Classic/Capri/Corsair

[autofive]

my Zephyr with scaryoldcortina's Mk2 Zetec Cortina, i took these photos for size and styling comparison

 

 

 

 

[trigger]

I can't say that they have ever been a car I've found at all attractive personally but i guess beauty is in the eye of the beer holder, Your one Autofive looks like it's just driven out of a set of a 70's cop show.

 

1971 Ford Zephyr 5.8 V8 Pro Street Rod by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1972 Ford Zodiac MkIV Executive by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1968 Ford Zodiac IV by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

1969 Ford Zephyr Mk IV Estate by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[406V6]

 

The Cortina designers were told to take a Classic bodyshell and produce a car with the same strength with 10 or 15% less weight. IIRC It was the first British car designed using stress analysis techniques developed in the aircraft industry, and Ford were probably the only UK car maker with access to a (mainfame) computer for engineering and design analysis. They either used their own or bought 'time' on a university one - I can't remember which.

In the book "Cortina" by Graham Robson it says that the calculations for the body design (using aircraft stressing principles) were all done by hand by Dennis Roberts. The engineers deserved the success of the Cortina after all that work !