1954 Ford Consul Zephyr Six All Original!!!

1954 Ford Other Description

The first of the Zephyr range was a lengthened version of the four-cylinder 1,508cc (92cuin) Consul, with a 2,262cc (138cuin) six-cylinder engine producing 68bhp (51kW). Like the Consul, the Zephyr came with a three-speed gear box, controlled by a column-mounted lever.[3] The front suspension design, based on that first seen in the Ford Vedette, employed what would later come to be known as MacPherson struts[4] while a more conventional configuration for the rear suspension used a live axle with half-elliptic springs. The car could reach just over 80mph (130km/h) and 23mpg.

The Ford Zephyr Six was available with 4-door saloon, estate and two-door convertible bodies. The convertible version was made by Carbodies and had a power-operated hood; the estate car was by Abbotts of Farnham and was sold as the Farnham.

In addition to the main British Ford factory in Dagenham, the Consul and Zephyr were assembled at Ford New Zealand's Seaview factory in Lower Hutt from CKD kits. The large Fords competed with the also locally built Vauxhall Wyvern and Velox and, later the Australian Holden. When the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II visited New Zealand as part of a Commonwealth tour in the early 1950s, she was pictured watching Zephyrs being built at the local Ford plant.

In 1953, a Ford Zephyr Six driven by Maurice Gatsonides won the Monte Carlo rally, pushing a Jaguar Mark VII into second place in the process. Two years later a Ford Zephyr Six driven by Vic Preston (Snr) and D P Marwaha won the East African Safari Rally.[5]

A saloon tested by The Motor magazine in 1951 had a top speed of 79.8mph (128.4km/h) and could accelerate from 0–60mph (97km/h) in 20.2 seconds. A fuel consumption of 23.7 miles per imperial gallon (11.9L/100km; 19.7mpg-US) was recorded. The test car cost £842 including taxes but was fitted with optional leather trim, heater and radio.[2]