162 Ford Zephyr Saloon (1956-60)

And it is ' with windows ' ! :lol:

Greetings everybody, as you would gather from my ID, this car is one of my favourites so I hope you will not find the following information boring! The Ford Consul and Zephyr Six were introduced by Ford GB at the October 1950 London Motor Show, although production did not start until 1951 - 1st January with the Consul and 12th February for the Zephyr Six. Ford called them the 'Five Star Cars'. They were revolutionary for their time - unitary (monocoque) body construction, the innovative independent (MacPherson strut) front suspension, 'oversquare' engines which on the 4-cylinder Consul (designation EOTA) was 1508cc and on the 6-cylinder Zephyr (EOTTA) was 2262cc. Both models were only available in a range of single colours. A two-door convertible was displayed at the 1951 Motor Show, but it's production did not commence until early 1953. However on 21st October 1953, Ford introduced the new 'luxury' Zephyr Zodiac: two-tone paintwork in a choice of three colour schemes (the upper body was always 'Dorchester Grey', the lower half either 'Canterbury Green', 'Winchester Blue' or 'Bristol Fawn leather upholstery; twin spot and foglamps; wing mirrors; an electric clock; a higher-compression cylinder head from 6.9:1 to 7.5:1 for more power; and other little touches including gold-plated name badges for the bonnet and boot lid. In 1955 my uncle purchased a brand-new Consul for

Adrian What an absolutely splendid story on the 162 Ford Zephyr. I particularly like the story of your real model, somewhat sad, as the car meant so much to the widow. You were indeed very fortunate in obtaining it. Your collection of Dinky Zephyrs is excellent, coupled with a very detailed and accurate history of the model. The DTCA is so fortunate having you now as a contributor. I hope one of these days I will be able to see both ZZ1955 and your Dinky collection. Kind regards Bruce

Hi Adrian What you have written about your Fords is fabulous. Here is the cover of an original Ford leaflet for the Zephyr Six dated July 1952. Here is Page 6 showing the blue coloured car. The 'Five Stars' can be seen on the front cover. I can't wait for the story of the 990 set, this is on my wants list. Dave

Hi Adrian, Thank you so much for the post, and what a beaut of a Z car you have there! I had always wondered if the Lime Green came separate from the gift set, mine is among the Dinky's I have owned for 40+ years, surviving the sale of most of my childhood collection due to my love of the real cars, the Spot On MK2, and Matchbox Mk 2 and 3 were the only others I kept when I sold all my Dinkys to buy the next best thing a '75 3 litre Granada. Chris Warr.

Hi Bruce, Dave and Chris, many thanks for your comments - looks like I am beginning to develop a style for my future posts, but must improve my photography! Anyway, I appreciate the feedback and encouragement, and hope you enjoy the memories, there is plenty more to come. Dave - needless to say, I have a collection of around 20 or so Zephyr brochures from the first 1951 issue (very old fashioned style) up to the last MkII brochure of 1962. Out of interest, the 1952 brochure you pictured shows the early cars which had semaphore indicators in the 'B' pillar, these were replaced by flashing indicators in around October that year. My old Consul was a very early 1951 model with what is called a 'flat dash' and also had the semaphore indicators - they were prone to sticking and sometimes you had to thump the inside of the door pillar to make them work properly, especially if you were moving quickly (i.e. over 25mph!) - the wind resistance made them stick. My next contribution will be on the 990 set - just for you! Chris - sounds like you have an affinity for old Fords? I always thought it was a pity that there was no Dinky model of the MkII, but as you say, Tri-ang Spot-on did it extremely well, even down to the electric headlights - I have four of these in my Spot-on collection, and also three of the MkIII models, including the 'Z-Cars' police car. Maybe a little off-topic, but I expect you watched the recent BBC TV series 'For the love of Cars' hosted by Phillip Glenister? What a great series! Bruce - thanks for your encouragement and kind words - you know that you are most welcome here, we could talk Dinkies for hours and only scratch the surface. As I mentioned to you, I still have all my copies of 'Dinky News' which you published, and they are just as useful a reference as they were back then (the last issue I have is no.17 in September 2003 - was this the last one you produced?) You obviously have not only a wealth of knowledge about Dinkies, but also an enviable collection of marketing and sales literature, all of which is invaluable for the Forum. Regards to all, Adrian.

Hi Adrian, thank you for your very special Ford Zephyr contributions. Risking that an omniscient Ford Zephyr expert as you are is familiar already with the following information, which I posted on the TMT forum a long time ago, others may appreciate this quote of mine, regarding the development of the Dinky Ford Zephyr and some contemporaries: 'Though not abundantly, especially in the 1990s more and more publications relating to the factory drawings showed up, scattered here and there. Some publications gave testimony of the existence or even adoption of some factory drawings. An interesting example was published in Collectors Gazette of July/August 1993. There, toolmaker Dennis Childs told the story of his personal engagement in the development of the body casting of the Ford Zephyr Saloon and the Aston Martin Sports car, and the Austin Healey Sports car. These moulding jobs

My collection of original vehicle leaflets is very much based on my favourite Dinky Toys, or cars owned by my father. I will add some more where appropriate over the coming months. Dave

55Zephyr wrote: 'Hi Bruce, Dave and Chris, many thanks for your comments - looks like I am beginning to develop a style for my future posts, but must improve my photography! Anyway, I appreciate the feedback and encouragement, and hope you enjoy the memories, there is plenty more to come. Dave - needless to say, I have a collection of around 20 or so Zephyr brochures from the first 1951 issue (very old fashioned style) up to the last MkII brochure of 1962. Out of interest, the 1952 brochure you pictured shows the early cars which had semaphore indicators in the 'B' pillar, these were replaced by flashing indicators in around October that year. My old Consul was a very early 1951 model with what is called a 'flat dash' and also had the semaphore indicators - they were prone to sticking and sometimes you had to thump the inside of the door pillar to make them work properly, especially if you were moving quickly (i.e. over 25mph!) - the wind resistance made them stick. My next contribution will be on the 990 set - just for you! Chris - sounds like you have an affinity for old Fords? I always thought it was a pity that there was no Dinky model of the MkII, but as you say, Tri-ang Spot-on did it extremely well, even down to the electric headlights - I have four of these in my Spot-on collection, and also three of the MkIII models, including the 'Z-Cars' police car. Maybe a little off-topic, but I expect you watched the recent BBC TV series 'For the love of Cars' hosted by Phillip Glenister? What a great series! Bruce - thanks for your encouragement and kind words - you know that you are most welcome here, we could talk Dinkies for hours and only scratch the surface. As I mentioned to you, I still have all my copies of 'Dinky News' which you published, and they are just as useful a reference as they were back then (the last issue I have is no.17 in September 2003 - was this the last one you produced?) You obviously have not only a wealth of knowledge about Dinkies, but also an enviable collection of marketing and sales literature, all of which is invaluable for the Forum. Regards to all, Adrian.' Adrian Thank you very much for your most appreciated words, in particular your comments on DINKY NEWS as other members appear disinterested in its former existence at a time when information and a general outlet on all matters relating to Dinky Toys was sparse if not almost totally non-existent. Your home is definitely on my itinerary providing I can find something for my wife to keep her occupied for many days while we are immersed in Zephyrs and Dinky Toys!! :laugh: Thank you again for your comments and like others I look forward to your next treatise on the 990! Kind regards Bruce

Somewhere along the way I missed out on Dinky News, I don't know why. I have a set of Binns Road Gazettes and all nine Classic Toys as well as all the relevant books. I obviously have another collecting target now!! Dave

The same goes for me and - if only for the bibliography in progress - I would love to have someone help me with the relevant titles in there (and - but that may be a dream - tell me how to get the actual paper issues or digital representations). Kind regards, Jan

For the fans of Ford Zephyr, I have just posted one on eBay. It is item # 181597233219 The Zephyr is part of an extremely rare Solido set BABY 2 made in 1956 - 1957. It comes with an ambulance and the original box.