Tag Archives: Ford

3 Graces – Ford Zephyr MK2

In 1954 Colin Neale lead a team that styled the Ford Consul, Zephyr and Zodiac Mk2 that all shared the same body, by the end of the year prototype cars were being tested across Europe and in 1955 further prototypes were being tested against the back drop of the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya.

In February 1956 the ‘3 Graces’, as the models became unofficially known, were launched on the market the Consul with a 4 cylinder 1703 cc / 104 cui motor and the Zephyr and Zodiac with 6 cylinder 2553 cc / 156 cui motors.

Versions of the ‘3 Graces’ can be seen above, 410VRE is a 1958 Zephyr Farnham, a model which was selected by five police forces to became Britain’s first Motorway Patrol Cars in 1959. The Convertible 527FGY is a ’62 Consul, less than 30 ‘3 Grace’ Convertibles are thought to exist because the soft top conversion took so much strength out of the unitary chassis. 707JDV following the Consul is a 1961 top of the range Zodiac Farnham estate / station wagon.

The 1959 Zephyr Mk2 is seen above at Mallory Park being prepared by Ian Kellet Racing for Barrie ‘Whizzo’ Williams, seen standing to the right of the photo above, to drive in last year Goodwood Revival meeting.

Between 1956 and 1962 294,506 3 Grace models were built alongside 6,911 Convertibles. Some of all three variants were built in Fords Geelong factory south of Melbourne.

Thanks for joining me on this 3 Graces edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Abbotts Body – Ford Zephyr 6 Farnham

Gatso’s Monte Carlo – Ford Zephyr 6

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The largest British Fords from 1950 to 1972 were marketed as the Zephyr and Zodiac models. The first Zephyrs, built between 1951 and 1956, were a longer version of the 4 cylinder Ford Consul fitted with a 70 hp straight six motor.

The Zephyr 6 above, seen at the Goodwood Revival, is the reshelled remains of the car that Maurice ‘Maus’ Gatsonides and Peter Worledge drove to victory in the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally.

Many drivers may well have heard of the Gatso speed camera, this was developed by Gatsonides originally so that he could measure and improve his cornering speeds in competition.

When ‘Maus’ drove ‘VHK 194’ to his Monte victory it was a Left Hand Drive car that was reshelled into a Right Hand Drive model after sustaining comprehensive damage in an accident.

Richard Dredge drove VHK 194 a couple of years ago. In his amusing report Richard stated the motor has good torque, but not much top end and that the ergonomics appeared to be an after thought, describing the bench seat as giving ‘all the support of a water bed.’

In 1955 Vic Preston Sr and DP Marwaha drove a similar Ford Zephyr 6 to victory on the East African Safari Rally.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Gatso’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Performance and Image – Ford Anglia 100E

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One of my favorite films is Monte Hellmans road movie ‘Two Lane Black Top‘ about two drifters in a grey primer ’55 Chevy who earn their keep by drag racing that get involved in a race, ‘for pinks’, along Route 66 with a burned out city slicker in a then new 1970 Pontiac GTO. The city’s slicker believes that ‘it’s all about performance and image’ while the driver of the ’55 Chevy believes ‘you can never go fast enough’.

Today’s car a 1957 Ford Anglia definitely reflects the beliefs of ‘the driver who can never go fast enough’ played by James Taylor in the film.

Externally we have a 54 year old car that looks a little the worse for spending a lot of time standing outside in all weathers,

but then look again at that dinky li’l air scoop on the bonnet and match it with the oversize wheels and even a rank amateur like me begins to wonder what all that weather beaten body work might be hiding ?

The stance of this vehicle in profile when compared to the 4 door version of the Anglia known as the Prefect which I looked at last week only adds to the suspicion that, if indeed this car has a stock size 1172 cc / 71 cui 4 cylinder side valve motor, there is a good chance it is producing more than the 36 hp quoted when it left the factory and that it is capable of much better than the 0-60 time of 29.4 seconds quoted for the model in 1954.

I’d certainly fancy my chances driving my land ladies late model bog standard Passat TDI racing for pinks along Route 66 against this Anglia but I’m not too sure I’d keep the tenner I’d be willing to gamble in a drag race with it at Shakespeare County Raceway where I saw this car.

Thanks for joining me on this wolf in sheep’s clothing edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Hitchhikers Guide To Disambiguation – Ford Prefect

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Many readers may think Ford Prefect is the character Ix from a small planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse who disguised himself as an out of work actor after getting stuck on planet Earth for 15 years while visiting the Earth to update the Guide in either the radio comedy, tv series, book, radio adaption of the books or film ‘The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy.

In fact a Ford Prefect, note not “PERFECT” as many have incorrectly read and or heard the second word, is a motor car which Ix mistook for a superior form of life when visiting earth in the Sci Fi comedy.

The Ford Prefect was in production from 1938 to 1959 in four distinct evolutions.

With the front wings incorporated into the overall 3 box design of the body we can say for sure this is a series 3 or 4 car.

The absence of a rakish small chrome strip from the front of the existing chrome waste strip down to the wheel arch further suggests this is an earlier 100E Series 3 car which was in production from 1953 to 1959.

The tax disc in the front window of this car suggested that it had stopped being used as a daily driver in 1979 which seems strangely at odds with what looks like a vehicle that is more than capable of passing an MOT (a safety inspection required in the UK before a vehicle can be taxed) when I saw it at the Atwell Wilson Motor Museum where many of the cars are regular runners.

Powered by a 1172 cc / 71.5 cui 4 cylinder side valve engine mated to a 3 speed manual gearbox the Series 3 Prefect was tested as being capable of accelerating from rest to 60 mph in 32.2 seconds and having a top speed of 71 mph.

The four door version of the otherwise visually similar Ford Popular and Anglia models was also built under license in Latvia where it was sold as the Ford-Vairogs Junior.

There was an estate / station wagon of the Ford Prefect known as the Squire while the estate / station wagon version of the similar Ford Anglia was know as the Ford Escort. For reasons long forgotten in the mists of time the French and Greek translations, among others, of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy incorrectly give the name chosen by Ix while staying on earth as Ford Escort, though Ix probably chose that name for the same reasons as he chose Ford Prefect in the English version, and most other translations of the book, namely to an alien it probably looks like cars are the most intelligent species on the planet.

Thanks for joining me on this Hitchhikers Guide edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you’ll join me again tomorrow when I’ll be trading in Science Fiction for a big Voyager. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Regency Laundry Pegasus Sprint

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A week last Saturday I got up at 6 am and headed down the hill to meet Mark a fellow member of the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club at 7:15 am to catch a lift out to Castle Combe where we were both volunteer marshalls for a day at The Regency Laundry Pegasus Sprint.

Unlike the Wessex Sprint held at Castle Combe which started from the pit lane earlier this year the start of the Pegasus Sprint was at the entry to Camp Corner with the usual finish line on the straight following Camp meaning the sprint course was just over a lap and measured 2.05 miles.

Participants from an additional twenty clubs, including the Morgan CC were invited to take part around 120 entries were expected to make two practice runs in the morning and two competitive runs in the afternoon.

For the morning sessions I was assigned to the inside of Quarry Corner with fellow members Andy and Lewis. We all agreed that the TVR would probably provide the most entertainment during the day and we were not dissapointed. Matthew Oakley’s #100 6158 cc / 376 cui TVR Griffith sounded like it was running a super charger though this was not marked on the entry list.

At Quarry the morning passed relatively uneventfully no spiners, cars with all four wheels off the track or anything of significance to report from a marshaling perspective. Things were a good deal more exciting at The Esses just down the track from us where several competitors spun, dropped oil and in a couple of cases completely failed to take the Esses and headed safely down the escape road.

After a fabulous courtesy chicken curry at The Tavern I had about ten minuets to take some more snaps in the paddock before joining Andy and Lewis at Avon Rise for the afternoon sessions. Above John Dando driving his magnificent Volvo 144 was the sole representative of the Volvo Owners Club present.

Toby Harris sharing the turbocharged #31 Ford Puma, fitted with what appeared to be carbon fibre bonnet and boot panels, above with Lisa Selby was particularly impressive for it’s neutral handling in the corners making it look smooth and fast.

Tim Painter driving his heart warming Ferrari 360 around Castle Combe for the first time did not have such an easy run of it managing just one clean run.

Appearing with rally spec ground clearance was this 2 litre / 122 cui mid engined Darian T9 shared by Colin Early, seen above and Carole Torkington.

Among the fastest cars of the day was the #79 SBD Westfield S2000 of Matt Hillman seen driving above and Steve Broughton, this car has all the go faster bits including Kevlar steering wheel and sequential gearbox.

Finally as the days track activities drew to a close this Convertible Jenson Interceptor pulled up behind our marshalling post in the hands of a new owner who had just purchased it for a very reasonable £24,000. More on this car on Sunday.

I’d like to thank Mark for saving me a long uphill walk by dropping me off right outside my house.

Thanks for joining me on this Regency Laundry edition of ‘Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a Vintage Vauxhall. Don’t forget to come back now !

Beware HMRC – Ford Model A

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After 18 solid years of solid market dominance the Tin Lizzie Ford Model T with over 15 million units sold world wide was reaching the end of it’s marketable life as the worlds truly massed produced car, and despite some resistance from it’s creator, Henry Ford, a replacement was designed with the same attention to detail as to how it would be mass produced.

The Ford Model A was launched in 1927 with an improved 4 cylinder 201 cui / 3.3 litre engine, conventional clutch, brake, accelerator foot pedal arrangement, with a variety of colours for a variety of passenger and commercial body styles.

Despite being in production for a relatively, compared to the Tin Lizzie, short time of just 4 years from 1927 to 1931 over 4.5 million Model A’s were produced. With production being continued in Russia under Licence by GAZ from 1932 to 1936.

However not all was rosy for the Model A in Europe where cars were taxed on either engine size or horsepower or in the case of His Majesties Revenue & Customs a formula involving both.

As a result of the punitive taxation rules European manufacturers had specialised in building lighter cars with smaller engines and the Model A did not stack up well against the light weights, even less so when the Model a was offered with a smaller 122 CUI / 2 litre motor because the smaller motor had a much higher fuel consumption.

The Model A became the first Ford manufactured entirely in Britain when Ford’s new plant at Dagenham was opened in October 1931. However this 1929 model, seen here at the Atwell Wilson Museum will have been assembled from a kit in the same facility at Old Trafford in Manchester as the earlier ‘British Built’ Model T’s.

Thanks for joining me on this HMRC edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: Ford

3 Graces – Ford Zephyr MK2

Abbotts Body – Ford Zephyr 6 Farnham

Gatso’s Monte Carlo – Ford Zephyr 6

Performance and Image – Ford Anglia 100E

Hitchhikers Guide To Disambiguation – Ford Prefect

The Regency Laundry Pegasus Sprint

Beware HMRC – Ford Model A