Ford Corsair
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The Ford Corsair manufactured by Ford Motor Company in the United Kingdom was a medium-sized family car available as either a saloon (sedan) or estate (station wagon) from 1964 until 1970. There was also a convertible version built by Crayford, which nowadays is very rare and highly sought after as a classic. The saloon was available briefly as a 2 door in some export markets.
The Corsair had unusual and quite bold styling for its day, with a sharp horizontal V-shaped crease at the very front of the car into which round headlights were inset. This gave the car an apparently aerodynamic shape. The jet-like styling extended to the rear where sharply pointed vertical light clusters hinted at fins. The overall styling was clearly inspired by the early 1960s US model Ford Thunderbird ("bullet bird") though in transferring the look to a British family car, the overall effect is something of an acquired taste.
Originally offered with the larger 1.5 Kent engine that was also used in the smaller Ford Cortina, in standard and GT tune, the range was revised in 1965, adopting a new V4 series of engines that many say spoiled rather than enhanced the car as it was rough at idle and coarse on the road. This was available in 1.7 litre form at first, but later in 1966, a larger 2.0 was offered alongside.
In 1967, the Corsair also underwent the Executive treatment like its smaller Cortina sibling, giving the 2000E model with dechromed flanks, unique wheel covers, a vinyl roof and upgraded cabin fittings.
The Corsair's performance was underwhelming, with a top speed in its 2 litre V4 version of about 95 mph (153 km/h). While some enthusiasts increased performance, a popular story was that if the car was driven at over 80 mph (129 km/h), the wedge-shaped nose generated so much lift that the car became seriously dangerous. It's likely that this story is an urban myth.
The Corsair was replaced by the new model Cortina, the Mk 3, in 1970, at which time the enlarged Cortina became Ford's middle-sized car, and a new smaller model, the Escort filled in the size below. The also new Ford Capri took on the performance and sporty aspirations of the company.
Over its six year or so life, 310,000 Corsairs were built.
Australia
Between 1989 and 1992, the Corsair name was also used by Ford in Australia for an unusually restyled version of Nissan's Pintara, under a model-sharing scheme known as the Button Plan. Available as a sedan or wagon/hatchback, it was intended to replace the Mazda-based Ford Telstar, which was imported from Japan, but due in part to unpopularity it actually ended up being sold alongside the Telstar. When Nissan closed its plant in Australia, the Corsair was discontinued, and Ford reverted to marketing the Telstar.