that pushed out the same bhp as the smaller 2.3, but with added torque.
Production numbers were relatively modest considering this was a major market segment in Germany – 155,780 of the pre-facelift models were built, with another 567,482 of the P7b made between August 1968 and December 1971, but by the end of 1971 it was clear that the P7 had run it’s course and it was replaced in both the UK and Europe by the Granada/Consul range, which were actually smaller than both the P7 and the Zodiac that it replaced in the UK, part of the rationalisation of model line-ups between Dagenham and Köln.
All of this leads us to our Prime Find, which is a very late – 1971 – 20M 2300S, so one of the more powerful, 125bhp V6-engined cars, with a 4-speed manual ‘box. I haven’t seen one of these anywhere for a long time, even on recent trips to Germany. In the UK just three 17/20M’s remain on the road, according to howmanyleft.com, with one SORN, so it’s no surprise that I haven’t seen one here. This example is for sale with a dealer in The Netherlands, and is finished in a shade of purple, with a black vinyl roof and cream interior.
There’s not a great deal of information on the dealer’s website, but from the photographs – some of which we’ve borrowed – the car looks in pretty good condition; the dealer claims it is a “very nice and technically well-maintained car” – and has an apparently genuine 65,471km under its wheels, which amounts to a mere 1,636km per year on average; barely used, in other words.
Certainly the interior looks almost flawless, with the seats, headlining and door cards appearing unmarked. The paintwork has a deep sheen and the chrome looks good, but as always, these impressions are from photos only and anyone interested in buying this car should arrange an inspection before parting with their hard-earned cash – you can see the full dealer advert here.
The asking price is €18,900, or just over £16,000 at current exchange rates, which is pretty strong money for one of these, but a quick search through mobile.de turned up others at similar prices, so perhaps it’s not so much if the car is indeed in the condition claimed.
I’ve always had a soft spot for these big German Fords (ditto the equivalent Opels), perhaps in part because they remind of family trips to Germany back in the day. It’s also a reminder of a time when Ford had separate models line-ups for the UK and Europe. This one looks the part and is one of a fading breed even in it’s home market, let alone here in the UK, so whoever buys it will almost certainly not come across many others on their travels.
With our Saturday instalment of Prime Find of the Week, we’re offering our services to the classic car community, by passing on our favourite classic car for sale from the week that passed. This top-tip might help a first-time-buyer to own his first classic, or it could even be the perfect motivation for a multiple-classic-car-owner to expand his garage with something different. We’ll let us be inspired by anything from a cheap project to a stunning concours exotic, and hope that you will do the same.
Just remember – Any Classic is Better than No Classic! We obviously invite our readers to help prospective buyers with your views and maybe even experiences of any given model we feature. Further to that, if you stumble across a classic which you feel we ought to feature as Prime Find of the Week, then please send us a link to primefindoftheweek@viaretro.co.uk