One of more interesting coupes of the sixties was the OSI 20M TS, based on a Ford Taunus 20M chassis, which had the distinction of using a small V6 engine, rather than a conventional 4 pot or inline six. Only Lancia was really into small V engines at that time. The Ford engine for the Taunus came in a 2.0 and 2.3 version.
OSI (Officine Stampaggi Industriale) was set up in 1960 as a subsidiary for the Ghia design studios, to be able to produce cars of the same design in greater number, like the Innocenti Spider. The OSI Taunus was presented in 1966 in Geneva, and over 2200 examples were made, quite a remarkable feat given the humble underpinnings of the car. They took over all the mechanical components, and also the engine was kept at 90 BHP. The only change made was to the rear axle, which got a shorter reduction to improve acceleration. That it nevertheless stayed at the same level was due to fact that Coupe ran on 15 inch wheels, rather than the 13 inch rims of the standard Ford.
Some sources suggest that Ford Germany secretly wanted to create a sort of European Mustang, with the same low production cost as the real thing. Obviously the market was not big enough for this prospect.
One car was made as a cabriolet, which still exists.
Very few examples have survived in a reasonable condition, as the effort to restore such a car would never be offset by a decent classic value. Rust protection in those days was still in its infancy.
The example shown here was offered during the Coys auction at Interclassics in Maastricht in January 2005
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Originally Posted by dracu777
