Very Good. The warning lights are ignition and oil pressure. This was from a time when every journey was, if not an adventure, then certainly an event to be planned. In the winter you had to start the car at least 15 minutes before you wanted to leave. It took that long for the heater to produce even a vague amount of anything near heat. In the summer the seats got hot enough to cook a full English breakfast. Hills were a area to practice your gear changes as you had shift constantly up and down to keep up momentum. This often resulted in smelly clutches too. Steep descents had a similar effect on the brakes . This was true for just about any car from the same era. Now we complain if the cup holders are a bit of a stretch . Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. Oh so many memories . Thanks for the trip down the memory B Road. Love it.
@@grayfool I had an early diesel Citroën C5 Estate and warning lights popped up like Christmas trees until one day the car went into limp-home more. A local specialist said it was an economic write-off so I sold him it for squat. The next week, he'd fixed it and it passed me at speed!
Love the simplicity, remember it well. The dip switch on the floor completed the ABCD after Accelerator, Brake, Clutch. Really lovely to work on. As much as I love them, we’ve come a long way since then but this reminds me not ALL progress is progress. Credit to those that restored it. Thanks for posting
My favourite childhood car of the 60’s. My uncle had a dark blue one. Even as a child I thought everything about it looked right. In styling it was essentially a huge American tank scaled down for British roads. Wonderful.
I am from Texas and I so enjoy your channel! As a small child in the sixties we got Corgi and Matchbox cars that weren't imported here, and you show us those cars that I remember from so long ago.
My dad had a blue Consul. And I often sat in the middle in the front. Broke down once - half way between Doncaster and Pwllheli (Butlins!). Benevolent AA man on a bike combo fixed it. The Consul was very comfy, looked great. The MG1100 that replaced it might have been far more advanced but didn't seem to me as a kid a patch on the Consul. And that got the usual subframe problems of course. Thanks for the memory recall!
Love reading all these comments on memories of this little beauty. It shows how your omnipresent description is accurate with so many men my age with all these personal tidbits. Quite unique.
My uncle had a Consul in attractive pale blue with black roof - how I loved it. Came home from school one day to discover we'd got one too!!! Same grey as this. Loved the curved padded dashboard speedometer binnacle. Intrigued as a six year old what was going on to create the musical whine? . . . . Actually it was changing down to second!
This brings back memories of my childhood. My Dad had a White Consul andthen a Burgandy one. Both had 3 speed Column change front bench seat which i sat in. All the family had to rock forward and back when we were going up steep hills , still makes me smile to this day.
This brought back memories. My dads first car was a pale blue ‘58 consul which he bought in ‘66. I cut my teeth on all things mechanical helping him service it and every spring he’d sort all the rust out. But it did take us all over UK on family holidays and never once broke down. I passed my driving test in ‘71 and although he wouldn’t let me learn in it I did drive it a couple of times after I passed. I loved the column mounted gear selector. I think he kept it for 10 years.
@@MrWarneet Yes mate a year later and still nothing to watch on a Sunday night, thank god for video clips like this. Wonder what Sean's problem is, maybe jealousy, anyway keep safe.
Les Reed usually happened if you allowed oil leaks to get out of hand that usually allowed oil to get onto the rubbers. I had a mk3 Zephyr from 68k to 95k miles with no gear change issues apart from my mates not being able to cope with the column shift 😂
@@lesreed9269 Pain in the arse is right! In 1984 my girlfriend had a 1972 Mk 1V Zephyr. The gear linkages regularly jammed if you tried to change too quickly. The only way to free it again was to crawl under the car and manually giggle the linkages near to the gear-selecter!!
My favourite English Ford from the time. A mini Customline. The later revision looks so much better with the lower roof and neat tail lights. What a treat to see one in action. Cheers.
I remember these when they were new. I've always loved them. I had experience of the vacuum wipers on my first car (a 1960 Ford Popular 100E) and they certainly were a challenge, especially if you were pressing on. Likewise the 3 speed gearbox, on a twisty hilly road where you struggled to find a compromise between crazy revs in second and no power in third. Still loved it though👍👍
My second car and such good memories, 553 AYN a low line Ford Consul Mk 2, i brought a second one VYP 122 for spares, yes vacuum wipers , column gear change through links and rods never a problem and that wonderful bench seat, what could be better for a 17 year old. white roof with Ludlow green below, yes bloody marvellous and i bet i am not the only one to say i wish i still had it ! the car had a red engine which denoted a Ford Recon unit, i think the originals were dark blue, from the consul i went on to owning two Mark 3 Zodiacs, 413 FYT and ECH 39C great cars but fuel consumption was a nightmare, but at 30p gallon who cared, i always wanted a Mark 4, Zodiac Exec, but marriage got in the way.
Fantastic stuff . I grew up in NZ being carted around in my Dad's '62 Mark II Zephyr with the 2.6 litre 6 cylinder, two tone, white over green lowline with the 3 on the tree. This car was a classic then (80's). I always remember the vacuum powered wipers that would practically stop working driving up a hill and the t-bar umbrella handbrake. He would cruise at 60-70 mph comfortably in it.
My father had a huge accident in one of these in the early 1960s . Slid off the road in pouring rain about ten miles outside Scarborough.Nothing to do with the bald tyres on the back of course ! He hit a telegraph pole near side on and ended up with broken ribs etc. Tough car even though it ended up very banana shaped. No seat belts of course . He was very lucky and back to work in a week . Tough bloke
Yes this bought back memories for me too my grandad had a 1960 deluxe version in white with a green roof,I think his had leather seats with big chunky armrests front and rear,on his it said interior on the heating control. Yes we used to fill up the boot and head off to Skeggy for our holidays, as hubnut would say,"good times". Thank you .
Lovely car. Great review. Thank you. Dearborn certainly called the shots on the styling back then: 2 parts 54 Ford, 1 part 55 Ford, reduce by 1/4. Job done!
Great to see a survivor from the 60's being used. I was a child then being driven about in a 1963 Ford Classic, looks so similar to this with the red interior. Went all the way from Kent to Scotland 5 up for a holiday. I do remember having to plan parking as the linkage to select reverse let it down frequently, helping out by passengers pushing back out of parking spaces! Paint was so bad from new that it had a full body spray after 5 years!
My late Dad had one of these. I remember he loved it except for the windscreen wipers, which slowed down to nothing at higher speeds. He ended up fitting an electric windscreen wiper motor from some sports car or other that happened to be physically compatible, which worked a treat. He eventually replaced the Consul with a Ford Anglia, which he found slow by comparison (it must have been REALLY slow!). Great cars.
We had an identical Consul Hi Line, even the same year and colour, which I took my test in . That was May 1970, and we sold it soon after for the grand sum of £60 as it was suffering from an advanced infection of tin worm. The vacuum screen wipers were a pain. I never understood why these cars didn't have a vacuum tank, as fitted to 100E models well before this Consul was built. We had a 1958 100E Thames van so equipped and it made a big difference. I imagine ride and handling is better now than it was in the 1960s with the arrival of radial tyres. Ours had crossply Good Year G8 which weren't the best.
Oh, the memories! In the early '60s my dad had a Consul whose bench seat/column change would let 4 adults + 5 kids squeeze up for a 20-mile Sunday run out to the coast. Nobody seemed aware of a lack of 'oomph', and as for safety features, post-war folk just accepted life as risky. I grew up working on such cars, armed with a simple set of A/F spanners and, of course, lots of body filler. Happy days.
As Stephen Davis says below here in oz, thank god for some viewing on a Sunday night. More so my dad had a new one, same colour etc. in Brisbane, though it had a white roof. Lots of memories. Mum then drove a Standard Vanguard Six Estate (station wagon here in oz). Lovely memories of those cars. My dad was a Ford man for most of his life with a brief dalliance with Holden in the early 60s after the Consul.
There were a stack of Zephyrs / and Consuls in Briz in the 60's . They looked pretty mean. I was easily influenced as a kid by any English TV cop shows.
best car ford made, the mk2's. i do wish though that people would call them consul's not console's as it make getting spares harder, when looking on ebay you get loads of centre consol's, i love mine and it cruises fine just make sure you leave plenty of room for stopping, also it is lowline not lowlight! great review btw, love the vids. for us 1980's rockers it was the car to have, so we all did.
Loved the Mk2's had quite a few, mostly Zodiacs. Early 70's you could pick them up for £25-£50 .... with or without an MOT which you could usually get for a fiver from your tame local MOT tester :-) The Vauxhall PA's were even BETTER .... (Same price range too)
My dad had a 1959 in St. Louis ,Mo. The only new car he ever bought. It was the same color as Live Boy soap . He loved it! I learned to drive on that car. It was a great little car. The plastic seat covers ,baked by the sun , cracked and had to be redone. We had to replaced the valve seals ,other than that we had no problems. Traded it in for a 64 Falcon.
The Mk2 consul was an excellent Ford effort..ours was used for hackney work and carried 8 adult stacked inside, half crown a head to the Football field 20 mile there and 20 back. The same to the church and back. Then Easter meant 320miles runs on the worst roads there to meet the American boat. After Easter, the same again and back but carrying luggage loaded on the roof rack and on tbe boot rack. The same just before Christmas. They were very strong bodies. It never died nor lay down on the job, instead, my Dad skidded on cow poo coming down a hill, demolished a heavy duty stone wall, oddly enough, she might have been straightened out but for those diagonal braces to the top of the suspension struts, They refused to buckle and the whole car was knocked out of square, which was very noticable when trying to close the door. She was sold off and repaired by a genius who left it needed an extra 3 inches of road to overtake and park. The consul M1 was a rotten heap but the Mk2 had a well deserved good name. The same year Zephers and Zodiacs were more expensive but not as economic or reliable. We replace the Consul with a 1ltr VW microbus (split screen) which could carry 14 + people and do 30 to the gallon and make lots of Half Crowns, ( 12.5 cents todays money) Our VW microbus beat everything on 4 wheels and drove on ice and snow without a bother. Sing up Mary Hopkins Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end, We sing and dance forever and a day,, we,d , , , ,
My Aunt hod an older one of these in the early 70's....I remember it had 3 round 'vents' on the tops of the wings.....LOVED that car! Could get about eight of us in!
Back in the mid 80s, my mother had a 1977 Chrysler Avenger (S-reg) with those vinyl seats and I remember them burning my legs in the summer. At the same time my father had a 1977 Morris Marina (also S-reg) with fabric seats and by goodness that car was so much better in the summer.
This was the car I first learned to drive with in 1973/4. I still have the little red driving licence book I had at the time. The dash was the same painted grey metal as the outside of the car. I was my father's car. It was always parked pointing downhill in-case the battery was flat. I remember that a wheel came off the car twice; once while it was being driven. Like all of the cars of that era there was no rust prevention for the chassis or body of the car. All the rust was from the inside out. My current car is a 1994 Toyota Corolla. It is 25 years old and there is no rust on it. Not one of the British cars I ever drove survived the rust bug. I had a fairly reliable Fiat 600D (with the rear hinged doors). A Triumph Herald passed the MoT with a large rust hole in the floor. A Fiat X-19 came with rust as standard. Has anyone seen a surviving Austin Ambassador?
A beautiful thing Matt. Thank you. I remember my Uncle taking my brothers and me out in a yellow Mk 2 Zodiac in the 70s. Everything was yellow and it had a big horn ring. Subtle ship she was not but sensational when your 8. Thanks 👍👍
The MkII Consul was my first car in 1971 so naturally I loved it. I drove it from England to Greece and back via most of western Europe. That included going over the Alps as the tunnel had not been built then. (Hot sunshine in the valley, snow at the top,) That vacuum wiper was horrid but a foot dip switch is something I'd like to see in modern cars. Incidentally the 375 version had over-riders on the bumpers, the MkII did not not. The gear change was a delight as it used rods not cables.
My first car: a 1959 Mk II (lowline) in black over 'Panama' yellow. We called it the mustard pot. Most we ever got in was 11 - 6 in the back, 5 in the front and changing gear through the steering wheel. Happy days!
Brilliant mate many thanks it brings back good memories of my youth years too, the biggest drawback hey had was their vacuum operated wipers if you was overtaking on say the A1 in the rain you needed to go flat out same time u had to lift off so the wipers could speed up for u to see where u was going, very hairy at times, they never had sychomesh on first gear slowing down to turn u had to slip the clutch at times or crunch it into first gear had a MK 1 cost me 25 quid n a MK2 Zodiac 2553 cc of a Beautiful strait 6 engine, If I remember right Gene Vincent was driving when they crashed n Eddie Cochrane sadly passed away n Gene Vincent ended up with a limp they where performing at the Empire theater Finsbury park, where we used to go n see Cliff Richards n the Shadows top back seats 1 shilling n 9 pence one day we went there it was half a crown we asked why n was told its couple or RnR singers from the states was the first I heard of them both But was well worth the money great stuff mate for us folks long in the tooth
I remember vacuum driven wipers on my Father's Consul. The faster the car went , the slower the wipers went . No Health and Safety in those days. Best wishes , hope you are well , glad we survived standing on the passenger seat with your head out of the sun roof , or being left in the car while the Dad had a few drinks , and then drove home .
@@buickmclean8163 I had a 1955 maybe 56 MKI consul the vacuum wipers would go mad on the overrun n slow to a crawl accelerating even my MKI Zodiac had those biggest problem was when overtaking and you needed to accelerate as fast as possible in the rain you accelerated your wipers almost stopped so u had to lift up momentarily to see the incoming traffic n step on it like mad after hopping, you'll make it same time is was a great life mate much more innocent and honest life very helpful much kinder people ,in 1961 my father came here to visit my sister her husband in London I was riding my NSU prima 150cc scooter (PAID £30) got a rear flat tyre a bloke stopped said u got a spare any tools? he could see I had no spare He took my wheel out drove 7 miles down the road had it repaired put it on and as i was very embarrassed as I wanted to pay him not just for the repair but for his trouble n kindness too n i was counting my pennies/shillings he tap me on the shoulder n said u broke aren't you with a huge smile then said have it on me mate I had some good times in Cyprus when I was stationed there Will you get this anywhere else on earth? it was by Far the best country on earth as far as am concerned still a good country now but nothing to what it was cheers
Nice to see such a good example. These were plentiful in Australia at one time too. Even today though, no-one is much into restoring them, preferring the 6cyl Zephyrs. The green light would be the oil pressure light, and cables on the gearshift? Nah, it's all rods and linkages. Cheers.
I actually past this video by hundreds of times because it wasn't a Zephyr or Zodiac. Turns out I loved it. You looked comfortable driving the Consul and the cabin gave off a nice cosy well insulated feel. Those looks were so much better than what was available at the time. I remember being driven by my Uncle in a yellow Zodiac with a white and yellow interior and a beautiful big chrome horn ring on the steering wheel. It didn't feel hard it felt really soft and wafty.
I remember seeing these cars in the late 70's and into the 80's. Saw them at car shows too. So rock n roll, I would love to take one and mod it out even though I normally always prefer 'factory'.
Lovely car. Passed my driver's licence in one in Johannesburg, thankful it wasn't raining. Was a knack double-declutching into first gear to keep momentum up a steep hill.
I changed the rubber wiper hose for a plastic one ( from beer brewing kit ) and it made A WORLD of difference. Mine was two-tone,maroon and white,plastic covers on the leather seats,and the horn was a chrome half-ring in the centre of the steering wheel. It looked a bit more upmarket than the one he showed.
My dad's Mk 2 Zephyr was the only one of his several Fords that impressed me around 1968, among a succession of mainly duff motors . Sadly it went banger racing. The most memorable moment was the bonnet flying up at speed.
Great review of a lovely old Ford. You must have been parked near the entrance to the twighlight zone, as the person walking their dog disappeared into it at 5:48. 😜
Yes, I saw that, too, as I'm sure we all made a mental note of it but you're the only one (so far) possessing the wherewithal to possibly, say, send a search party looking for the dog's companion. Maybe.
My dad had one, two tone blue, reg was PSP 100, he was a Ford fan, sit up and beg Ford Pop, Consul 375, Consul Classic, Mk1 1600, Mk2 2000E, Mk3 2000E, 2.5 Litre Granada, 3.0 Litre Granada, Mk 4 2.0 Litre Cortina GXL and finally a Sierra 2.0i, there was a Triumph 2 .5 Litre between the Granadas which he hated, before I was born in 1956 he had a V8 Ford Pilot.
I had the Mk.2 low line Consul,and the Mk.2 low line Zephyr,I was earning good money as a 17 year old in the 60s and bought the Consul,by my 19th birthday I had the Zephyr,both in white with the red interior,great motors.
My father had a blue one in which my sister and I used to watch the road go by...through a big rust hole in the floor! Pre MOT days presumably? Swapped it for a Super Minx. Happy days.
From what I've read, this was the first car ever mass produced with MacPherson struts. Earl MacPherson left GM after they canceled his pet project , the Chevrolet Cadet, which featured struts in all 4 corners, and saw his invention put to use in the front of the Consul. The struts didn't make it into the Cortina though, probably because it was hard to come up with seals, using 1960s technology, that sufficiently reduced the static friction that tended to make the ride harsh. MacPherson also designed the 1960 Falcon suspension, which used double wishbones and coil-overs instead of full-struts, so Ford had given up on them for a while, though they came roaring back on the 1976 Fiesta and FOX platform cars of the 1970s-1990s,
I remember quite a few of these around as a youngster here in Canada. All of the British cars, Vauxhall, Austin, Sunbeam etc would be the main import brands other than maybe the Volkswagen in those days. I have driven or been in almost all of them at one time or another, watching the video, it seems most of the Fords had slick working shifters although the vacuum wipers could get annoying though. I wonder if these systems had or could have benefited from a vacuum storage tank and some check valves?
First registered in Sept.'60 I bought my Consul '67 it was two tone blue and cost me £225 .00 . The wipers were a pain but my previous car was the 100E Anglia so I was used to it . There was an arm that pulled down in the middle of the front seat where my Jack Russell used to park himself with his backside in the recess .Happy days . 🇬🇧
Beautiful car indeed. My step-grandfather had a 59 Zodiac here in Toronto, Ontario. That was the first car I had seen go past the 100,000 mile mark. It was still running great. The Zephyr and Zodiac used the same body shell as Consul, but had a longer wheelbase because the front clip was lengthened to allow for the inline 6. The original Consul was the first production car to have MacPherson strut front suspension. Invented while he worked at GM on a still born project, MacPherson was hired on by Ford. Very interesting to see one now. Not seen any English Ford here for decades.
I remember back in the late 1980s my auntie had a mark 2 Zodiac laid up at the front of her house. I thought it was very cool but she hated having the car taking up valuable driveway space. It belonged to one of my cousins. It was eventually taken away and I pray that it was restored. I think it was a mark 2 Consul that was driven by Sid James in the epic* 1969 film "Carry On Camping". The one where Barbara Windsor's bikini top flies off. 😁
Matt W it was a slightly earlier version of the mk2, the one known as a hi-Line with a half moon speedo and smaller tail fins with more rounded tips and smaller tail lights
A lovely example! My grandpa owned a mk2 Ford consul in the late 60s, he sold it after a few years because of engine trouble but the guy he sold it to was a mechanic and he fixed the car and had it on the road for many years after! Unfortunately it's most likely been scrapped by now!
I'm glad you showed how to use column change I've only ever mainly driven floor shift manual and a couple of autobox cars (A 2 litre Cortina and ..a MINI !) . I think most American cars used column change (going by the films ). I must experience column change myself soon because I consider myself a competent driver @ 48 years old but you never stop learning different skills - I think the more variety of vehicles you drive the better a driver you become - you must be getting bloody good at it yourself as it's "what you do" :) Great video mate of course I'm subscribed and catching up with Furious Driving
We think this was my granddad's car. The registration is the same. He would only drive this in the dry, if it was raining we would be walking home. He took great pride in this car and yes he had the seat belts fitted when the seat belt law came in.
In 1976 aged just 16 and without having even a provisional driving license or, even knowing how to drive I bought my very first car. I bought it from a mate of mine whose name was Colin Boys but we all called him 'Percy'. He was also 16. The car was a 1959 Ford consul 375 highline with bench seats back and front and a 3 gear column change. It was also a total rust bucket when I got it with more body filler than body work. I never got to drive the car as it caught fire in a petrol garage whilst I was filling it up with petrol in Brixton, south London one freezing cold winters night in 1976. The fire which was in the engine bay burned out the wiring, battery and other stuff which meant the car was a financial right off so it ended up being scrapped.
The 375 model wore a circular, grille centre, badge marked 375. The badge here is an accessory . More importantly 375 model owners enjoyed front wheel disc brakes as a standard fitment. As a young man I was happier and speedier when I progressed To a lowline Zephyr. Unlike the top of the range Mk1 Zephyr Zodiac the Mk2's were Zephyr for the basic 6 cyl car and Zodiac for the range topper. P.S. either car when in good order would command about £250/£350 circa 1965. Neither would it be difficult to buy a convertible for similar money. Thanks for posting , Best Wishes , J and M .
Great car. Love the interior...those seats look comfy like sofas. I may have to put a pair of cricket pads on though if I was a front passenger...just for a little leg protection! 😂
Certainly takes you back , chrome in abundance, a lovely dash and very nice seats and wind screen wipers a certain chap in New Zealand would delight in . Great video as always .
We had 2 mk1s as family cars in succession my dad was a ford man most of his life,he and his brother bought a V8 Ute new in the 30s, his last car was a Falcon 500 1970 model, cheers Mal in au.
The window wipers where a built in safety feature to make you slow down in wet weather 😁...I had the Ford Zodiac Executive with its 7foot long bonnet. It was brilliant in a straight line but under steared then over steered on round abouts. It did around 12 MPG round town..It had a metal manually operated sunroof..
My father took a regency grey, red upholstered Zephyr mk2 out to New Zealand where he had been transfered. I am surprised that the only difference I can see is the 4 pot on the Consul is a 6 on the Zephyr. So happy memories here!
I had a 1962 primrose yellow convertible version of the 375 mark two. I believe it weighed well over a ton whenMT; it had two floors. Had an amazing heater, which it needed because the soft top was quite draughty. Top speed was something around 90, and the performance was generally quite good at the time. My wife wrote it off on the M1, but I bought it back for a tenner! Spent another tenner on it, and it was all okay.
V interesting. A lot of us don’t have any knowledge of pre Ford cortina era. Headlight beam or Brights switch on the floor was common back then. My folks had it on their old 1960a Vauxhall victor.
My Dad traded his Mk1 consul for a Mk2 back in the early 60's. A year later an english Assembled Mk2 came up for sale . With almost no mileage it was almost a new car,bought into New Zealand by a Kiwi returning home. It still had the UK plates(no idea what the number was now 50 years later) but it got registered with the NZ number BR 4 . It was white with a bright red roof,red interior with a reclining front bench seat .It served the family well for ac few years,even towing a big caravan on holidays .it was traded in 1965 for a new Mk3 zephyr and the new owner of BR 4 wrote it off after a big night in the pub. They were a very capable car and even came in convertible form,and Australia had a ute version but Ford Australia was run by an American who demanded that Ford sell Falcons,not Zephyrs etc.
Absolutely lovely. What a wonderful example of a real motor car. (Still have the image of a bank manager in fishnets in my head!) Great review, thanks Matt.
Hello again thoroughly enjoyed the video on the Consul MK2 lowline took me back to my own old MK2 Zodiac with three speed colum shift purchased in 1970/71 for £35 from a local second hand car dealer the engine was running on5 cylinders which was sorted out by setting the tappets lt then ran really well with the freewheel overdrive a boost to fuel economy 23/4 to the gallon l had to laugh at the vacuum wipers over taking in the rain and having to come off the throttle to see where l was going to very interesting indeed great and thanks again
I had a consul 375 being a young lad I had to mod it I put in a zodiac overdrive gearbox and crossmember and propshaft fits right up there and was great on the open roads.
This was my second car in 1971, second hand, sills rusted to hell but they'd been packed and painted so they looked ok until they fell off. Loved driving this settee on wheels, and the big bench seat in the front meant you didn't need to move into the back with your girlfriend! Reg 867AUV Biggest problem, the servo vacuum brakes which you needed to pump if they weren't serviced properly, or maybe that's just the way they were! First car was in 1967, a 1953 Ford Anglia 100e Side Valve, sit up and beg.
Had one in 1987. Cool as ****** but also slow as ****. No chance in today's manic traffic. Cold mornings would require start up 10-15 minutes before you went anywhere to have any chance of de-misting the windscreen. Loved the column change and chrome handbrake. The wipers were a nightmare.
I remember them, I was too young to understand in 1961 being just 5 years old, sometimes see those cars on the roads, if only I was older then, but then again I could be dead!.
Nice to watch this video, as it brought back memories of my 2nd car, a maroon coloured Ford Consul 375. It was actually 1703cc, not 1702cc. The two warning lights were red for ignition and green for oil pressure. I’ve not seen a Ford with 4-speed column change., but have you ever driven an Austin with 4-speed column change? First was back and up, whilst 2nd was back & down. Third was forward & up & Fourth was forward and down. Reverse was pull out the know allowing it to travel further forward and then down...
There's very little of the 60s in those old Consuls. The styling cues came mostly from the '54 US Ford models, along with the jet age affectations. It was actually designed by George Walker of Ford US in Dearborn so I suppose that was inevitable. Our neighbours in High Wycombe had a yellow '61 Consul. It had vacuum wipers which sped up with the engine revs. I had a '66 Corsair as my first car, which came out in '63 in its first incarnation. That summed up the 60s for me. And I do remember the 60s!
I had two Consuls one being a lowlife. Had to swap an engine on one outside on a very wet weekend. As a reach yourself mechanic in my early thirties the job was simple. With both cars had trouble with the exhaust manifold that was a non cast item. They were defiantly built on the cheap!
I like your coining of the term "Britican" to describe the car's styling, very much a scale rendition of the 1955-56 full-size American Ford sedans [saloons]... the Consul/Zephyr/Zodiac were probably the most widely sold British cars here in Canada in the early 60's, I suspect largely due to the 'familiar' styling, and the widespread Ford dealer network. Note also your repeated use of the term 'big', over here they were 'small' cars. Seats three across front and rear ? They'd have to be pretty friendly... LOL
The deluxe had a horn ring and carpets, plus cig. lighter. The wipers were a pain and an oddity, The Thames van of the same year had electric wipers, and the same engine and 'box. We used to swap the electric wipers into a consul. Also the washers should be a press pump, someone has fitted electric washers. The green light is oil pressure. The gear linkage is by rods. I bet the heater valve is rotted out and it runs the heater on hot permanently. Good to see the original air filter fitted. It's lowline/highline not 'light'. Otherwise you did a good review. :)))
Over here from your collaboration with Classic Britain , so far have watched this and the gas monkey pick up . Really enjoyed these so have subscribed . Had one of these about 30 years ago . Junked the hubcaps and bumpers , had the seats reupholstered , then sold it and bought a mk3 zephyr ! It's a cliché but l still wish l had the mk2 .Did that dvla thing where you put the number plate in and 4030 UE (my consuls reg) was registered to a newish BMW (so l assume the car has long gone) .
The 375 had a 4:11 diff, and it bolted straight into a facelift Mk 2 Zephyr for better acceleration. It even went into a Mk 3 if you changed the flange. Now, not many people know that.
Thank you for a very enjoyable video, Furious. My father had Zephyr's in 1950s, I could be wrong but I believe the 'high-line/low-line development applied to the original 'Mark 1' Zephyrs and Consuls
Yes, i'ts called a 204E. It's 1703cc and was made in High line and Low line. The 375 as far as I recall had Disc brakes.. The Ford Zephyr MK 2 was the 206E which was 2553cc. ? a long Time ago My first car was the Ford Zodiac MK 2. It was made in 1959. The reg number was PAJ 747 and it was made in gleaming erotic black. Now its all very well for you to sit in this ancient car and take the piss, but these cars are what was referred to as the 'State of the art' at that time.. 3 speed, manual gear change, bench seat, no synchro first gear. Heater and windscreen washers were extras. No radio or carpets, only rubber mats. The seatbelts are an added extra. Seatbelts only became compulsory in June 1966. Any questions ?
I learned to drive on a 1975 Chevelle Malibu with a "3 on the tree" shifter and manual steering to control all 3,700 pounds of it, so this is quite familiar. The shifter on that car tended to get stuck between 1st and 2nd gear, as the nub jumped the gate and jammed between the 1-R and 3-2 plates. I suspect that regular lubrication of these parts would have made them less prone to such problems, but it's also possible that a cable linkage on the column (as opposed to the typical levers), with one cable-per-gear, would have been just as tight as a cable linkage with the shifter on the floor, while still being more conveniently located. Floor shifters are closer to the transmission in RWD cars, but they made the car feel a lot more confined.
The styling is remeniscent of a '52-'54 Ford US spec., the roofline in particular. The vee shape badges on the front fenders are deceiving. I was hoping for a small v8 for a moment! Also appreciate the authors enthusiasm for The car- definitely a bread and butter ride. Not many made it over here that I remember. Nowhere near the likes of Jaguar, MG, Triumph, Cortinas, Austin Healeys etc. I like the '63-'65 Zodiacs.
Love my 1961 standard consul original 59,000 miles. i have original bill of sale cost £811 17s 6d wing mirrors £2 17s 6d radio was a staggering £21 18s 6d (£450 in today money) and the Ariel was £2 6s all fitted by the dealer before leaving the show room. my car is as it left the dealer, the only extras I'm fitting this year will be a 1960 record player (7in 45rpm) and 1961 reversing lights as was on my first Consul i purchased in 1963 for £275 and being a 1959 de-luxe in Conway yellow and black.
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Very Good. The warning lights are ignition and oil pressure. This was from a time when every journey was, if not an adventure, then certainly an event to be planned. In the winter you had to start the car at least 15 minutes before you wanted to leave. It took that long for the heater to produce even a vague amount of anything near heat. In the summer the seats got hot enough to cook a full English breakfast. Hills were a area to practice your gear changes as you had shift constantly up and down to keep up momentum. This often resulted in smelly clutches too. Steep descents had a similar effect on the brakes . This was true for just about any car from the same era. Now we complain if the cup holders are a bit of a stretch . Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. Oh so many memories . Thanks for the trip down the memory B Road. Love it.
So true. We moan that cars are too complicated now but heavens, how enormously reliability has improved over fifty-odd years.
@@kh23797 True. Not sure about the viability of all the ECUs though? One goes pop and a car that is otherwise fine, is a write off.
@@grayfool I had an early diesel Citroën C5 Estate and warning lights popped up like Christmas trees until one day the car went into limp-home more. A local specialist said it was an economic write-off so I sold him it for squat. The next week, he'd fixed it and it passed me at speed!
@@kh23797 Very nice of him!
Love the simplicity, remember it well. The dip switch on the floor completed the ABCD after Accelerator, Brake, Clutch.
Really lovely to work on. As much as I love them, we’ve come a long way since then but this reminds me not ALL progress is progress. Credit to those that restored it. Thanks for posting
My favourite childhood car of the 60’s. My uncle had a dark blue one. Even as a child I thought everything about it looked right. In styling it was essentially a huge American tank scaled down for British roads. Wonderful.
American cars had style back then . They were death traps with all of the in cab trim and horrid brakes but the made for beautiful sarcophgi .
I am from Texas and I so enjoy your channel! As a small child in the sixties we got Corgi and Matchbox cars that weren't imported here, and you show us those cars that I remember from so long ago.
I had a 1959 Consul in USA. Loved the car but eventually getting parts for it in ealy 1970s was impossible. It was like driving a mini tank! Solid!
Did many people know what it was?
My Dad had exactly the same car and colour, I remember all the controls and rear ashtray. I used to sit on his lap and help “drive”. Super video.
My dad had a blue Consul. And I often sat in the middle in the front. Broke down once - half way between Doncaster and Pwllheli (Butlins!). Benevolent AA man on a bike combo fixed it. The Consul was very comfy, looked great. The MG1100 that replaced it might have been far more advanced but didn't seem to me as a kid a patch on the Consul. And that got the usual subframe problems of course. Thanks for the memory recall!
Love reading all these comments on memories of this little beauty. It shows how your omnipresent description is accurate with so many men my age with all these personal tidbits. Quite unique.
My uncle had a Consul in attractive pale blue with black roof - how I loved it. Came home from school one day to discover we'd got one too!!!
Same grey as this. Loved the curved padded dashboard speedometer binnacle. Intrigued as a six year old what was going on to create the musical whine? . . . . Actually it was changing down to second!
This brings back memories of my childhood. My Dad had a White Consul andthen a Burgandy one. Both had 3 speed Column change front bench seat which i sat in. All the family had to rock forward and back when we were going up steep hills , still makes me smile to this day.
I remember doing that . Do n 't know if it helped , but you felt like you were doing something to help the poor old car .
This brought back memories. My dads first car was a pale blue ‘58 consul which he bought in ‘66. I cut my teeth on all things mechanical helping him service it and every spring he’d sort all the rust out. But it did take us all over UK on family holidays and never once broke down. I passed my driving test in ‘71 and although he wouldn’t let me learn in it I did drive it a couple of times after I passed. I loved the column mounted gear selector. I think he kept it for 10 years.
Thank god something to watch on a Sunday evening in Australia... Cheers...
Watching in England on a Sunday morning good evening Australia
Stephen Davis Same here.
Australia is the most overrated country in the world.
@@seanfitz79 so stay away - please...
@@MrWarneet Yes mate a year later and still nothing to watch on a Sunday night, thank god for video clips like this. Wonder what Sean's problem is, maybe jealousy, anyway keep safe.
There aren't any cables in the gearchange if memory serves. It's all to do with linkages
I think you're right there. My Renault 16 had a similar seat/column change combo. Nice!
Yes My Dad's have steel rod's and split pin linkages to the gearbox selector.
Yep - and the Mk III Zephyr/Zodiac was a pain in the arse, when the linkage wore - as there were more pivots/links, on account of being four speed.
Les Reed usually happened if you allowed oil leaks to get out of hand that usually allowed oil to get onto the rubbers. I had a mk3 Zephyr from 68k to 95k miles with no gear change issues apart from my mates not being able to cope with the column shift 😂
@@lesreed9269 Pain in the arse is right! In 1984 my girlfriend had a 1972 Mk 1V Zephyr. The gear linkages regularly jammed if you tried to change too quickly. The only way to free it again was to crawl under the car and manually giggle the linkages near to the gear-selecter!!
My favourite English Ford from the time. A mini Customline. The later revision looks so much better with the lower roof and neat tail lights. What a treat to see one in action. Cheers.
As a child in the 60s I travelled regularly in one of these and the Zodiac as well. Happy memories.
Me too . : )
I remember these when they were new. I've always loved them. I had experience of the vacuum wipers on my first car (a 1960 Ford Popular 100E) and they certainly were a challenge, especially if you were pressing on. Likewise the 3 speed gearbox, on a twisty hilly road where you struggled to find a compromise between crazy revs in second and no power in third. Still loved it though👍👍
My second car and such good memories, 553 AYN a low line Ford Consul Mk 2, i brought a second one VYP 122 for spares, yes vacuum wipers , column gear change through links and rods never a problem and that wonderful bench seat, what could be better for a 17 year old. white roof with Ludlow green below, yes bloody marvellous and i bet i am not the only one to say i wish i still had it ! the car had a red engine which denoted a Ford Recon unit, i think the originals were dark blue, from the consul i went on to owning two Mark 3 Zodiacs, 413 FYT and ECH 39C great cars but fuel consumption was a nightmare, but at 30p gallon who cared, i always wanted a Mark 4, Zodiac Exec, but marriage got in the way.
This doesn't try to look angry or sporty, like just about all the modern cars. This is just absolutely beautiful and stylish.
Fantastic stuff . I grew up in NZ being carted around in my Dad's '62 Mark II Zephyr with the 2.6 litre 6 cylinder, two tone, white over green lowline with the 3 on the tree. This car was a classic then (80's). I always remember the vacuum powered wipers that would practically stop working driving up a hill and the t-bar umbrella handbrake. He would cruise at 60-70 mph comfortably in it.
My father had a huge accident in one of these in the early 1960s . Slid off the road in pouring rain about ten miles outside Scarborough.Nothing to do with the bald tyres on the back of course ! He hit a telegraph pole near side on and ended up with broken ribs etc. Tough car even though it ended up very banana shaped. No seat belts of course . He was very lucky and back to work in a week . Tough bloke
Yes this bought back memories for me too my grandad had a 1960 deluxe version in white with a green roof,I think his had leather seats with big chunky armrests front and rear,on his it said interior on the heating control. Yes we used to fill up the boot and head off to Skeggy for our holidays, as hubnut would say,"good times". Thank you .
Interior, of course! Although it’s all the interior really.
He must have had the Delux with a contrast roof
Lovely car. Great review. Thank you.
Dearborn certainly called the shots on the styling back then: 2 parts 54 Ford, 1 part 55 Ford, reduce by 1/4. Job done!
Great to see a survivor from the 60's being used. I was a child then being driven about in a 1963 Ford Classic, looks so similar to this with the red interior. Went all the way from Kent to Scotland 5 up for a holiday. I do remember having to plan parking as the linkage to select reverse let it down frequently, helping out by passengers pushing back out of parking spaces! Paint was so bad from new that it had a full body spray after 5 years!
My late Dad had one of these. I remember he loved it except for the windscreen wipers, which slowed down to nothing at higher speeds. He ended up fitting an electric windscreen wiper motor from some sports car or other that happened to be physically compatible, which worked a treat. He eventually replaced the Consul with a Ford Anglia, which he found slow by comparison (it must have been REALLY slow!). Great cars.
We had an identical Consul Hi Line, even the same year and colour, which I took my test in . That was May 1970, and we sold it soon after for the grand sum of £60 as it was suffering from an advanced infection of tin worm.
The vacuum screen wipers were a pain. I never understood why these cars didn't have a vacuum tank, as fitted to 100E models well before this Consul was built. We had a 1958 100E Thames van so equipped and it made a big difference.
I imagine ride and handling is better now than it was in the 1960s with the arrival of radial tyres. Ours had crossply Good Year G8 which weren't the best.
Oh, the memories! In the early '60s my dad had a Consul whose bench seat/column change would let 4 adults + 5 kids squeeze up for a 20-mile Sunday run out to the coast. Nobody seemed aware of a lack of 'oomph', and as for safety features, post-war folk just accepted life as risky. I grew up working on such cars, armed with a simple set of A/F spanners and, of course, lots of body filler. Happy days.
As Stephen Davis says below here in oz, thank god for some viewing on a Sunday night. More so my dad had a new one, same colour etc. in Brisbane, though it had a white roof. Lots of memories. Mum then drove a Standard Vanguard Six Estate (station wagon here in oz). Lovely memories of those cars. My dad was a Ford man for most of his life with a brief dalliance with Holden in the early 60s after the Consul.
There were a stack of Zephyrs / and Consuls in Briz in the 60's . They looked pretty mean. I was easily influenced as a kid by any English TV cop shows.
best car ford made, the mk2's. i do wish though that people would call them consul's not console's as it make getting spares harder, when looking on ebay you get loads of centre consol's, i love mine and it cruises fine just make sure you leave plenty of room for stopping, also it is lowline not lowlight! great review btw, love the vids. for us 1980's rockers it was the car to have, so we all did.
Loved the Mk2's had quite a few, mostly Zodiacs. Early 70's you could pick them up for £25-£50 .... with or without an MOT which you could usually get for a fiver from your tame local MOT tester :-)
The Vauxhall PA's were even BETTER .... (Same price range too)
My dad had a 1959 in St. Louis ,Mo. The only new car he ever bought. It was the same color as Live Boy soap . He loved it! I learned to drive on that car. It was a great little car. The plastic seat covers ,baked by the sun , cracked and had to be redone. We had to replaced the valve seals ,other than that we had no problems. Traded it in for a 64 Falcon.
The Mk2 consul was an excellent Ford effort..ours was used for hackney work and carried 8 adult stacked inside, half crown a head to the Football field 20 mile there and 20 back. The same to the church and back. Then Easter meant 320miles runs on the worst roads there to meet the American boat. After Easter, the same again and back but carrying luggage loaded on the roof rack and on tbe boot rack.
The same just before Christmas.
They were very strong bodies. It never died nor lay down on the job, instead, my Dad skidded on cow poo coming down a hill, demolished a heavy duty stone wall, oddly enough, she might have been straightened out but for those diagonal braces to the top of the suspension struts, They refused to buckle and the whole car was knocked out of square, which was very noticable when trying to close the door. She was sold off and repaired by a genius who left it needed an extra 3 inches of road to overtake and park. The consul M1 was a rotten heap but the Mk2 had a well deserved good name. The same year Zephers and Zodiacs were more expensive but not as economic or reliable. We replace the Consul with a 1ltr VW microbus (split screen) which could carry 14 + people and do 30 to the gallon and make lots of Half Crowns, ( 12.5 cents todays money) Our VW microbus beat everything on 4 wheels and drove on ice and snow without a bother.
Sing up Mary Hopkins
Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end,
We sing and dance forever and a day,, we,d , , , ,
My Aunt hod an older one of these in the early 70's....I remember it had 3 round 'vents' on the tops of the wings.....LOVED that car! Could get about eight of us in!
I remember those seats, in the summer with the car left out in the sun, in short trousers you would burn your legs on them as you got in
Ah yes - flesh burning/freezing vinyl - most cars from this era had that famous feature!
Back in the mid 80s, my mother had a 1977 Chrysler Avenger (S-reg) with those vinyl seats and I remember them burning my legs in the summer. At the same time my father had a 1977 Morris Marina (also S-reg) with fabric seats and by goodness that car was so much better in the summer.
Yeah,and remember when the seat belt buckles were metal!!..they really burned good!
My dad had one of the same white & red roof & red interior Northampton 65'...
This was the car I first learned to drive with in 1973/4. I still have the little red driving licence book I had at the time.
The dash was the same painted grey metal as the outside of the car. I was my father's car. It was always parked pointing downhill in-case the battery was flat. I remember that a wheel came off the car twice; once while it was being driven.
Like all of the cars of that era there was no rust prevention for the chassis or body of the car. All the rust was from the inside out. My current car is a 1994 Toyota Corolla. It is 25 years old and there is no rust on it. Not one of the British cars I ever drove survived the rust bug. I had a fairly reliable Fiat 600D (with the rear hinged doors). A Triumph Herald passed the MoT with a large rust hole in the floor. A Fiat X-19 came with rust as standard. Has anyone seen a surviving Austin Ambassador?
How much does he want
The gearstick never got in the way when with a lady that's why I got one
Same here, my first car, and the bench seat was handy......
A beautiful thing Matt. Thank you. I remember my Uncle taking my brothers and me out in a yellow Mk 2 Zodiac in the 70s. Everything was yellow and it had a big horn ring. Subtle ship she was not but sensational when your 8. Thanks 👍👍
Brilliant... brings the kid back in me.. thanks.. (Phil - Lancashire)
The MkII Consul was my first car in 1971 so naturally I loved it. I drove it from England to Greece and back via most of western Europe. That included going over the Alps as the tunnel had not been built then. (Hot sunshine in the valley, snow at the top,) That vacuum wiper was horrid but a foot dip switch is something I'd like to see in modern cars. Incidentally the 375 version had over-riders on the bumpers, the MkII did not not. The gear change was a delight as it used rods not cables.
My first car: a 1959 Mk II (lowline) in black over 'Panama' yellow. We called it the mustard pot. Most we ever got in was 11 - 6 in the back, 5 in the front and changing gear through the steering wheel. Happy days!
Brilliant mate many thanks it brings back good memories of my youth years too, the biggest drawback hey had was their vacuum operated wipers if you was overtaking on say the A1 in the rain you needed to go flat out same time u had to lift off so the wipers could speed up for u to see where u was going, very hairy at times, they never had sychomesh on first gear slowing down to turn u had to slip the clutch at times or crunch it into first gear had a MK 1 cost me 25 quid n a MK2 Zodiac 2553 cc of a Beautiful strait 6 engine, If I remember right Gene Vincent was driving when they crashed n Eddie Cochrane sadly passed away n Gene Vincent ended up with a limp they where performing at the Empire theater Finsbury park, where we used to go n see Cliff Richards n the Shadows top back seats 1 shilling n 9 pence one day we went there it was half a crown we asked why n was told its couple or RnR singers from the states was the first I heard of them both But was well worth the money great stuff mate for us folks long in the tooth
I remember vacuum driven wipers on my Father's Consul. The faster the car went , the slower the wipers went . No Health and Safety in those days. Best wishes , hope you are well , glad we survived standing on the passenger seat with your head out of the sun roof , or being left in the car while the Dad had a few drinks , and then drove home .
@@buickmclean8163 I had a 1955 maybe 56 MKI consul the vacuum wipers would go mad on the overrun n slow to a crawl accelerating even my MKI Zodiac had those biggest problem was when overtaking and you needed to accelerate as fast as possible in the rain you accelerated your wipers almost stopped so u had to lift up momentarily to see the incoming traffic n step on it like mad after hopping, you'll make it same time is was a great life mate much more innocent and honest life very helpful much kinder people ,in 1961 my father came here to visit my sister her husband in London I was riding my NSU prima 150cc scooter (PAID £30) got a rear flat tyre a bloke stopped said u got a spare any tools? he could see I had no spare He took my wheel out drove 7 miles down the road had it repaired put it on and as i was very embarrassed as I wanted to pay him not just for the repair but for his trouble n kindness too n i was counting my pennies/shillings he tap me on the shoulder n said u broke aren't you with a huge smile then said have it on me mate I had some good times in Cyprus when I was stationed there Will you get this anywhere else on earth? it was by Far the best country on earth as far as am concerned still a good country now but nothing to what it was cheers
Nice to see such a good example. These were plentiful in Australia at one time too. Even today though, no-one is much into restoring them, preferring the 6cyl Zephyrs. The green light would be the oil pressure light, and cables on the gearshift? Nah, it's all rods and linkages. Cheers.
I actually past this video by hundreds of times because it wasn't a Zephyr or Zodiac.
Turns out I loved it. You looked comfortable driving the Consul and the cabin gave off a nice cosy well insulated feel.
Those looks were so much better than what was available at the time.
I remember being driven by my Uncle in a yellow Zodiac with a white and yellow interior and a beautiful big chrome horn ring on the steering wheel. It didn't feel hard it felt really soft and wafty.
I borrowed one when my Cortina was of the road, Colum change, front bench seat, massive boot loved it.
Where I lived there was a long hill,and like he said it was a compromise between 2nd and 3rd gear all the way.
4speed box would have solved that.
I remember seeing these cars in the late 70's and into the 80's. Saw them at car shows too.
So rock n roll, I would love to take one and mod it out even though I normally always prefer 'factory'.
Lovely car. Passed my driver's licence in one in Johannesburg, thankful it wasn't raining. Was a knack double-declutching into first gear to keep momentum up a steep hill.
I changed the rubber wiper hose for a plastic one ( from beer brewing kit ) and it made A WORLD of difference. Mine was two-tone,maroon and white,plastic covers on the leather seats,and the horn was a chrome half-ring in the centre of the steering wheel. It looked a bit more upmarket than the one he showed.
My dad's Mk 2 Zephyr was the only one of his several Fords that impressed me around 1968, among a succession of mainly duff motors . Sadly it went banger racing. The most memorable moment was the bonnet flying up at speed.
My father bought a ‘58 Consul in 1965 as the first car he owned. He had a few company cars previously.
Great review of a lovely old Ford. You must have been parked near the entrance to the twighlight zone, as the person walking their dog disappeared into it at 5:48. 😜
Sussex is a weird place, a bit Stranger Things
Yes, I saw that, too, as I'm sure we all made a mental note of it but you're the only one (so far) possessing the wherewithal to possibly, say, send a search party looking for the dog's companion. Maybe.
My dad had one, two tone blue, reg was PSP 100, he was a Ford fan, sit up and beg Ford Pop, Consul 375, Consul Classic, Mk1 1600, Mk2 2000E, Mk3 2000E, 2.5 Litre Granada, 3.0 Litre Granada, Mk 4 2.0 Litre Cortina GXL and finally a Sierra 2.0i, there was a Triumph 2 .5 Litre between the Granadas which he hated, before I was born in 1956 he had a V8 Ford Pilot.
I had the Mk.2 low line Consul,and the Mk.2 low line Zephyr,I was earning good money as a 17 year old in the 60s and bought the Consul,by my 19th birthday I had the Zephyr,both in white with the red interior,great motors.
My father had a blue one in which my sister and I used to watch the road go by...through a big rust hole in the floor! Pre MOT days presumably? Swapped it for a Super Minx. Happy days.
From what I've read, this was the first car ever mass produced with MacPherson struts. Earl MacPherson left GM after they canceled his pet project , the Chevrolet Cadet, which featured struts in all 4 corners, and saw his invention put to use in the front of the Consul. The struts didn't make it into the Cortina though, probably because it was hard to come up with seals, using 1960s technology, that sufficiently reduced the static friction that tended to make the ride harsh. MacPherson also designed the 1960 Falcon suspension, which used double wishbones and coil-overs instead of full-struts, so Ford had given up on them for a while, though they came roaring back on the 1976 Fiesta and FOX platform cars of the 1970s-1990s,
my dad had one 776TKE went to Devon for holidays down the A303 five kids with mum and dad great memories great car thanks
I remember quite a few of these around as a youngster here in Canada. All of the British cars, Vauxhall, Austin, Sunbeam etc would be the main import brands other than maybe the Volkswagen in those days. I have driven or been in almost all of them at one time or another, watching the video, it seems most of the Fords had slick working shifters although the vacuum wipers could get annoying though. I wonder if these systems had or could have benefited from a vacuum storage tank and some check valves?
First registered in Sept.'60 I bought my Consul '67 it was two tone blue and cost me £225 .00 . The wipers were a pain but my previous car was the 100E Anglia so I was used to it . There was an arm that pulled down in the middle of the front seat where my Jack Russell used to park himself with his backside in the recess .Happy days . 🇬🇧
Beautiful car indeed. My step-grandfather had a 59 Zodiac here in Toronto, Ontario. That was the first car I had seen go past the 100,000 mile mark. It was still running great. The Zephyr and Zodiac used the same body shell as Consul, but had a longer wheelbase because the front clip was lengthened to allow for the inline 6.
The original Consul was the first production car to have MacPherson strut front suspension. Invented while he worked at GM on a still born project, MacPherson was hired on by Ford. Very interesting to see one now. Not seen any English Ford here for decades.
I remember back in the late 1980s my auntie had a mark 2 Zodiac laid up at the front of her house. I thought it was very cool but she hated having the car taking up valuable driveway space. It belonged to one of my cousins. It was eventually taken away and I pray that it was restored.
I think it was a mark 2 Consul that was driven by Sid James in the epic* 1969 film "Carry On Camping". The one where Barbara Windsor's bikini top flies off. 😁
Matt W it was a slightly earlier version of the mk2, the one known as a hi-Line with a half moon speedo and smaller tail fins with more rounded tips and smaller tail lights
Ohhh and a dodgy roof rack that fell off as they pulled away 😂🤣😁
A lovely example! My grandpa owned a mk2 Ford consul in the late 60s, he sold it after a few years because of engine trouble but the guy he sold it to was a mechanic and he fixed the car and had it on the road for many years after! Unfortunately it's most likely been scrapped by now!
I remember Sid James drove one in Carry on Camping!
He did my friend and the roof rack shot off when sid pulled away to fast from Mrs fussy's house . all the best tone Leicestershire
Correct. They probably could be bought for fifty pounds by 1969.
I'm glad you showed how to use column change I've only ever mainly driven floor shift manual and a couple of autobox cars (A 2 litre Cortina and ..a MINI !) . I think most American cars used column change (going by the films ). I must experience column change myself soon because I consider myself a competent driver @ 48 years old but you never stop learning different skills - I think the more variety of vehicles you drive the better a driver you become - you must be getting bloody good at it yourself as it's "what you do" :) Great video mate of course I'm subscribed and catching up with Furious Driving
We think this was my granddad's car. The registration is the same. He would only drive this in the dry, if it was raining we would be walking home. He took great pride in this car and yes he had the seat belts fitted when the seat belt law came in.
Cool! It was still very nice condition when I saw it
In 1976 aged just 16 and without having even a provisional driving license or, even knowing how to drive I bought my very first car. I bought it from a mate of mine whose name was Colin Boys but we all called him 'Percy'. He was also 16.
The car was a 1959 Ford consul 375 highline with bench seats back and front and a 3 gear column change. It was also a total rust bucket when I got it with more body filler than body work.
I never got to drive the car as it caught fire in a petrol garage whilst I was filling it up with petrol in Brixton, south London one freezing cold winters night in 1976.
The fire which was in the engine bay burned out the wiring, battery and other stuff which meant the car was a financial right off so it ended up being scrapped.
The 375 model wore a circular, grille centre, badge marked 375. The badge here is an accessory . More importantly 375 model owners enjoyed front wheel disc brakes as a standard fitment. As a young man I was happier and speedier when I progressed To a lowline Zephyr. Unlike the top of the range Mk1 Zephyr Zodiac the Mk2's were Zephyr for the basic 6 cyl car and Zodiac for the range topper. P.S. either car when in good order would command about £250/£350 circa 1965. Neither would it be difficult to buy a convertible for similar money. Thanks for posting , Best Wishes , J and M .
Great car. Love the interior...those seats look comfy like sofas. I may have to put a pair of cricket pads on though if I was a front passenger...just for a little leg protection! 😂
Certainly takes you back , chrome in abundance, a lovely dash and very nice seats and wind screen wipers a certain chap in New Zealand would delight in . Great video as always .
We had 2 mk1s as family cars in succession my dad was a ford man most of his life,he and his brother bought a V8 Ute new in the 30s, his last car was a Falcon 500 1970 model, cheers Mal in au.
The window wipers where a built in safety feature to make you slow down in wet weather 😁...I had the Ford Zodiac Executive with its 7foot long bonnet. It was brilliant in a straight line but under steared then over steered on round abouts. It did around 12 MPG round town..It had a metal manually operated sunroof..
My father took a regency grey, red upholstered Zephyr mk2 out to New Zealand where he had been transfered. I am surprised that the only difference I can see is the 4 pot on the Consul is a 6 on the Zephyr. So happy memories here!
I had a 1962 primrose yellow convertible version of the 375 mark two. I believe it weighed well over a ton whenMT; it had two floors. Had an amazing heater, which it needed because the soft top was quite draughty. Top speed was something around 90, and the performance was generally quite good at the time. My wife wrote it off on the M1, but I bought it back for a tenner!
Spent another tenner on it, and it was all okay.
I have a 62 Primrose consul convertible, Do you remember the reg number?
@@riderzinc Mine was written off on the M1 in 1971 (wife driving!)... it was 1347 ML if I remember right. We called it “milady“.
V interesting.
A lot of us don’t have any knowledge of pre Ford cortina era.
Headlight beam or Brights switch on the floor was common back then. My folks had it on their old 1960a Vauxhall victor.
Had a 57 Mk1 XNY97 in the early 60's finished in Pembroke coral with Dover white roof great!
Clever old Ford. Longer wings and bonnet on Zephyr Zodiac to accommodate the six pot.
Love all early Fords
A good old slogger, my kind of motor. So stylish.
My Dad traded his Mk1 consul for a Mk2 back in the early 60's. A year later an english Assembled Mk2 came up for sale . With almost no mileage it was almost a new car,bought into New Zealand by a Kiwi returning home. It still had the UK plates(no idea what the number was now 50 years later) but it got registered with the NZ number BR 4 . It was white with a bright red roof,red interior with a reclining front bench seat .It served the family well for ac few years,even towing a big caravan on holidays .it was traded in 1965 for a new Mk3 zephyr and the new owner of BR 4 wrote it off after a big night in the pub. They were a very capable car and even came in convertible form,and Australia had a ute version but Ford Australia was run by an American who demanded that Ford sell Falcons,not Zephyrs etc.
Absolutely lovely. What a wonderful example of a real motor car. (Still have the image of a bank manager in fishnets in my head!) Great review, thanks Matt.
That will stick with you...
Hello again thoroughly enjoyed the video on the Consul MK2 lowline took me back to my own old MK2 Zodiac with three speed colum shift purchased in 1970/71 for £35 from a local second hand car dealer the engine was running on5 cylinders which was sorted out by setting the tappets lt then ran really well with the freewheel overdrive a boost to fuel economy 23/4 to the gallon l had to laugh at the vacuum wipers over taking in the rain and having to come off the throttle to see where l was going to very interesting indeed great and thanks again
I had a consul 375 being a young lad I had to mod it I put in a zodiac overdrive gearbox and crossmember and propshaft fits right up there and was great on the open roads.
This was my second car in 1971, second hand, sills rusted to hell but they'd been packed and painted so they looked ok until they fell off. Loved driving this settee on wheels, and the big bench seat in the front meant you didn't need to move into the back with your girlfriend!
Reg 867AUV
Biggest problem, the servo vacuum brakes which you needed to pump if they weren't serviced properly, or maybe that's just the way they were!
First car was in 1967, a 1953 Ford Anglia 100e Side Valve, sit up and beg.
Had one in 1987. Cool as ****** but also slow as ****. No chance in today's manic traffic. Cold mornings would require start up 10-15 minutes before you went anywhere to have any chance of de-misting the windscreen. Loved the column change and chrome handbrake. The wipers were a nightmare.
I remember them, I was too young to understand in 1961 being just 5 years old, sometimes see those cars on the roads, if only I was older then, but then again I could be dead!.
Nice to watch this video, as it brought back memories of my 2nd car, a maroon coloured Ford Consul 375.
It was actually 1703cc, not 1702cc.
The two warning lights were red for ignition and green for oil pressure.
I’ve not seen a Ford with 4-speed column change., but have you ever driven an Austin with 4-speed column change? First was back and up, whilst 2nd was back & down. Third was forward & up & Fourth was forward and down. Reverse was pull out the know allowing it to travel further forward and then down...
That car is gorgeous. Love the slate grey with the red interior.
Thanks for more great entertainment.
There's very little of the 60s in those old Consuls. The styling cues came mostly from the '54 US Ford models, along with the jet age affectations. It was actually designed by George Walker of Ford US in Dearborn so I suppose that was inevitable. Our neighbours in High Wycombe had a yellow '61 Consul. It had vacuum wipers which sped up with the engine revs. I had a '66 Corsair as my first car, which came out in '63 in its first incarnation. That summed up the 60s for me. And I do remember the 60s!
The vacuum wipers actually slowed down as the revs rose!
I had two Consuls one being a lowlife. Had to swap an engine on one outside on a very wet weekend. As a reach yourself mechanic in my early thirties the job was simple. With both cars had trouble with the exhaust manifold that was a non cast item. They were defiantly built on the cheap!
Ha ha I think you meant lowline!
I like your coining of the term "Britican" to describe the car's styling, very much a scale rendition of the 1955-56 full-size American Ford sedans [saloons]... the Consul/Zephyr/Zodiac were probably the most widely sold British cars here in Canada in the early 60's, I suspect largely due to the 'familiar' styling, and the widespread Ford dealer network. Note also your repeated use of the term 'big', over here they were 'small' cars. Seats three across front and rear ? They'd have to be pretty friendly... LOL
The deluxe had a horn ring and carpets, plus cig. lighter. The wipers were a pain and an oddity, The Thames van of the same year had electric
wipers, and the same engine and 'box. We used to swap the electric wipers into a consul. Also the washers should be a press pump, someone has fitted electric washers. The green light is oil pressure. The gear linkage is by rods. I bet the heater valve is rotted out and it runs the heater on hot permanently. Good to see the original air filter fitted. It's lowline/highline not 'light'. Otherwise you did a good review. :)))
I remember Bench seats but I'm only 53
I remember bench seats and i'm 48
Over here from your collaboration with Classic Britain , so far have watched this and the gas monkey pick up . Really enjoyed these so have subscribed .
Had one of these about 30 years ago . Junked the hubcaps and bumpers , had the seats reupholstered , then sold it and bought a mk3 zephyr ! It's a cliché but l still wish l had the mk2 .Did that dvla thing where you put the number plate in and 4030 UE (my consuls reg) was registered to a newish BMW (so l assume the car has long gone) .
My dad had one, it was the first car we had. I believe the green light was to warn of low oil pressure
The 375 had a 4:11 diff, and it bolted straight into a facelift Mk 2 Zephyr for better acceleration. It even went into a Mk 3 if you changed the flange. Now, not many people know that.
Thank you for a very enjoyable video, Furious.
My father had Zephyr's in 1950s, I could be wrong but I believe the 'high-line/low-line development applied to the original 'Mark 1' Zephyrs and Consuls
No, Mk lls
Yes, i'ts called a 204E.
It's 1703cc and was made in High line and Low line. The 375 as far as I recall had Disc brakes..
The Ford Zephyr MK 2 was the 206E which was 2553cc. ? a long Time ago
My first car was the Ford Zodiac MK 2. It was made in 1959. The reg number was PAJ 747 and it was made in gleaming erotic black.
Now its all very well for you to sit in this ancient car and take the piss, but these cars are what was referred to as the 'State of the art' at that time..
3 speed, manual gear change, bench seat, no synchro first gear.
Heater and windscreen washers were extras. No radio or carpets, only rubber mats. The seatbelts are an added extra. Seatbelts only became compulsory in June 1966.
Any questions ?
I had a mk2 convertible lowline in 1966, did 25mpg and 100 miles per pint of oil, and rotted before your very eyes
They are not that bad, My convertible lowline is 58 years old now and still solid, Hardly any rust on her
I learned to drive on a 1975 Chevelle Malibu with a "3 on the tree" shifter and manual steering to control all 3,700 pounds of it, so this is quite familiar. The shifter on that car tended to get stuck between 1st and 2nd gear, as the nub jumped the gate and jammed between the 1-R and 3-2 plates. I suspect that regular lubrication of these parts would have made them less prone to such problems, but it's also possible that a cable linkage on the column (as opposed to the typical levers), with one cable-per-gear, would have been just as tight as a cable linkage with the shifter on the floor, while still being more conveniently located. Floor shifters are closer to the transmission in RWD cars, but they made the car feel a lot more confined.
Reminds me of my mothers 1955 ford sedan, Lizzie. thank you.
My mother had one that I used to drive sometimes. I had a Vauxhall Victor Estate, another column change.
The styling is remeniscent of a '52-'54 Ford US spec., the roofline in particular. The vee shape badges on the front fenders are deceiving. I was hoping for a small v8 for a moment! Also appreciate the authors enthusiasm for The car- definitely a bread and butter ride. Not many made it over here that I remember. Nowhere near the likes of Jaguar, MG, Triumph, Cortinas, Austin Healeys etc. I like the '63-'65 Zodiacs.
Love my 1961 standard consul original 59,000 miles. i have original bill of sale cost £811 17s 6d wing mirrors £2 17s 6d radio was a staggering £21 18s 6d (£450 in today money) and the Ariel was £2 6s all fitted by the dealer before leaving the show room. my car is as it left the dealer, the only extras I'm fitting this year will be a 1960 record player (7in 45rpm) and 1961 reversing lights as was on my first Consul i purchased in 1963 for £275 and being a 1959 de-luxe in Conway yellow and black.