Tag Archives: Zodiac

When I Grow Up – GALPOT Automobilia

A couple of months ago I had a bit of a clear out whilst reorganising my library and the time has come to dispose of a number of items which may be of interest through my lightpress account on e-bay. Amazingly so far I have sold four items on three continents and this week earned an e-bay green star. Thanks to everyone who has passed links on into the deeper recesses of the car loving world.

01 ALFA Romeo Montreal

This week from among the tearout advertisements taken from the French magazine Connaissance des arts is this one for an ALFA Romeo Montreal. The V8 powered Montreal was launched in 1970, with 3,197 manufactured up until 1977. Micheal Cane fans might recognise this as the type of car that Michael Caine drove in the film The Marseille Contract starring Anthony Quinn and James Mason.

Ford Zodiac, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

Harley F Coop, who had a hand in the design of the Continental Mk II and Ford Falcon , was called into work on Project Panda in 1961. Project Panda was to develop the forth generation Ford Zodiac with a new V6 motor which was to replace the straight six powered third generation Zodiac.

To raise the Zodiacs public profile and appeal Ford resorted to engaging the likes of Eric Jackson to drive the car in a long distance record attempt at Monza, where he and four other drivers spent a seven days and nights averaging 100 mph including stops for fuel and maintenance. The strap line translates as “The New Ford Zodiac, to appreciate it you have to look at the detail”.

Jaguar XJ6, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

This 1973 advertisement features a late Series 1 Jaguar XJ6 4 door saloon. The Jaguar XJ6 was introduced in 1968 powered by derivatives of the XK 6 cylinder motors that had been used to power Jaguar Le Mans winning cars in 1951′ ’53, ’55, ’56 and ’57. Series 1 XJ6’s were built between 1968 and 1973. The strap line translates as “This image is dedicated á all children who said: “When I grow up, I (will) have a Jaguar.””

Mercedes Benz 280, Advertisement, Connaissance des arts

The advertisement above features a Mercedes Benz (W108) 280 S with smaller photo of 280 (W108) SE Saloon, Cabriolet and (W113) SL models. The W108 was manufactured in 280 S and SE forms from 1967 to 1972, W113 was manufactured in 280 SL form from 1967 to 1971. Strap line translates approximately as “Mercedes Benz 280 car of your dreams towering performance (in) safely unparalleled comfort”

Thanks for joining me on this “When I Grow Up” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for the answers to last weeks quiz. Don’t forget to come back now !

Petrol In My Blood – Eric Jackson

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Petrol In My Blood, Eric Jackson

When I was a kid I was lucky to be taken by my parents on several epic road journeys including Athens to London in an Austin A40 Countryman and Durban to Mufulira, I’ll let you look it up, in a Ford Escort Estate.

These were sedate trips compared to those made by Eric Jackson and Ken Chambers who drove a Ford Cortina GT to set a new record for driving from London to Capetown in 13 days 8 hours and 48 mins, 14 mins faster than the previous record. Jackson and Chambers record stood for 47 years until the record was lowered to 11 days 14 hours and 11 mins in 2010 by Mac & Steve Mackenney with Chris Rawlings driving a Land Rover Discovery

“Petrol In My Blood” by Eric Jackson retells his life story from humble beginnings in Barnsley where he was the son of a traveler to becoming one of the country’s leading Ford dealers.

The gripping story covers many other tales including; racing the RMS Windsor Castle from Cape Town to Southamptonand driving a Ford Consul around the world in 43 days.

Erics adventures in a Ford Zodiac Mk 4 which included a Monte Carlo Rally and a 100 mph average speed record for seven days and nights set at Monza with Ken Chambers, John Beckhart, Michael Bowler and John Maclean all sharing the driving are also included.

In between the records Eric also won the RAC Rally Championship and narrowly missed out on becoming a shipping tycoon. Petrol In My Blood could hardly fail to be an interesting read and a further taster of the books contents can be found on the Damn Long Way website linked here.

The book is self published and available from lulu.com in hardback £27.07 or paper back £12.09 my soft back came through in a couple of days.

Thanks for joining me on this “Petrol In My Blood Edition” of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Project Panda – Ford Zodiac Mk4

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In 1961 Vice President of Engineering at Ford of Britain Harley F Coop, who had worked on the Continental Mk II and Ford Falcon , became involved with Project Panda to design a vehicle to replace the Mk3 Zephyr / Zodiac range. The cars were to be fitted with V6 motors replacing the straight 6’s which had been used.

Despite having a shorter motor the resultant Mk 4 Zephyr and Zodiac models had a long bonnet and short boot, this was because of the independent rear suspension which could not accommodate the spare tyre in the rear so, Coop placed the spare tyre at an angle ahead of the radiator at the front of the car.

The Zodiac powered by the top of the range 3 litre / 183 cui V6 made an excellent towing vehicle however it would appear that the one off camper carried by this 1970 model, seen at the Goodwood Revival, was designed and manufactured by the Walkett brothers who are best known for their Ginetta sports cars.

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

12 05 08 While searching for information about the Ford Corsair I came accross a myth about the Corsair setting a number of records at Monza in 1967, it transpires these records were actually set by Eric Jackson, Ken Chambers, John Beckhart, Michael Bowler and John Maclean driving a Ford Zodiac MK IV averaging 100 mph for an entire seven days and nights on the Ford repaired Monza banking.

PS Don’t forget …

Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz

December 26th – January 2nd

Win a set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards

Set 1 Sports & GT Cars

Set 2 Phil Hill World Drivers Championship 50th Anniversary Edition

Set 3 1934 Season

Set 4 Grand Prix Engines of the 1950’s

Set 5 Mike Hawthorn’s Race Cars

The Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will comprise 8 categories.

Overall winner chooses one set of Paul Chenard Greetings Cards from the five sets shown above.

The cards measure 15.24cm x 11.43cm, come in packs of 12 with 3 copies of 4 designs in each set, plus A6 envelopes.

Which set will you choose ?

The free to enter Automobiliart GALPOT Seasonal Quiz will run from December 26th – January 2nd Entries close January 8th 2012, Winner announced January 16th 2012.

Full details on December 26th at GALPOT.

Looking for Automotive Seasonal Gift Idea’s? Visit Automobiliart Now !

Z Cars Edsels English Cousins – Ford Zephyr & Zodiac Mk3

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After the humungous sales & marketing flop that was the Ford Edsel debacle Canadian Roy Brown moved on to designing smaller projects in the Ford empire namely the Ford Cortina along with the Zephyr and Zodiac Mk3’s featured today.

The Consul name was dropped from the Zephyr and Zodiac range and moved to the smaller Cortina range in 1962 while the entry level Zephyr became the 4 cylinder powered Zephyr 4. Seen above at the Goodwood Revival is a 1963 6 cylinder Zephyr 6, a model that became indelibly implanted in my mind thanks to the kitchen sink Police drama known as ‘Z -Cars‘, please do not even think of pronouncing it “Zee”, one of the earliest adult orientated show’s I remember seeing on our very first black and white television in 1966.

The Zodiac, as seen here at Castle Combe Classic and Sports Car Action Day, was the top of the range Mk3 ‘Z’ range featuring twined head lights to leave no doubt in the minds of purchasers that this car was the one with all the goodies.

Both the Zephyr 6 and the Zodiac were built with straight 6 2,553 cc / 156 cui motors inherited from the Zephyr and Zodiac Mk 2 models.

The Zodiac Mk3 can also be externally differentiated from the Zephyr Mk3 by the rear quarter light which has been moved from the rear door of the cheaper Zephyr 6 to the C-post of the more expensive Zodiac.

From the rear both the Zephyr and Zodiac Mk3 models clearly owe, even if understated, lines of DNA heritage to the Ghia built Lincoln Futura of 1955.

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

3 Graces – Ford Zephyr MK2

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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 !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring