Ford Consul

Ford Consul was the model name of a mid-range car made by the British Ford factory in the 1950s and that of a European upper mid-range Ford in the early 1970s.

Ford Consul (Great Britain, 1950–1962)

Ford Consul I.

Consul I (1950–1956)

The British Ford works presented a new mid-range car in 1950. It was the first European Ford to have a modern, self-supporting pontoon body and a newly designed gasoline engine with overhead valves, 1.5 l displacement and 48 hp (36 kW). Ford continued to use the three-speed transmission from its predecessor; only the top two gears were synchronized . The rear wheels were suspended from leaf springs with a conventional rigid axle. The new type of front suspension was developed by the American engineer Earle S. MacPherson : The main innovation consists of the MacPherson strut firmly connected to the steering knuckle , which guides the wheel together with a simple wishbone and the transverse stabilizer .

The MacPherson axis has prevailed since then. As a rule, there are no longer any wheel-guiding anti-roll bars, instead a triangular wishbone is used instead of the simple wishbone. Where present, the stabilizer is connected to the wishbones via coupling rods.

Consul II (1956–1962)

Ford Consul II

1956 Ford presented a new generation of the Consul with the internal designation 204E. It had a body in line with contemporary tastes and an engine that was enlarged to 1700 cm³ and developed 60 HP (44 KW). Like the previous model, it was not offered in Germany. Ford Köln (FK) did not take over the English car, but instead developed its own model in the same size, the Taunus 17M P2 .

With the model change in 1962, the British Ford works gave up the name of "Consul" for the top models, the model with the 1700 cc four-cylinder petrol engine of the Consul II was now called "Zephyr 4", the better-equipped models with six-cylinder engine " Zodiac ".

Ford Consul 315, type 110E

See main article: Ford Consul Classic

Ford Consul Classic

The Ford Consul 315 is a 4,338mm long mid-size sedan built in the UK from 1961-64. With its peculiar body shape and the rear window sloping backwards, it was not a great success and was replaced in 1964 by the Ford Corsair (based on the Cortina ). According to the brochure, its 1340 cm³ four-cylinder Kent engine has an output of 56.5 hp (42 kW) at 5000 rpm. The power was transferred to the rear wheels via a synchronized four-speed gearbox with steering wheel shift . The weight is given as 918 kg ready to drive. On the continent it was imported to Switzerland, among other places.

Ford Consul (Europe, 1972-1975)

Ford Consul sedan

When the model change in the upper middle class in March 1972, the British and German models were merged in two variants by a common European successor model with the same body:

The Consul followed the German Taunus 17M and the British Zephyr 4, the Granada on the German Taunus 20M and 26M and the English Zephyr 6 and Zodiac . In the years 1972–1974, the name Consul, which was new in Germany, marked the more simply equipped models. From March 1975 the entire model series was only available as Granada in Germany . Previously, in January 1974, the fastback lines for the coupés and two-door sedans of both series, which were not very well received in Germany, had been straightened.

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  Rear view

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  Ford Consul Tournament

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  Ford Consul Coupé (from 1974)

Web links

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