Great Fords and other cars I have known

Your original post is the OP post on this thread!!;)

No my original post was a reply to a comment made on another thread. It was subsequently moved to start this new thread by a Mod.[Not complaining just noting]

The Tickford Falcon XR8…quite a beast…and a close run in with the Melbourne police, substantially exceeding the speed limit late one evening with the proto.

They were curious about the car and what it could do, my accent…and that I was returning to the UK the next day.

Mark

Family friend owned a Capri Turbo Broadspeed Bullit for a fairly short time, I drove the beast a number of times, interesting to say the least, not many cars, certainly in those far off days, where you could boot the thing while travelling at 50mph and still get wheel spin, fortunately he was in the motor trade as warped front discs became an occupational hazard.

Needs must sometimes, Rob. I sold two cars I wish I could have kept…..:( – not Fords though!!

Why did you sell it, Steve?….. It’s an absolute beauty!

Rob

And of all things…

I was out cycling today and what should go past but one of the later 2.8i Capri

Made me smile

Moggy

Enjoying the thread!

This is one of my all time favourite looking Fords…I owned this one up until a few years ago and I still miss it! (Photo taken in the car park of Midland Counties Publications in Hinckley where I worked at the time)

I drove a friends Capri 3.0S when I was about 19….absolutely loved it!

Regards;
Steve

Your original post is the OP post on this thread!!;)

Having just found this thread after following the link from the previous thread where my comment was moved from….I can own up to having owned 13 Capri’s. 4 MK1. 2MK2 and 7 MK3
[must remember never comment on something that does not directly relate to the original post topic!!]

2001 Ford Focus diesel estate, 1.8. Currently approaching 220,000 trouble free miles. Wonderful car !

…Well used to it!

So the basic line model didn’t have a centre tunnel for a drive shaft then?

The big expenditure for a major motor company on a ‘hot’ project like this is any changes to B.I.W. (Body in White). To be avoided at all costs.

The smallest additional welded pressing impacts mightily on assembly fixtures, robots etc.

So to make it 4WD would increase the costs multi multi fold, new transmission, revised B.I.W. new exhaust, new rear suspension, new fuel tank, new crash tests, thousands of miles of durability and rig testing in the UK, cold weather and hot weather and a host of legislative complications…all to sell 6000 cars at a marginal profit. Think of a number and stick two noughts on the end.

The objective of these ‘hot’ performance variations is to raise the profile of the basic models in the eyes of the buying public. Often used as a model is coming to an end.

Works Rallying provided a similar profile.

Mark

…

If anyone requests it I’ll create a “Fords I have known” thread over on General and shift the relevant posts there. Frankly I feel relieved we are still not endlessly talking about that dog.

Moggy

It’s almost as if I thought Bad Taste was preferable to another round of barking…

On my last Mustang, my license plate was P-51. I still have the plates hanging in my garage.
I was stopped by a policeman one not for a ticket but to ask whether I had a Mustang.

I almost said “If I had one, I’d be driving a nicer car than this”.

This to be done in about a third of the time it would take in house Ford and probably at a third of the cost…and the killer, it had to come down the line at Frankfurt.

The issue for Tickford was that the Focus was one of the early cars to be designed down to the wire and developed and tested to death. It was brilliant, but it meant anything we wanted to do on loadings and performance would impact the existing component’s design life. The clever bit was to over engineer the package just the right amount…in lieu of rig testing and driving thousands of test miles. There were no recalls to my knowledge.

Ah yes….

See this fundamental of any programme:

We want you to ignore that and deliver a better product quicker and cheaper – now get to it.

Well used to it!

So the basic line model didn’t have a centre tunnel for a drive shaft then?

Fords – love ’em and still drive ’em. When I were a lad between them my mum and dad had one Capri 1600, one 2 litre and three 3 litres – GXL, 3000E and Ghia both Mk1 and Mk2. One of my sisters even had one as her wedding car.

My brother and later my dad also had a Mk2 Lotus Cortina. In amongst all the Hillmans, Vauxhall 101’s and Bedford Dormobiles it was easily the best looking car in our street.
Can’t vouch for the MK1 but my family loved the Mk2 Lotus.!

Rob

Of course many forget that the first Capri was a Ford Classic Coupe that appeared briefly in the early 1960s

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I still think it a pretty car. It wasn’t a great platform though

Still have fond memories of my first car – a 105E Anglia 1959 lime green!! Never had a problem with it until I wrote it off on black ice on the A4 near Hungerford!!

Most felt the Cortina Lotus Mk2 was a major disappointment after the Lotus Cortina Mk1

(And you can count me amongst those)

Moggy

Well that wasn’t actually the question.

I agree the Mk I Lotus Cortina was a class act and I drove both the Mk I, The Mk II and the 1600E on both the road and the track.

The Mk II 1600E was certainly an excellent car with refinement above and beyond the expected norm.

I remember taking the Mk I Lotus out on the GM handling circuit with road pressures. When I set out it said ‘Pirelli Cinturato’ on the side walls. When I finished, and it was fun, most of it had gone.

Forward to the tyre bay.

Mark

So, I can’t not ask your opinion on the obvious question… should it have been 4WD?

Well It would have been better but it would not have happened. It would certainly have reduced the steering fight under hard acceleration, despite all the fixes we tried.

The brief from Ford on the chassis side was to accommodate larger OZ wheels and tyres, lower the suspension, fit Brembo brakes, revamp shocks, springs roll bars and bushings by development, upgrade all the suspension components for the increased loadings and upgrade the driveline for the substantial increase in power supplied by my colleague. This to be done in about a third of the time it would take in house Ford and probably at a third of the cost…and the killer, it had to come down the line at Frankfurt.

The issue for Tickford was that the Focus was one of the early cars to be designed down to the wire and developed and tested to death. It was brilliant, but it meant anything we wanted to do on loadings and performance would impact the existing component’s design life. The clever bit was to over engineer the package just the right amount…in lieu of rig testing and driving thousands of test miles. There were no recalls to my knowledge.

Mark

…and the Lotus.

Most felt the Cortina Lotus Mk2 was a major disappointment after the Lotus Cortina Mk1

(And you can count me amongst those)

Moggy