The Ford Consul is a car manufactured and marketed by Ford UK from 1951 to 1962. The name was later revived for a model produced by Ford in both the UK and Germany from 1972 until 1975.
History of the Ford Consul
Ford Consul EOTA (1951–1956)
The Ford UK produced the Ford Consul from 1951 to 1962. It was first shown in 1950 at the London Motor Show and Ford created a bit of a storm with the model as its package was rather advanced for the car's production year. The Consul had a 1500 cc four-cylinder and it was the first British Ford with modern unibody construction. The model came with a 4-speed manual transmission and a top speed of 120 kph. The Ford code for the Consul was the EOTA. Its sibling, the Zephyr, had a different engine with a 2262 cc displacement. The Zephyr was released in 1951. To distinguish the Consul from the Zephyr, the latter had a longer wheelbase and a six-cylinder engine producing 68 hp. The Zephyr Zodiac appeared in 1953 and was equipped with a higher compression engine with 71 hp. The interior was all leather and the exterior was two-tone painted.
Ford Consul Mark II (1956–1962)
In 1956, a new Consul appeared with the Ford code 204E. The car was still the four-cylinder submodel of the Zephyr range, with which it shared the same basic body shell. Compared with the original, it had a longer wheelbase, larger 1703 cc, 59 bhp (44 kW) engine, and a complete restyle, borrowing cues from the 1956 models of America's Thunderbird and Fairlane. One thing not updated was the windscreen wipers, which were still vacuum-operated. The name became the Consul 375 in mid-1961. A Consul Mark II tested by The Motor in 1956 had a top speed of 79.3 mph (127.6 kph) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 kph) in 23.2 seconds.
Ford Consul (Granada Mark I based) (1972–1975)
The Ford Consul name was revived in April 1972 for the lower-priced, lower-specification variants of the newly introduced Ford Granada. Developed jointly by Ford Britain and Ford of Germany, the cars were built in Cologne in West Germany and in Dagenham in the United Kingdom. Consul models can be identified by a two-panel cross-mesh grille as opposed to the horizontal chrome bar grille of the Granadas. Consul, Consul L, and Consul GT models were offered and were available in two-door saloons, four-door saloons, two-door coupé, and five-door estate body styles. Unlike the previous Zephyr Estate, the Consul Estate was produced by Ford rather than by an outside contractor. In Germany, the Consul was offered a choice of German-built Ford engines, starting with the 1699 cc Ford Taunus V4 engine familiar to drivers of the Ford Taunus 17M. The 2.0L straight-four and a 2.3L Cologne V6 were also available.
Price
The price range for a used Ford Consul varies based on the trim level you choose. Starting at $2,000 and going to $4,300 for the latest year the model was manufactured.
Release Date
Ford UK released and manufactured the Ford Consul between 1951 to 1962. The nameplate was revived from 1972 to 1975. The Consul name was discontinued in late 1975 after the UK Court of Appeal ruled that Granada Group could not prevent Ford from registering the name Granada as a trademark. The Granada name was then applied to all models.