We first saw the early-1960s Ford Taunus pictured below on a windy mountain road in southwestern France. It was going the other way at a surprisingly brisk pace so we couldn’t get the camera out in time to snap a picture – too bad, it was the first P4 Taunus we’d seen in over a decade!

Luckily, we spotted the Taunus again much later that day parked outside of a small restaurant. It was nearly dark and we didn’t have a tripod so we knew the pictures weren’t going to be excellent, but we couldn’t resist the urge to stop in order to get a closer look at it. The Taunus wasn’t a very common car on French roads back in the the 1960s and it has become downright rare today, even at car shows. It’s a shame, the P4 Taunus is one of the most elegant Ford sedans from the 1960s and we hear they’re solid, well-built cars.

The Taunus is unrestored, original, oozing with patina but not overly beat up, which is exactly how we like our classics. The rock chips on the hood and the numerous small dents and scratches show that it definitely wasn’t a garage queen, but it’s difficult to get a better idea of what its early life was like because there are no dealer stickers anywhere and the registration number isn’t original. Regardless, we hope the owner continues to drive it as-is.