HAVE YOUR SAY
Did you spend more on your classic in 2011 than the previous year?
 |
| 1962 Ford Classic |
|
In 1961 Ford launched, with typical Dagenham razzmatazz, their all-new mid-range saloon, the car which was to revitalise their presence in that crucial market. Small cars sell well but it’s hard to make a profit from them, big cars earn money per car but numbers are tiny. The middle-ground, though, is where manufacturers earn their real profits and Ford’s contender, the MkII Consul, was looking decidedly old-hat as the swinging sixties started. Available from the start in two and four-door formats, the Ford Consul Classic was intended from the start to be a quality car, ‘suitable for the golf club car park’ to quote the contemporary advertising. The boot was certainly plenty big enough: at the official press launch someone opened the 21cu ft boot, and three girls got out. Styling-wise the new car, designated 109E in right-hand drive form and 110E in LHD, was nothing if not striking. There was a reverse-sloping rear window as on the Ford Anglia, and the overall look was of a scaled-down Ford Galaxie below the waist and a Lincoln Continental roofline. At the front, the car was Britain’s first mass-produced model to feature four headlights, and there was also a headlamp flasher – then very new! Two-tone paint was an option, as was leather trim. Under the bonnet was a 1340cc version of the Anglia’s engine – Ford’s legendary Kent unit – which drove the car through a four-speed gearbox with a choice of floor or column gearchange. Suspension was via the now-traditional Ford setup of Macpherson struts at the front and leaf springs at the back, giving excellent balanced handling and roadholding, and up front disc front brakes were standard.
In truth, work on the Classic had started in 1956 and a very similar-looking car could have been launched alongside the Anglia in 1959 if Ford had the manufacturing capability. Sadly they didn’t, as Dagenham was at full capacity and Halewood was still four years away.
FACT FILE
VALUES These are cars which rarely appear on the open market. Most that do change hands do so within club circles and by word of mouth. Despite – or possibly because of – this, Ford Classics remain surprisingly affordable, and haven’t really seen the same recent price growth as some other sixties Fords. As far as we can tell, £3-4000 seems to be about the going rate for a genuinely very good/restored and ready-to-show example from a private seller, and you’d probably pay around £1500 for a ‘Condition 2’ running and roadworthy example in need of cosmetic attention inside and out. Condition 3 prices are a bit higher than you might expect as such cars still have more value as parts donors for restoring other Classics and upgrading Anglias than to be restored in their own right, and entry level for a complete car seems to be around £400.
NEED TO KNOW
To read the complete road test see the May 2011 issue of Classic Car Mart. Back issues available here. |
Fifty years ago, Ford launched the Classic, a medium-size car which was intended to impact on its sector as strongly as the Anglia two years earlier. As Peter Simpson explains, it didn’t work out commercially, but that doesn’t mean the Classic is a bad car.
Add comment
     |
