Ask a Wobber

[mercrocker]

You don't need as much as they say....I use caustic soda proper rather than soda crystals or whatever else they might be talking about. For stripping 5 or 6 diecast models I use half a bucket of boiling water and half a cup of crystals.

[Nibblet]

Heres a question; wtf did Ford bring out the Corsair when they already had a similiar sized 4dr saloon- the Cortina?

[LynehamHerc]

Wasn't it supposed to be a bit more upmarket and it also had a V4?
A mate of mine at school had one and as far as I remember it went pretty well by the standards of the time.
Mercrocker will be along shortly....

[cros]

Heres a question; wtf did Ford bring out the Corsair when they already had a similiar sized 4dr saloon- the Cortina?

Corsair estate.

7823177772_18bc3b70b7_z.jpg (71.23 KiB) Viewed 4127 times

Cortina estate

Ford Cortina 1965 DL 1500 Estate rear.jpg (173.39 KiB) Viewed 4127 times

I believe the Abbott Corsair estate used the Cortina roof and the fit suggests it was a bit longer at least. The 2000e seemed the more upmarket car and I don't think a Mk 1 Cortina would have taken sales from the Triumph or Rover 2000s.
I don't like their looks too much but the larger engine ones were a decent drive.

[mercrocker]

I think the idea was indeed an upmarket Cortina.....The Mk2 Consul market didn't seem wholly satisfied by either the Cortina or the replacement 4 cylinder version of the MkIII Zephyr. Ford saw an emerging mid-executive market that was also picked up on by Rover (2000) and to some extent the Humber Sceptre. It is not really a stop-gap car in the way that the Consul Classic had been although with production of the Corsair beginning as the Classic ended it is sometimes seen as a direct replacement - in fact at the end of the Consul Capri production span the coupe and the Corsair were often marketed in the same brochure.

Although a totally new design to look at, much of the costly development had already been done for the Taunus and of course the V4 engine was to be at the heart of the forthcoming Transit. Even a lot of the body pressings for Corsair were directly from Cortina tooling - Ford rarely put a foot wrong back then and when the Corsair came to the end of its life the MkIII Cortina was a comprehensive enough range to cover the market.

[xtriple]

My old girl had a Corsair 1700 when I was a lad. I really liked it, it was metallic silver (Silver fox?) with a black interior and went well (I thought). When it got stolen it was replaced by a silver fox Cortina 1600 so my grandparents wouldn't know the difference and it was a right tinny thing in comparison.

[Nibblet]

Yeah, it strikes me as the only thing that Ford UK got wrong, or at least were a bit slow to grasp.
Didn't realise the Corsair was a little larger.

[mercrocker]

Heres a question; wtf did Ford bring out the Corsair when they already had a similiar sized 4dr saloon- the Cortina?

Corsair estate.
7823177772_18bc3b70b7_z.jpg
Cortina estate
Ford Cortina 1965 DL 1500 Estate rear.jpg
I believe the Abbott Corsair estate used the Cortina roof and the fit suggests it was a bit longer at least. The 2000e seemed the more upmarket car and I don't think a Mk 1 Cortina would have taken sales from the Triumph or Rover 2000s.
I don't like their looks too much but the larger engine ones were a decent drive.

Abbott's were a canny lot and made good use of what was available....Corsairs were 8 inches longer, some of which was the pointy front. At least part of the door profiles appear similar to Cortina pressings and I would imagine the window frames were also Cortina estate items.

When they built the MkIII Zephyr and Zodiac estates Abbott's used to their advantage the higher roof line of the Zodiac and consequent vertical trailing edge to the rear door window frame. In other words, all MkIII estates used Zodiac rear doors. This meant that Farnham Zephyrs all had Zodiac door cards (the rear door pressings being unique to each model line). Tailgates on these cars were fibreglass.

Ford themselves of course continued estate car components from Mark to Mark - Mk1/Mk2 Escort, Mk3/Mk4 Cortina and Mk1/MK2 Granada all having common rear pressings across the model changes.

[Drum]

Does this ball joint look removable? If there was a split ring holding it, it must have rusted away. Might have to replace the whole control arm. Either that, or bodge a new boot onto it as the joint itself seems fine.

20200603_114400.jpg (302.27 KiB) Viewed 4056 times

[MLOR]

Does this ball joint look removable? If there was a split ring holding it, it must have rusted away. Might have to replace the whole control arm. Either that, or bodge a new boot onto it as the joint itself seems fine.
20200603_114400.jpg

Just replace the boot if the joint is fine .