I saw a Mk3 Zephyr in action the other day. Not a common sighting for me. The only other I can remember seeing is this one above. It used to live around the corner for a while, and I met its owner who was slowly trying to clean it up on his meagre income. He was totally devoted to it.
The Mk1 was a staple in Australia, as would have been the Mk2 (above) had it not been disrupted by the Falcon as Ford Australia’s standard family offering.
The Mk3 was assembled CKD here as well as in New Zealand, who also offered a stripper model of the 6 called the ‘Zephyr Special’.
I simply cannot remember the Mk3 on our streets during my 70s childhood; that’s how popular it must have been over here. The Falcon was more Australian-sized.
The attractive Mk2 shape had come courtesy of UK stylist Colin Neale, and he was tasked with the next generation. His initial suggestions worked with his reverse-backlight 105 Anglia language.
This prompted his boss to ask Elwood Engel over from the US to provide some alternatives – which were apparently be-finned. Neale re-applied himself and came up with the sleeker interpretation shown bottom. UK management liked neither Engel’s nor Neale’s proposals, considering both too American.
Engel gave Neale a job in Dearborn.
In 1958 Ford UK asked Frua to style a proposal for the four door saloon, shown top.
That flayed, finned rear from their shape was retained, and the recently-arrived Canadian Roy Brown Jr. was tasked with bringing it to the street. Brown had been one of the primary stylists for the Edsel, and the Mk1 Cortina would be his most noted success. Above is a Cortina clay with Frua fins.
The fins of 1959 Sunbeam Alpine come to mind. This shape is from the hand of Kenneth Howes at Rootes, and its popularity must have helped Ford UK overcome their aversion to the American influence. To their credit, the fins of both the Alpine and the Zephyr are extraordinarily cleanly shaped and bereft of any embellishment.
Roy Brown provided three distinct faces for the big Ford; twin headlight with inset grille for the base 73.5 bhp Zephyr 4, a natty split grille for the 106 bhp Zephyr 6, and quad headlights under a six-light greenhouse for 114 bhp senior Zodiac.
Wagons were again produced by Farnham, and could be had through the range. Bottom right is the one-off Ferguson Formula 4WD wagon prepared for the Lancashire County Constabulary.
If you grew up in the UK during the 1960s, you would have been very aware of Z Cars on the television. But unlike almost every other popular television show in history, finding episodes of the original 1962-65 Z Cars run is apparently rather difficult. I know Dr. Who lost vast swathes of episodeage during this period, but a whole show disappearing?
And with no still-frames to provide a tangible legacy on internet, it’s like it never existed.
Speaking of existential, you can catch the Zephyr in the Polish movie Myrotvyy Sezon. Never seen it but it looks like a stylish Cold War thriller with plenty of thinking time. Also featured in this movie are a Mercury Comet Caliente, Hudson Hornet, 300 SL Gullwing, Barkas van and Daimler Majestic.
Erstwhile CCist Jim just bought himself a Zephyr, Matchbox model number 33 in a nice turquoise.
This is the one I caught recently. Not quite my style, but plenty style nonetheless.
Further Reading
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That Zephry Matchbox was one of my favorites growing up as it looked somewhat like my grandparents 66 Ford Falcon
As a youngster I remember riding in my cousins’ Zephyr 4, which she had just bought, and her remarking on the umbrella-style handbrake. Many years later I had the chance to drive a well-used Mk3 Zodiac that my uncle had for sale in his garage. I never thought the six-light greenhouse worked very well.
It never occurred to me that these cars had Italian influence in their styling – Ford UK usually did whatever their American masters decreed.
Naturally, I remember Fancy Smith and John Watt and their crime-fighting efforts….
The Mach 2 and Dark 3 are the iconic Kiwi cars, you dont see them often Don well thats what Falcons were like in NZ, I do my neighbour has a MK3 Zephyr tucked away in his shed a friend not far away has a MK2 ute, MK3 utes were produced in New Zealand by a Christchurch Ford dealer Hutchinson Motors, Affectionate called the Maori Mustang Zephyrs were the car to have or Veloxes if you liked GM cars this changed in 66 when Falcons began being assembled locally and the Zephyr became the exerable MK4 with awful Essex V6 engine,
There was plenty of speed equipment available for the Zephyr six back in my day it was a simple formula, bore it out for Bedford 214 or Valiant 225 pistons 15 thou off the head, static balance triple SUs freeflows straightthru 2 inch, throw the fan away lose an inch or two out of the ride height wide steelies or as on my MK2 Valiant Charger rims and off you go. Usually by the time the first six monthlu inspection came around the car was either written off at speed or the exhaust had grown to legal length and exited behind the rear axle rather than under the left front door and had gained a Coby muffler or two, guess why these cars are getting rare even here these days but when we took my daughters car in for its WOF on Monday there was a 62 MK Zephyr sedan at the garage being repaired almost identical to the one I owned.
As a bonus a Zephyr had as 4 speed and could handle rough corrugated roads who the hell would want a Falcon instead LOL.
Didn’t know about the Mk3 ute. cheers
They converted one for every dealer, lots more were done by panelbeaters from writeoffs but of course they werent new.
Speaking of homebake utes, I saw an XJ Jag version last week but too quick for my camera
Love those finned Sunbeams
Meantime, their front end styling was inspired by the ’55 T-Bird.
00:50:
“Mama drove a Sunbeam & she drove it hard …….”
James McMurty, “Fuller Brush Man”
https://youtu.be/LkibcHyfsxg
The Colin Neale sketches are interesting, the first one almost the short-lived Ford Consul Classic style except that it actually has a wrap round window at the back instead of the Breezeway reverse rake flat rear screen. The Classic of course ended up as an ‘in-between’ size filling the gap between the small Anglia and big Consul/Zephyr/Zodiacs, but exited soon after the much lighter, better performing Consul Cortina appeared.
For me too these Mk.III Zephyr/Zodiacs are the Z Cars, of course (even if the programme did run until 1978 by which time they were using Escorts and Granadas).
I don’t know why anyone would hire Roy Brown after doing both the ’42 Olds and the ’58 Edsel.
think of the upside
It is a pity the Ford Zephyr 4/6-cylinder engines were never fully exploited by Ford UK themselves as was done on tuning said engines in both the Reliant Sabre and early Reliant Scimitar, nor were they enlarged from a 1.7-litre to 2-litres in 4-cylinder or a 2.5-litre to 3-litres in 6-cylinder forms prior to being replaced by the Ford Essex V4/V6 engines. – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Zephyr_engine
Having mentioned the Ford Essex V4/V6 engines, honestly believe Ford UK would have been better off ditching the Essex V4 in favor of 1.75-2-litre (e.g. 1753-1975cc) 4-cylinder half-relation to the Ford Kent/Crossflow (to replace the alternate 1.7-2.0-litre Zephyr 4-cylinder) for the benefit of the Corsair, Consul, Mk4 Zephyr, Capri and Transit as well as the other models like the Cortina and Escort which made use of the 1.6-litre Kent/Crossflow engines (plus TVR, Marcos, Morgan, Caterham, etc).
The V4 always seemed weird. In Australia we only got it in the Transit van. Neighbours had one that never seemed to run right, judging by the amount of time Tom spent working on it, and I remember seeing it – such an odd-looking engine, thought teenage me. It sounded awful in the Transit van; I can’t imagine that exhaust note in a car!
Haven’t seen a flatface Transit in yonks, and only a couple of pig snouts.
The V4 was pretty terrible in a car as you can imagine, a pity Ford basically forced their UK and German branches to develop their own related V4/V6 engine families instead carrying over the V6s whilst still permitting them to develop a medium sized 1.6/-1.7-2-litre 4-cylinder.
The original narrow-angle V4 engine planned for the Taunus P4 / stillborn Redwing would have definitely been worth it had it reached production or even formed the basis of a narrow angle V6 (and potentially even an eventual W8/W12), however the once the Taunus V4 and even the Essex V4 featured a 60-degree angle there was less justification for either.
What would be interesting aspect to explore in Ford’s UK and German branches would whether either attempted to develop their own post-war V8 projects (as an alternative to the Ford small block Windsor V8 engine), similar to the unbuilt Vauxhall Slant-4 based Vauxhall V8 petrol/diesel projects.
Paul did a superb job on some of that here.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/automotive-history-how-the-american-ford-fwd-cardinal-became-the-ford-taunus-12m-from-dearborn-with-love/
Indeed. Still perplexed as to the rationale of the Essex V4, since there is no indication of them being at all interested in producing a UK version of the Cardinal/Redwing/Taunus P4 over their mk1 Ford Cortina,
Of the view the Cortina-based Ford Corsair could have been an early Ford Granada precursor (of similar size to the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000/2500) had it received Kent-derived 1.75-2-litre inline-4 and 2.5-3.0-litre Essex V6 engines, instead of being hampered by the 1.7-2-litre Essex V4. The same applies to a lesser extent on the related mk1 Ford Capri,
Even for me, an American who lived in England for a few months as a seven year old in 1964, these are Z Cars. I need to see if I still have my Matchbox Zephyr somewhere. As much as I was a fan of “foreign” cars (European, not Asian then) I found both GM’s and Ford’s European offerings very appealing, Ford’s more so.
Being a wee bit older than you, Don, I can say that Mark 3s were fairly common in Melbourne during the sixties. Not one-on-every-block common but common enough that you wouldn’t go “Wow!”, and a six-year-old me knew what they were. I’ve got a 1962 Ford buyer’s guide, and Ford pitched them as an upmarket ‘prestige’ sedan to the initial Falcons, but by the time the Falcon engine grew to 200 inches the 2 1/2 litre Zephyr was phased out. The larger XR really sealed the Zephyr’s fate. I’d have to hunt out my sixties magazines to check the actual price premium over the Falcon, and when it disappeared from the price lists.
You’ll have to come and check out my archive some time, Don! 🙂
Always learn from your perspective Pete. One day I’m going to take up that offer…
NZ got the 315 Consul Classic they rusted like mad, quite handy too as the power trains made a nice up grade in the woefully underpowered 100E Prefect/Anglias, there was also a fastback Classic Capri model and a two door sedan but they were private import only. Local assembly and the Falcon gaining a V8 made them popular here though they never out sold the Valiants
To American eyes used to none of these Fords, I see a frontal combination of ’55-’56 Nash and the ’61 Dodge. The fins look lifted from a ’56 Plymouth or Dodge.
I have blurred memories of Z-Cars as repeats in my kidhood. My dad would rave about what a good show it had been, and perhaps it was, but for a youngster, it was awfully dull. Far too much talking, and certainly no recall of any stiff-necked coppers two-wheeling a Zephyr at any point.
I too had the turquoise Matchbox. It had lots of body roll – some models had no wheel travel at all – so was a favourite for cornering on the couch.
And I too can remember some Mk3’s in the ’70’s, always (in memory) rodded in the way kiwibryce describes. Ugly things then, and still so.
Ugly too are some of those prototypes, my lordy me! Somewhere along that line, one slipped through, not that we got it here – the Ford Consul Classic sedan. That’s in a class of one for awkwardness. It looks like a physical manifestation of someone who has no social skills. Perhaps it was designed by one such.
Great post, Dr Don.
105E and Consul Classic were both Neale. Clay bottom right is another of his for the Z.
Aha! “Bearing bruises” (from others) indeed. And the coupe is a little classic of shrunken US-ness. Apologies to Mr Neale, then.
Interesting stuff as always Don. The black Zephyr on Chapel St reminds me of the early Summernats. Good timing actually, since John Peterson passed away a week or so ago.
Never did Summernats, but wish I’d been there before they had to tidy it up.
Me neither, only saw it through the pages of Street Machine. I didn’t mention it but needless to say the car has grown a V8…
When I moved from Tasmania back to Gozone there were still several Zephyrs and a couple of Zodiacs ion use around the Huon and Channel Shires They were a bit upscale from the Falcon particularly the Zodiac but of course Ford Australia phased them out GM did the same with the big Vauxhalls never assembling the 65 update PB model or the 66 PC Cresta they kept stamping out the 63 Velox/Cresta for the faithfull right up till 67, New Zealand got both the UK big cars until 71 then they were discontinued in favour of the cheaper Australian Falcon and Holden cars, By not getting the MK4 Zephyr you relly didnt miss anything, they had a lot of advanced features for a family Ford but were not good cars.
Mk4 had nice detailing, but the body was really awkwardly proportioned. Subsequent Granada was ferpect.
Mk4 was a bit of a clunker, tbh.
I remember seeing an Aunt & Uncle’s Mk1 as a small child. I probably rode in it, but I don’t remember anything other that thinking the rear door cut out was odd, in that it didn’t follow the wheel opening, but went straight up.
Only other memory is a Mk 4 Zodiac that a mate had, and the damn thing spitting the radiator drain plug out on the north coast. Much walking ensured, some of it with the radiator under an arm. Later on the damn thing caught fire.
Add me to the list of guys who had that turquoise Matchbox car. I never understood then how Ford made these “other” cars that I never saw anywhere.
I was really loving this until I got reminded of the front ends. I can’t really say that I like any of the three choices. Maybe the Volvo-ish one with the split grille is best.
I remember thinking that, too. I had the Zephyr, as well as the Mark II Cortina two-door (light metallic brown), Corsair (with the green roof rack and boat) and Zodiac.
It didn’t help that Matchbox included a fair number of North American Fords, Mercurys and Lincolns in the line-up. I initially wondered why some of these Fords were available at local Ford dealers, but not others.
I can’t say I remember seeing any of the Z cars here in the US, at least not Mk 3’s, but we definitely had the original Capri, which looked like a downsized blend of different generation T-Birds.
Those early design ideas are fascinating, never seen them before. I’m intrigued by the Rambler influence in two of them. Mk III Z-cars were fairly common while I was growing up in the 1980s, and there are still a few around. The Zodiac is my favourite version of the Mk III; Frua’s proposal is delicious and reminds me of the Lancia Flaminia.
Yeah, I didn’t dwell on the Frua too much. The face reminds me more of something from Exner.
The Mk 3s were quite rare in country Victoria in the 60s, I saw a lot of the older Zephyrs though.
Not long ago picked up this grey wheeled Matchbox one, here it is being “transported” somewhere.
Personally, I reckon the Mk3 (especially the Zodiac) has a bit of a Rootes look about it – it’s easy to imagine this as a Humber Super Snipe and the Zephyr as a Hawk. Ford up to then were typcially more fussy (Cortina – deep side strakes, complex rear lamps, wood trim on the estate, Anglia – reverse rake rear window, Consul – all of the above plus fins)
For 1962, this seems a very clean and airy design, even with fins, is quite simple and, to 1960s British eyes, not very American, other than the size. The Vauxhall Cresta pulled off the same trick, but not as successfully.