Even curbside classics have to fill up.
When I was filling the MX-5 a few weeks ago, I was joined by a 1949 Ford Pilot V8 and a 1961 Ford Consul, starting their Sunday with a tank full of petrol.
The Ford Pilot was Ford of Britain’s first large car after the war, introduced in 1947. It is actually the only UK Ford to have used a V8 – in this case an engine very closely related to that of the 1937 US Fords. The first cars were fitted with a 2.2 litre side valve small Ford flathead V8 (“V8 60”). Quickly, Ford replaced this with the more traditional Ford flathead V8, the 3.6 litre (221 CID) engine, as fitted to this 1951 car.
The car, although a V8, gave only 85bhp and, matched with a three speed gearbox, relied on the flexibility and torque of the engine rather than a big selection of ratios.
The car was competing in a market new to Ford, against brands like Rover, Humber and even Jaguar. Of course, in the late 1940s, supply was nowhere near as large as demand, and having available engines to fit into a car helped decide what to build.
Maybe surprisingly, the Pilot had a notable motorsport career, winning the Tulip and Lisbon rallies, and also provided an engine for various smaller British manufacturers such as Jensen and Allard.
The styling bore a relationship with the much smaller Ford Prefect, and the car may have suffered because of this, contributing to its failure to sell equally against the likes of the Rover 75 or Humber Hawk in a brand sensitive market such as the UK. It could also have been that the “new style plastic instrument panel of striking design in walnut grain” didn’t help though. However, the offer of a V8 power (and sound), an otherwise nicely trimmed and equipped interior and traditional value for money (at a price twenty percent less than the Rover’s) showed Ford that there was a market for a larger car, even if the Pilot was not exactly it.
The Zephyr and Zodiac range that followed was much closer to the concept of the large Ford we became familiar with over the next 40 years – a relatively large car, offering space and comfort, if not the full premium experience. A car to compete with the largest Vauxhall and Austins, rather a Rover or a Humber, the Consul, Zephyr and Zodiac clearly set the style for the largest British and European Fords for 40 years, until the last Ford Scorpio of 1998–large, spacious, and fashion conscious.
This is the second generation of Ford Consul, dating from 1956. Ford launched it together with the six-cylinder Zephyr and mechanically similar, luxury trimmed Zodiac and marketed them as “The 3 Graces”; whether this was a reference to the artwork of Botticelli, Raphael and Rubens or the three large and image projecting Edwardian buildings (the Port of Liverpool, the Cunard Building and the Liver Building) that together make one of Britain’s greatest sea ports water frontage a UNESCO heritage site, I will let you judge.
The styling is clearly inspired by Dearborn–indeed, David Saunders’ recent survey of Canadian market Fords shows many examples of the theme behind this style. Of course, the British car was much smaller, being built on a wheelbase of 104 inches (three inches shorter than a current Ford Fusion). The Consul was effectively a four cylinder version of Zephyr, which had a 2.5 litre six-cylinder engine compared with the Consul’s overhead valve 1.7 litre four, which manfully pulled the car to 80 mph.
Suspension was traditional leaf springs at the rear, with a Macpherson strut front suspension. Brakes were drums all round until 1961 and it was the last large Ford with vacuum operated windscreen wipers. Yes, the harder you pressed the throttle, the slower the wipers wiped…
The convertible was built by Carbodies of Coventry for Ford, and sold in relatively small quantities. Carbodies built convertible versions of many popular British cars in the after war period, including Austin, Hillman and Daimler, who ultimately bought the company, and also estate car conversions. In recent years, it has been the company behind the familiar London taxi and is known as London Taxi International, though is owned by the Geely Corporation.
The Consul name died when this car was replaced by the the Zephyr and Zodiac Mk3 in 1962, but was used as a prefix to the Cortina, Capri, Classic and Corsair names. Effectively, the range was replaced by two cars – the Mk3 Zephyr 4 and the smaller Ford Consul Classic.
This launch film makes interesting viewing–when did you last see someone arriving for a Ford launch in a chauffeur driven Rolls-Royce?
I never knew that the flathead V8 found its way into a postwar British Ford. Don’t they make a delightful sound? The styling of the car looks a lot like American Fords of the mid 1930s, though a bit smaller. The 85 hp rating is out of the mid 1930s in America, as well. I believe that the postwar Ford in the US was putting out 100 horsepower, or a bit more by 1951.
The Consul is attractive. Again, it looks like it picked up its lines from American Fords of 1949-54. Again, not a direct copy, but sort of translated.
Thanks for bringing us along to the gas, er, petrol station.
TheMK2 series came out in 56 and looks to be styled on the 55 Customline not the earlier models they stood side by side in showrooms here.
The first Consul was designed and styled almost entirely in the U.S., so the kinship with contemporary North American Fords is no surprise. Subsequent iterations were much more Dagenham products, albeit still with some input from the U.S. on a consulting basis.
Roy Brown of Edsel fame was sent to Dagenham .There was a very good program on BBC 3 or 4 recently about the American styled Dagenham cars.My parents had many Fords as they liked the style of American cars and seemed more rust proof than Vauxhalls.
CC effect strikes again Ford’s Dagenham dream repeated on BBC 4 next Sunday at 20 00.
First Consul TheMK1 looked like a 49 Ford which was still a current shape when it was released.
My brother,myself & sister came home from the hospital in a Ludlow Green(I think that’s what Ford called it, strange light green colour) in 1955,57 & 59.I can’t remember the car but Mum had it til she part exchanged it for a Mk1 Cortina in a similar horrid green
These cars press simultaneously my Fordophile button and my Anglophile button. The Pilot combines the best of both worlds nicely. I’d love to drive that big beauty. My brother had a 105E Anglia in Sharkskin Blue, just like the one pictured above. I’ve had a soft spot for English Ford products ever since.
Was this the cheapest way one could “Have a V8” in the British market of the day? It’s hard to think of alternatives.
It seems like some UK mechanics should’ve been familiar with the Flathead by this time since it was used in the Bren Carrier & CMP truck (Ford-built) during the War.
Possibly the only way to get a V8 British car – Rolls Royce & Bentley, Daimler, Humber, Rover plus of course Jaguar all had 6 cylinders.
Roger hasn’t mentioned fuel economy which must have contributed toward poor sales, not so much because of the cost but because fuel rationing was still in place (until May 1950).
Ford used the vacuum wipers in the U.S. through 1961 as well. The ones on my 1961 Ford (223 I6) would nearly come to a stop under wide open throttle. Other U.S. manufacturers used vacuum wipers as well; a high school friend had a Ramber from the mid-sixties that had them. I remember that the switch did not work and the only way to stop/start the wipers was to raise the hood and connect/disconnect the vacuum line for the wipers.
Our ’62 Falcon (Australian) had them. Awful things! Were a vacuum motor and lines really that much cheaper than an electric motor and wires?
My 1962 Falcon Ranchero had non-working vacuum wipers when I bought it. Fortunately, electric wipers were offered as an option, so I was able to retrofit a set of those that I found on ebay…
Nice cars , both of them .
-Nate
Pilots turned up over here but never gained much popularity NZ still had in those days a supply of new US Fords and the Pilot with its mechanical brakes and prewar styling didn’t sell well or last well the cast grille dismantled while driving and to add insult the UK Zephyr Zodiac Consul trio showed up and sold like hot cakes, That MK2 Consul is nice and rare in convertible though the rarest body style is actually UTE they were produced in Aussie and there was a 57 for sale in the town in Tassie I worked in, ironically when I dumped the shell of the Toyota Corona MK2 Coupe I wrecked for parts it slid off the trailer and took up residence at the Cygnet tip between a MK2 Consul ute and a PA Velox sedan similarly disposed of.
Thanks for another great read Roger,2 of Dagenham’s most attractive cars.I remember reading John McVicar saying the Pilot was one of his favourite getaway cars!
Neat write-up, Roger. I’m just not quite sure about your claim that the Pilot was “actually the only UK Ford to have used a V8”. I seem to recall one in Ford’s UK line-up pre-war. The ’36-on Model 62 used the 22hp V8, and had styling distinct from any US model at the time.
French Fords used the V8 60 for many models and were still being used in the Simca Vedettes up to about 1960, but yeah the prewar UK model 62 also used the flathead V8.
Ex Army Ford V8 flatheads still turn up for sale having never been used
They would probably be regarded as American Fords, despite being sold in Britain.
Roger
Really appreciate your images and write-ups concerning UK cars. Keep them coming.
Thank you.
The 1.7 4 banger in the Consul could manfully struggle up to 80mph, yes but you don’t mention the 2.5L6 in the Zephyr could only hit 86mph though it accelerates faster, the Consul handles better.
Strangely, on level ground the 1703cc 4 cylinder in the Zephyr 4 felt quite ‘powerful’ underfoot (must have been set-up for low rpm maximum torque..
The gentleman with the stopwatch, decked out in a matching suit and cap! Only in the UK.
With the M (for marshal) armband, and gloves waiting on the card table in case he had to drive.
Thanks for another brilliant article on cars I never knew existed. I really like the 49 Pilot, beautiful car. I remember the family’s 57 Old’s 88 Super had vacuum wipers, they would almost stop accelerating up a steep hill, and would speed up as you were coming to a stop. The opposite of what you needed.
Here’s an October 1940 Autocar ad for ‘rebuilt Ford 8’s’, reflecting the wartime market in Britain.
Just dawned on me that in this case a ‘Ford 8’ likely means 8 (British) hp. But it’s a nice ad.
Just to clarify some errors regarding the V8 Pilot.
This was not the only V8 Ford assembled and built in England.Ford’s built a variety of V8’s before the war in various body styles, also the Pilot did not have a wood grain plastic dashboard.The UK Market cars had a dash made of bakelite, reputedly the largest piece of bakelite ever made.The export Pilot’s had an aluminium dash painted brown to combat warping and distortion in hot climates.
Regards
Colin
(V8 Pilot owner since 1987)