Bo11ox' Aircraft Carrier

[adw1977]

I scanned a handbook for one of these a while back:

Mark IV Zephyr Owner Handbook

[Snake Charmer]

55 minutes ago, ProgRocker said:

I have a picture on my living room wall of an advert for a Ford Executive, taken from an issue of Motor magazine dated March 1966. Had it since 1993/4 when I became  obsessed with the mark 4s (and also mark 3 Cortinas) .  

 

Executive and Ascona 400. 👍👍 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Any updates @Mr_Bo11ox?

Had to rub my eyes for a second...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1966-Ford-Zephyr-V6-Historic-Vehicle-/324765844440?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

 

[Stinkwheel]

Any updates [mention=24]Mr_Bo11ox[/mention]?
Had to rub my eyes for a second...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1966-Ford-Zephyr-V6-Historic-Vehicle-/324765844440?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0
 

I’m confused by the seller stating he hasn’t got the money to do it up….. yet it’s a massive house with a huge boat on the drive with it….. how does he have no money? Sell the huge boat (I know the Ford could well be classed as another huge boat, but I meant the actual water craft)

And as I’ve not said so far …. Cracking save mrBollox sir, i is very jealous as my old Ford owning days are well behind me due to prices, if only I had all the cortinas I used to have I’d be be f-ing minted

[Timewaster]

All I can think of now is.... 

And how funny a 10 year old me found Oz shouting "Ah, bolloxs Man!" when it broke down. 

[Muniphobia]

Always been intrigued by these, growing up in the 1980s they were rare even then and I only can remember seeing one in a side street in Hove and thought it looked like a huge MK2 Cortina and had to ask my Dad what it was

[R1152]

48 minutes ago, Muniphobia said:

Always been intrigued by these, growing up in the 1980s they were rare even then and I only can remember seeing one in a side street in Hove and thought it looked like a huge MK2 Cortina and had to ask my Dad what it was

They were rare in the 80s because they rotted so quickly that most had gone for scrap by the time they were ten years old - if the crap "Essex" V-engines hadn't failed already. My father's one was propped up to about 1990 by both his welding skills and it getting a short motor at seven years old.

Sadly, the Mk. IV was revolutionary rather than evolutionary compared to the previous big Fords and suffered badly from Dagenham getting major interference from Dearborn in the shape of one Harley Copp, God rot his socks. Says it all that its replacement came from Cologne.

[R1152]

1 hour ago, Timewaster said:

All I can think of now is.... 

And how funny a 10 year old me found Oz shouting "Ah, bolloxs Man!" when it broke down. 

"1970 facelift" model - now with a (dummy) grille that matched the Zodiac's.

[adw1977]

Only Deluxe Zephyrs got that grille, the standard models continued with the same front end as Mr_Bollox's example, along with the bench front seat.  I think in later years the Deluxe massively outsold the standard model.

Oct 1970 brochure

[NorfolkNWeigh]

6 hours ago, R1152 said:

They were rare in the 80s because they rotted so quickly that most had gone for scrap by the time they were ten years old - if the crap "Essex" V-engines hadn't failed already. My father's one was propped up to about 1990 by both his welding skills and it getting a short motor at seven years old.

Sadly, the Mk. IV was revolutionary rather than evolutionary compared to the previous big Fords and suffered badly from Dagenham getting major interference from Dearborn in the shape of one Harley Copp, God rot his socks. Says it all that its replacement came from Cologne.

This one was only 10 years old when I paid £200 for it from the banger trade ins , round the back of the local Lada/Yugo dealer. It was immaculate , I swapped it for an Audi 100 GL 5E after a couple of years. Then bought it back in about 88 as a scrapper, kept it another couple of years before selling it again to someone that was going to restore it. Not the usual choice for an 18 year old, but I had motorbikes and used to make 2.0 Escorts to sell , so enjoyed the comfort and luxury. I love them and had 4 others at different times.

The youngest of my brothers, here, was 40last year. 

 

[Spottedlaurel]

There were a fair few of them in Medler's in the late '90s. I recall the comedy value offered by opening the bonnet and seeing the V4 lost under the long bonnet.

This is from my collection of John Powell photos, with strangely push-me-pull-you styling:

Didn't appear to make it onto DVLA, so presumably dead by the early '80s.

I stumbled upon this timewarp example in Gt Yarmouth in 2007:

No tax/SORN since 2011.

[R1152]

1 hour ago, adw1977 said:

Only Deluxe Zephyrs got that grille, the standard models continued with the same front end as Mr_Bollox's example, along with the bench front seat.  I think in later years the Deluxe massively outsold the standard model.

Oct 1970 brochure

Ooh, thanks for that - I thought it was across the range. Happy to be corrected!

I do remember the odd juxtaposition of the front seat/gearchange option; individual seats plus floor change as an option on the Zephyr, with a bench and column change an option on the Zodiac (or has my mind tricked me again?)

And from the days when big cars came in COLOUR!!

[adw1977]

6 minutes ago, R1152 said:

I do remember the odd juxtaposition of the front seat/gearchange option; individual seats plus floor change as an option on the Zephyr, with a bench and column change an option on the Zodiac (or has my mind tricked me again?)

That's right, bench seat and column change was a no cost option on Zodiacs.

Individual front seats and floor change were an option on all Zephyrs originally, then at some point the Zephyr range was split into standard (bench seat) and Deluxe (individual seats and a few other largely cosmetic changes) models.  From that point you could not specify individual seats on the standard Zephyr or a bench seat in a deluxe.  So some early Mk4 Zephyrs will have the grille-less front with individual seats, but there should be no Zephyrs with bench seat and grille.

[Richard_FM]

These remind me of Oz's one in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

[R1152]

15 hours ago, adw1977 said:

That's right, bench seat and column change was a no cost option on Zodiacs.

Individual front seats and floor change were an option on all Zephyrs originally, then at some point the Zephyr range was split into standard (bench seat) and Deluxe (individual seats and a few other largely cosmetic changes) models.  From that point you could not specify individual seats on the standard Zephyr or a bench seat in a deluxe.  So some early Mk4 Zephyrs will have the grille-less front with individual seats, but there should be no Zephyrs with bench seat and grille.

I wonder if "standard" trim was aimed at being a Consul in all but name?

Did a "Consul" of sorts disappear in 1970?

Odd that it briefly reappeared with the Mk. I Granada. 

[eddyramrod]

Not on the UK market.  Consul had been dropped in 1962 with the mk2 z-cars (although, curiously, allowed to live on a couple of years as a prefix to Classic, Corsair and Cortina until the Cortina's 1965 facelift).  The Granada-based Consul was an attempt to resurrect the name, but was abandoned in, IIRC, 1975 when the VFM facelift came in, marking the change from L/XL/GXL to L/GL/Ghia.

[Muniphobia]

They used the Consul name on the Granada Mk1 as the motorway service area company Granada objected to Ford using the name, once the legal wrangling was resolved they dropped the Consul name completely.

[Bstardchild]

Fond memories triggered by this thread

GBJ 604J (no records of it on DVLA so clearly long since dead)  was a Zephyr V4 in a lovely fetting shade of dark metallic brown was purchased new by father BC when I was only just old enough to ride up front - that bonnet and the target sights to line up victims was fantastic to me. Not quick but a lovely ride and it was huge!!!!

It was however only in the family for a short while as it was the unluckiest car in the world

Accident Number 1 - Parked at the bottom of the corn exchange car park in Ipswich a USAF serviceman failed to engage the handbrake properly in a big old yank tank - it rolled fairly slowly down the hill before stopping against the Zephyr but not before it had damaged all of the Passenger side - rear wing, both doors and front wing.

It was fully repaired (whole passenger side of the car resprayed) but the metallic colour match wasn't perfect so the repair shop had mixed up enough to do the whole car if Father BC wasn't happy (Apparently these "new-fangled metallic colours" were a bugger to match)  - he wasn't but decided to delay getting it done because he was fed up with the loan car (Austin 1300)

Accident Number 2 - Waiting to turn left at a set of lights a lorry going straight on made an error of judgement about nearside clearance and ran his trailer down the drivers side. He was eventually stopped  by plod near Colchester he was oblivious to the accident apparently but the brown smeared paint stripes on his trailer were a bit of a giveaway.

It was fully repaired (whole drivers side of the car resprayed) and now both sides matched and looked good the repair shop had enough left to do bonnet, roof and boot lid at a later date - Father BC decided this car was quite unlucky and he was sure something else would happen so the body shop gave him the rest of the paint

Accident number 3 - Driving along a main road a ball bounced in front of the car - Father BC braked hard and a teenager rolled over the bonnet and up over the roof - no broken bones but the bonnet and roof weren't in the best shape

Replacement Bonnet and a bit of filler went in the roof and all that remained of the paint went on that - the boot lid at this point was now the only thing not replace or painted.

The car got sold - Actually purchased by a private buyer who chipped Father BC for a few quid because of the accident damage on the boot as it was clearly a poor colour match to the rest of the car Father BC said that was the trouble with "new-fangled metallic colours"

[Bstardchild]

Oh and PS - Welcome back Mr B - I've missed your contributions

[tooSavvy]

1 hour ago, Bstardchild said:

Fond memories triggered by this thread

GBJ 604J (no records of it on DVLA so clearly long since dead)  was a Zephyr V4 in a lovely fetting shade of dark metallic brown was purchased new by father BC when I was only just old enough to ride up front - that bonnet and the target sights to line up victims was fantastic to me. Not quick but a lovely ride and it was huge!!!!

It was however only in the family for a short while as it was the unluckiest car in the world

Accident Number 1 - Parked at the bottom of the corn exchange car park in Ipswich a USAF serviceman failed to engage the handbrake properly in a big old yank tank - it rolled fairly slowly down the hill before stopping against the Zephyr but not before it had damaged all of the Passenger side - rear wing, both doors and front wing.

It was fully repaired (whole passenger side of the car resprayed) but the metallic colour match wasn't perfect so the repair shop had mixed up enough to do the whole car if Father BC wasn't happy (Apparently these "new-fangled metallic colours" were a bugger to match)  - he wasn't but decided to delay getting it done because he was fed up with the loan car (Austin 1300)

Accident Number 2 - Waiting to turn left at a set of lights a lorry going straight on made an error of judgement about nearside clearance and ran his trailer down the drivers side. He was eventually stopped  by plod near Colchester he was oblivious to the accident apparently but the brown smeared paint stripes on his trailer were a bit of a giveaway.

It was fully repaired (whole drivers side of the car resprayed) and now both sides matched and looked good the repair shop had enough left to do bonnet, roof and boot lid at a later date - Father BC decided this car was quite unlucky and he was sure something else would happen so the body shop gave him the rest of the paint

Accident number 3 - Driving along a main road a ball bounced in front of the car - Father BC braked hard and a teenager rolled over the bonnet and up over the roof - no broken bones but the bonnet and roof weren't in the best shape

Replacement Bonnet and a bit of filler went in the roof and all that remained of the paint went on that - the boot lid at this point was now the only thing not replace or painted.

The car got sold - Actually purchased by a private buyer who chipped Father BC for a few quid because of the accident damage on the boot as it was clearly a poor colour match to the rest of the car Father BC said that was the trouble with "new-fangled metallic colours"

TrooStoriezz#

BiL (ex) Father driving along Ocean Rd, S Shields, and arrives at rbt, turning left up to Town Hall....

Yoof [pissed] does a 'high jump' over the pedestrian railings (at his nearside) and torpedoes the bonnet ... He isn't going too slowly & * important* isn't on the lookout for pedestrians....

Police chew out his balls, driving is called questionable/keep a proper lookout + breathalysed [aye!!]

Bottler seemed dazed and wobbly on his feet...

Question?? So, what if he had fallen out of a light aircraft 🤔

[NorfolkNWeigh]

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

Not on the UK market.  Consul had been dropped in 1962 with the mk2 z-cars (although, curiously, allowed to live on a couple of years as a prefix to Classic, Corsair and Cortina until the Cortina's 1965 facelift).  The Granada-based Consul was an attempt to resurrect the name, but was abandoned in, IIRC, 1975 when the VFM facelift came in, marking the change from L/XL/GXL to L/GL/Ghia.

 

1 hour ago, Muniphobia said:

They used the Consul name on the Granada Mk1 as the motorway service area company Granada objected to Ford using the name, once the legal wrangling was resolved they dropped the Consul name completely.

The Consul name was used on the Consul Classic 315 whilst you could still buy a Mk2 Consul, the plan was that when the Mk3 arrived and moved upmarket the value mid-size buyers would have a name they were familiar with. The Classic  was only ever meant as a stop gap , in fact the body presses were supposedly never designed for use of more than a couple of years. The same reasoning was used when naming the Consul Cortina, the Consul Corsair was even marketed as having ‘ almost the interior space of the fondly remembered Mk2 Consul’ why the Corsair was even needed, I don’t know. Presumably Ford were worried that the vast  ( smaller than a Mondeo) Mk4 coming in a couple of years would frighten economy conscious family buyers.  Whatever the reason production lasted until 1970 and the sold twice as many as Mk4 Zephyrs and Zodiacs .

As for the Granada , Ford won the court case in March 1972 before the launch , it seems unlikely they’d have used the Consul name for the more upmarket versions even if they  had lost the case, they had lots of exotic, upmarket sounding names registered in the US , Ford Montego 3.0 GXL , anyone? Maverick ? LTD etc , more likely just use the Executive moniker . 
 

Anyway, here’s some inspiration , as driven to a class win by Roger Albert Clark.

[Isaac Hunt]

I hope Mr Boll is orite, there’s mega amount of views in anticipation of the re-launch from dry dock.  

Perhaps it was the other thread offering him another Bedford Horsebox with a super front spoiler that is keeping him away. 

[R1152]

Driving home tonight, a thought crossed my mind which I'll place before fellow shiters:

Exec or Viscount?

[Shite Ron]

3 minutes ago, R1152 said:

Driving home tonight, a thought crossed my mind which I'll place before fellow shiters:

Exec or Viscount?

Zodiac Executive without question, they are great.

[R1152]

12 minutes ago, Shite Ron said:

Zodiac Executive without question, they are great.

At this point I could muddy the waters with "Mk. III or Mk. IV Exec?" but we'll stick with the Mk. IV (which would be my choice too) 

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, R1152 said:

Driving home tonight, a thought crossed my mind which I'll place before fellow shiters:

Exec or Viscount?

Is this an Indian take-out question?

[Lankytim]

Any flat top updates @Mr_Bo11ox?

[ETCHY]

Just been reading this thread again.
Did anything ever come of the big blue aircraft carrier ?

[UltraWomble]

There were a couple of twitter updates, but I havent seen him on there in about a year.

 

 

 

[worldofceri]

He sold it prior to getting it back on the road.  And that’s as much as I know, guv.