So, here we have Ted's Taunus Story. A story which begins way back in 1949 just after WW II and over 72 years ago...

After buying my first car, an 18 year old Austin 7 Registered in 1931, there soon followed a succession of cars! The next was a Ford Popular Tudor saloon, a late 1935 model. Then a 1937 Opel Cadet 1937, with independent front springs, hydraulic brakes and with a 'crash gearbox '! I actually owned this Opel 3 times, selling it and buying it back!

In between all these coming and goings, I owned for a short time 2 other Cadets. One being a Drop Head Tourer. These were the good old days, as they cost £100 each, brand new! I then bought a very rare VW Beetle, built in 1946 by the British Army, amid the ruins of Wolfsburg. It came with a Workshop Manual, plus a parts list too all in English Text. The VW was painted by the R.A.O.C ( Royal Army Ordnance Corps ) and I owned it for 2 years, but I wished I had kept it as an early Beetle like that, is worth around £50,000 now! The Beetle wasn't imported to the UK until around 1952 so it would be a very rare sight on English roads even then.

Then after my father died in 1959, I had his Ford 100E Van for a time, until around 2 years later I came across a Ford 15m, a LHD Taunus. The first one I had ever seen.

The owner of the 15m was going back to Germany, having brought it with him from America. It did seem at the time that none had been sold in the UK, so it was a rare find. And as you can imagine, spares were hard to come by only being obtainable from "Lincoln Cars", based in Brentwood Essex. This Ford Dealer also supplied American cars to the UK public.

The Taunus 15m had some rust on the front wings and grille area. Luckily the previous owner allowed me to use an old barn on his land, which came in use for sorting out the jobs that needed doing, as I had no garage where I lived at the time. So I set too, with my wife June helping, in the midst of winter in the barn with no windows or electricity! I had a paraffin Tilly Light, and a small gloss spray gun, which was powered by a foot pump...

So while June held the tilly lamp, I filled the holes in the 15m wings with fiberglass and once set, sanded and primed my repaired areas. Then I had to use a very weak paint mixture consisting of mostly thinners due to the small spray gun and nozzle. In the end I applied around 8 coats of paint. It was painted with the barn doors closed, and the rain beating down outside. It's a wonder how June and I were not overcome from the fumes! Not to mention the fire risk with the tilly Lamp too! Shortly afterwards the owners wanted use of the barn once more, so it was time to refit the chrome trim, and get the 15m mobile once more.

After flatting the repaired and painted areas to remove the "orange peel" finish I was left with a smart and fresh looking Taunus. Now road worthy, I took the 15m to the local garage to fill up with some petrol and the garage owner was very interested in the Taunus. When I mentioned the recent respray he called his staff out to come and view it! The garage owner said that the paintwork was as good as his 3 paint sprayers could manage with all their modern equipment.

It was now 1961, and we set off on holiday in Cornwall for 2 weeks in the 15m. Just as we were setting off back home, and not long into our journey, I hit a large pot hole!

Well the Taunus lurched over to the near side, and having stopped to inspect the damage I found the front spring had broken in half! I carried a square piece of wood, along with the jack in the boot, so I wedged the wood between the broken halves and tied it all together with some rope holding it all in place. Believe me it was an interesting and slow 200 mile journey back home, where I inspected the damage more closely.

And on looking, the near side shock absorber had collapsed too! And you guessed it, another trip to "Lincoln Cars" at Brentwood, to pick up the new Ford parts to repair the 15m...