Curbside Classic Jr: The 1955 Ford Mini Me – 1956 Ford Consul Mk II
Too many Cubside Classics shot, not enough time to write about them extensively. So we’ll call it CC Jr.: heavy on the pics, light on the text.
The great import boom of the fifties involved everything from Europe; from Abarth to Zagato. And the Big Three got in on the act too, selling their European subsidiaries’ wares. The Opel Rekord sold particularly well, and they used to be easy to find, in California, anyway. And English Fords were mainly the smaller Anglia and the later Cortinas. But here’s a rare bird, a Consul, looking very much like a scaled down ’55 Ford.
The Consul was the four cylinder low-end version of the Zephyr, a gaudier and six-cylinder saloon, and related to the Zodiac (above) . Ford’s biggest offering in the UK.
The Zephyr and Zodiac would have been too expensive and competed unsuccessfully against the domestic big Fords, but the Consul filled the gap at the bottom until the Falcon arrived in 1960.
The Consul had a 1703 cc OHV four that generated 59 hp. According to a test by Motor, it had a top speed of 79 mph, and took 23 seconds for the 0-60 amble. Not too bad, actually, especially compared to the VW in the fifties. It’s not clear whether the column shifter now had four gears or still three; possibly either or.
More by Paul Niedermeyer
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I don't believe the car pictured is a '56. I believe the MK2 was introduced in 1957 and that the large tail lights on the pictured model make it a 1959 or newer.
Tail lights say 60/61 lowline body