Three-Quarters Front View of a Silver, 1970, Ford Corsair 2000E, on display at the Deal Classic Car Show 2022
he Corsair was designed by the same team as the Mark 1 Cortina, with Roy Brown Jr. overseeing the styling by Charles Thompson, and Fred Hart in charge of the engineering. Replacing the Consul Classic range, it was essentially a long wheelbase re-skinned Cortina with extra soundproofing and more comfortable seating for high speed long distance driving. The windscreen and side windows are shared with the Cortina, the mechanical components with the Cortina GT, and the body's internal panels are basically similar. The Corsair had unusual and quite bold styling for its day, with a sharp horizontal V-shaped crease at the very front of the car into which round headlights were inset. This gave the car a relatively aerodynamic shape; the top speed of the Corsair 1500 was higher than the equivalent Cortina 1500 even though the Corsair was slightly larger and heavier. The jet-like styling extended to the rear where sharply pointed vertical light clusters hinted at fins, recalling the Ford Consul Mark 2. The overall styling theme was shared with the early 1960s Ford Thunderbird; both cars were inspired by Uwe Bahnsen's design for the 1960 Ford Taunus P3, but the Corsair was an economical medium-sized motorway cruiser with smooth light-weight bodywork, and very like the Taunus in concept. In 1964 Tony Brookes, with his twin brother as one of the drivers, and a group of friends captured 15 International class G World endurance records at Monza in Italy with a Corsair 1500 GT. (Monza Yearbook 1965). Ford Corsair V4 2-door convertible 1967. The Corsair convertible was a product of Crayford Auto Developments which was first exhibited at the London Motor Show in October 1966. With the vinyl roofed Corsair 2000E Ford attempted to compete on price half a class up in the category dominated (in the UK) by the Rover 2000 and Triumph 2000.
Size: 5480px × 3574px
Location: Betteshanger Country Park, Sandwich Rd, Deal
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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