Posted at the Cohort by Alberto Simon
Yes, it’s wearing a Ford overcoat, with all the typical Ford international design elements of the times (1980s). Looks a bit like a cross between a Fairmont, Cortina and Euro-Granada. But the coat just doesn’t fit properly…that wheelbase is so short. What’s hiding under it?
Aha! There’s a Renault 12 under there, of all things.
Ok; if your reading retention is a bit better than average, you’ll remember that this Del Rey is an evolution of the Brazilian Corcel, which Rubens wrote in detail about here. It started out as a Willys project, using the R12 as the basis for a FWD Brazilian variant. Ford bought Willys before it came to market, so it was always a Ford Corcel, despite its Renault bones. And the Del Rey is an evolution of the Corcel. Behind that Ford grille sits a 1.6 L four, called the Ford CHT, which is an evolution of the Renault Cleon-Fonte engine, which first appeared in the 1962 R8. Later versions also used a VW 1.8 l four. That Ford overcoat is a bit too wide too.
The Del Rey was built from 1981 to 1991, when it was replaced by the Ford Versailles (no, not that Versailles), based on the VW Sanatana. Yes, things get a bit complicated in South America.
Related: Ford Corcel: The Confusing History of a Multi-National Classic by Rubens
Another new find South of the Border! it’s interesting to see the Panther and T-Bird weren’t Ford’s only questionably proportioned efforts of the era.
Calling the proportions questionable is very generous. As if the overhang-to-wheelbase ratio isn’t bad enough, that front 3/4 view highlights the body-too-wide-for-track problem. It looks like a kid wearing his dad’s clothes.
I’m assuming that the wheel gap in the back isn’t stock, and is due to either uneven parking or owner modification?
I almost wonder if the front track is wider than the rear.
It is, by 4 centimeters (about 1.6 inches).
Isn’t the front track on FWD vehicles almost always wider than the rear? All of that running gear up front needs room to operate.
This car had its rear suspension jacked up so that it could carry heavier loads. Probably used by a construction worker, painter, plumber etc.
I think the name is actually Del Rey, not Del Ray. You can see it in the rear badge.
In any case, that is a somewhat sad looking car. Somehow I’m even seeing 2nd generation Accord in the side view along with early 80’s VW/Audi influences.
Nevertheless, something new I learned about today, so thanks for that!
Ooops; fixed now.
I had the same feeling when I was a child, that the optical group looks sad. It reminds me the 80’s to 90’s, when a lot of people from Argentina used to go on vacation to the Brazilian beaches, me and my cousins enjoyed seeing so many different cars from there, related to Del Rey, we used to nickname the Ford Taunus as “big Del Rey” and the Peugeot 505, the “angry Del Rey”.
Indeed it is Del Rey (sometimes stylized as Del Rëy). Like Lana del Rey, although I’m sure it has to be a coincidence (?). I really like the looks of these cars, and you can still very rarely seen them here in Chile, where they were somewhat common for the segment. The Investigations Police used them as well.
Investigations Police favorite model? Kind of analogous to Argentina’s security forces favoring green Ford Falcons in the 1970s and 80s?
Not so much, however during the Brazilian military government seeing one of this Chevrolet Veraneio meant serious trouble to be happen…
Not really. Investigaciones had some Del Rey, but they were never their most common vehicle. And Investigaciones wasn’t the organ most focused on chasing leftists. That was the CNI, and they were most well known for using Chevrolet Opala (like this one https://www.flickr.com/photos/riveranotario/13388346353)
Here you can see old Investiagaciones vehicles, if you want to. I compiled this gallery from a Facebook group of old detectives. Pictures of their vehicles are not that easy to find, I don’t know why. Their most common car seems to have been the Chevrolet Nova.
http://ripituc.blogspot.cl/2015/01/viejos-autos-de-investigaciones-de-chile.html
And the Corcel/Del Rëy family had the Pampa, too. It was an Ute and was sold wearing the Jeep badge in its 4×4 version. Talk about multiple personalities…
Looks like a cross between a VW Fox and a Lancia Gamma.
One thing that amazes me on this R12 underpinnings is how though these cars are. These Corcel, Del Rey and other variants are still used in great number on the countryside doing all sorts of jobs because of its reliability ruggedness.
Hmmm., I’m holding out for a Plymouth Biscayne! ?
It shares more than a passing resemblance to a Fox Mustang prototype from March 1976.
Good catch!, It sure does!
All it needs is the ‘Ghia’ treatment. 😉
There ya go!
the inside door pulls look really low…
The inside door latch handles were also low on the ’79 Mustang, which was the first year it was built on the Fox platform, and likely the basis for that ’76 design study.
For whatever reason, that was a one-year only thing…they moved up toward the windowsill in ’80.
At this time, my uncle was a Ford grade 15-ish middle manager. He always had different new cars. When the 1979 Mustang came, he had one in silver with a red interior (IIRC as I only saw it once 37 years ago).
My aunt hopped in and drove to choir practice and then couldn’t get out as she never imagined the door latches were so far forward and close to the floor.
So she flagged down another choir member and had them open the door from the outside. She was convinced that they had forgotten to install them at the factory and only after getting the door open did they see them at the bottom of the door.
My uncle was surprised that this location had survived prototype builds and reviews (no doubt by long armed men), and predicted that this would be a one year only feature and it was!
(Keep in mind, Ford was hemorrhaging money in these days. Spending anything to retool the mechanisms and door inner stamping as well as the trim cut-outs, for right and left sides, means a Ford realized this had been a serious design mistake.)
LoL.
LOL… Long time ago I bought a 1988 2.3 Convertible Mustang (one of worst cars I ever had) and my wife always made fun of me saying: “So…. what about that convertible Del Rey of yours?”
HahHah!
Those overhangs remind me of a Monaco/ Premier.
Reminds me of an old Datsun/Nissan Sentra 200 SX – sort of – but much cheaper.
The Del Rey was Ford’s atempt to fix its big blunder which was launching the Maverick instead of an adaptation of the German Taunus to compete against GM’s Opala, which was based on the Opel Rekord C, and during its long career (23 years) sold around 1 million times x 100.000 Mavericks; the first Brazilian Mavericks had the old Willys 2600 6 cylinder engine that had a very particular sound (sound of old-school) and to see a novelty on the marked drive by and hear that sound was indeed deeply disturbing; it took a while until a modern engine was installed but that was already too late. The Del Rey sold better and its design owed a lot to the German Granada launched in the 70’s.
more than a passing resemblance
The Versailles was just one more example of the horrendous practice of badge engineering – a deformed VW Santana.
That looks almost as bad the Versailles we had here in the States!
I think you are being too harsh on the Versailles. It wasn’t a bad-looking car considering the fact that the 91/92 Santana wasn’t that good as a starting point.
The Versailles Royale 2-door wagon, albeit not very practical, had a quite interesting design, the same for the 2-door sedan, and the final year Versailles Ghia lost all that cheesiness of the past years and was nicer than the equivalent Santana GLSi in my opinion.
Really like that wagon. I’ve always been a fan of 2-door wagons and that’s perhaps the most “modern” one I’ve ever seen.
In Argentina these were badged as Ford Galaxy (not Galaxie, but Galaxy).
I think the German Granada still looked a lot better than the American one… or any American Ford sedan of the era.
Actually Del Rey just got that name because Granada in Portuguese is Grenade and Cortina is curtain, otherwise even the name it would be the same.
But then, us Portuguese people got Granadas, Cortinas and, worse, the Opel Ascona… and the only one that got bad jokes was the latter…
Strangely, the German Taunus was sold in Argentina during the 1970s and early 1980s. Why they hadn’t sold in Brazil is a mystery.
Because Ford could adapt all the machinery from Willys as well the engines in the Maverick, however Taunus was a generation ahead in technology and to produce him locally Ford would have to renew the whole plants as well bring motors from Europe, so they chose the shorter way. The backfire is that the Maverick could never go near to the natural rival of Taunus, de Rekord C based Opala. The ” Maveko” is beautiful to the eyes, but it was heavier, bigger outside and quite smaller than the Chevrolet Opala inside. The outdated engines from Willys also helped to get the things even worse for the Maverick…
Exactly, but the Brazilian car buyer proved not to be so foolish as ford had expected: of course the investment for a Taunus based model would have paid off on the long run.
The German model that Ford considered for production was the P7 from 1969-71. This was a direct competitor to the Opel Rekord C (Chevrolet Opala in Brazil), larger than the Taunus and a very pleasant design for the time. However, that line was ending its run, production costs would be high and there was no engine available (the P7 used V4 and V6 motors). So the idea was dropped. The Taunus went to Argentina because in that country it was possible to import a large proportion of parts. Brazil would not allow the use of foreign manufactures.
The decision to produce the Ford Taunus in Argentina was inspired by the success of the new generation of European compacts such as the Renault 12, Fiat 128 and Dodge 1500 (Hillman Avenger) in the Argentine market. The latter actually saved Chrysler Argentina from closure.
The requirements for locally produced parts were very similar in Argentina and Brazil.
It is interesting to notice that Ford’s Brazilian products are usually a generation older than Argentine ones. For example: while Brazil produced the 1967 Ford F100 until the 80s, in Argentina it was upgraded to the 1973 restyling; the same applies when you compare the Brazilian Galaxie (’65) and the Argentine Fairlane (Torino ’68) both soldiering on right into the 80s.
Closed markets explain that. Only in the 90’s have Brazil and Argentina integrated their economies somewhat. Before that, the Taunus would have had been made in Brazil to have been reasonably sold there.
Paul could have given me 100 guesses and I wouldn’t have gotten the R12 as the donor car. And who knew Ford had a stash of Audi 80/4000 taillights in Brazil?
Looks like a squished Mk5 Cortina taillight to me.
That’s right, they started stretching the Mk4 taillights to put in the Mk5 and so for the Del Rey. The SW version of the Corcel seems to have the same taillights from the Granada Mk4.
The four-door Del Rey looked a little better balanced since it eliminated the two-door’s too-long doors.
Someday I’m gonna compile a list of cars that “work” (stylewise) better as 4 doors. When I was a kid, all the “cool” kids believed the 2 door version of ANY car was better looking. They were wrong of course.
I agree with your assessment, but then I’ve only ever owned 1 2 door, a ’94 Saab 900 convertible I’d just as soon as forget.
The flip side of your list is equally interesting: How many 2 doors were better looking than their sedan counterparts? Obviously this excludes any classes of 2 doors (pony cars, personal luxury cars) for which there are no sedan counterparts.
Current Rolls Royce. Interesting idea for a story, maybe as a QOTD.
The Del Rey was an attempt to substitute the full size Landau line in the early 80’s. For sure, there was nothing like the Landau, but anyway, Ford tried with the Del Rey. The Del Rey was acclaimed at the times for it´s VERY cushy ride. In virtue of its very long course suspension, the car virtually rode just like a GALAXIE LANDAU. I can remember riding at these cars and they were remarkbly comfortable and noiseless. Almost a chamber…..
In 1992, the venerable Del Rey was substituted by the Versailles. In a crazy automotive partnership movement, suddenly there was Autolatina, a joint venture between Ford and VW. Prior to the Versailles, in 1989, the Del Rey swan song was the adoption of the VW 1.8 powerplant, which gave Del Rey new life for the coming years. The Versailles was a version of the VW Santana. I personallly prefer Santana´s style, but Versailles was not bad at all. It had it virtues, but never had the charisma of the Del Rey, or even its comfort. The Del Rey dashboard was kind of reference in the 80´s and for any Brazilian car of any time. There was no more dashboards in our local industry just like Del Rey´s was. I miss riding these cars.
Ford never attempted to substitute the Landau with a full-size model, the Del Rey was introduced shortly after the demise of the ill-fated Maverick, (and ten years after the last Landau rolled out). Like the Maverick, it was large for Brazilian standards, but called called “compact” in the States and it falls clearly into that category. The Galaxie/LTD/Landau family was the only American full-size car ever made in Brazil; the Dodge Dart was big for Brazilian standards, but something between compact and intermediary in the American market (both were also the last locally made V8s)
What do you mean by “ten years” after the last Landau? The first Del Rey came out in 81 and the last Landau was in 83…
You’re right about the timing, but Landau was in its last years a very low numbers model and the Del Rey was never intendet to wear Landau’s mantle, but rather the Maverick’s plus Corcel’s. (II)
Around 1979, both the Maverick and the Galaxie/Landau were on their last legs. Ford was in a dillema: either get out of the Brazilian market or find a replacement. At the time they were considering the production of the European FWD Escort and there was no money for a middle range car. So they decided to refurbish the 2nd generation Corcel from 1978, creating the Del Rey as a “luxury” option. It was a mitigated success, since it had to contend with the VW Santana and the Chevrolet Monza (Opel Ascona/U.S. Cavalier). Total sales amounted to 350,000 units in 10 years; not bad considering the size of the Brazilian market.
This is the 1992 Versailles 2 door. It had a very good look in this pearl white coat.
This is the VW Santana, Versailles counterpart. I had one just like the one in the picture, at the same pearl white coat. It was an awesome car. Its 2.0 powerplant was nice and it was equipped with ABS brakes, A/C, automatic, Recaro bucket seats and every possible goods of those times. The only possible option, that mine had not, was the sunroof. The one portraited is a 1994. Mine was 1992 and the only difference was basically the whells. These was very good cars, with a very soft suspension and very quiet.
Del Rey´s dashboard!
Never liked that car. Being from Chile, these were more or less common. A relative had a Del Rey Ghia with power everything (for the times): windows didn’t work, central locking only sometimes, automatic transmission made strange shifts and so on. It was so aesthetically unbalanced, full of “luxury” (which didn’t work), cheap plastics, and not comparable with other popular cars of similar size (e.g. Peugeot 504, Mazda 626, Toyota Corona, Honda Accord).
The huge overhang is because the longitudinal engine sits before the front axle and, unlike Audis of the times, the radiator in front of it.
As a kid, I always found the front looked so sad…
BTW: I just learnt very recently (in the Corcel article) its Renault-ness. Thanks CC for that!
I see your blue Del Ray front and i raise you the front of a Dacia 1410 from the 1990s. The 1410 is also based on the R12, but was the front clip “imported” from South America?
If you think this is the worst 80/90s update on a 70s car you aint seen the Chevrolet Opla coupe!.
Surely not, give the Romanians some credit 😉 Curiously, Dacias seem to have had some little success in Uruguay.
I love my pullback diecast model of the Ford Del Rey… from a newstand collection edited in Brazil, from which some models were repackaged as new collections in Perú and Chile.
More pictures:
http://ripituc.blogspot.cl/2015/01/autos-para-el-recuerdo-no-8-ford-del.html
I think that vertical-bar grille suits it better than the aero-look one on the 1:1 scale version. Assuming the diecast must have been based on a pre-facelift version…
Exactly
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ifhp97/27320936355
The styling of this car is bizarre . Which isn’t a bad feature after all .