Ownership Verified: 1969 Ford Corsair - 'The Pube'

There was a 2000E Corsair rival though.

Yes, yes there was....



1967 Corsair 2000E - beautiful condition too.

Apologies for the crappy PAYG An-dross phone pic and the fact it was taken from inside a pale metallic green VW New Beetle. Don't worry, G/F will be getting a proper car just as soon as I can browbeat her into it!
 
Niiiiice!

I spent some time today beginning to cut and polish the paint, the front end and chrome has come up really well, so I suspect the whole car will look decent come next year. Potato pic.

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I know what you mean. I've got an exhaust leak on the wagon that I need to take care of.

That sound decent regardless!
 
Wow, that's an interesting car! I believe I haven't really spotted it in real life.. Looks lovely! :)
 
Wow, that's an interesting car! I believe I haven't really spotted it in real life.. Looks lovely! :)

Thank you! The styling was pretty controversial at the time, and now. I don't think many ever made it out of England either, very nice product so not too surprising if you've never seen one.
 
At the back end of last year, not long after buying the car I picked up a cheap set of rostyle wheels from a Cortina 1600E. These are pretty rare in Ford fitment as they only came on that particular model, although in BL products they are very commonplace. Here they are as bought, complete with bashed up chrome trim rings around the dish. They photograph better than they were...




Compared to refurbishing a standard steel wheel, these things were a major pain. Not just painting and masking, but even rubbing down and trying to avoid the chrome. The inside has been painted gloss black, and the rims in Ford Strato Silver, just like we did on the Anglia. They haven't come out perfect, with a little bit of lacquer bloom, but the chrome isn't great on them either, so I'm not too concerned. Either way I think they're a massive improvement over the old slot mags. In the photos I haven't fit the centre caps yet, as I'm still to have the wheels balanced. I just wanted to get them on for a look. :lol:





The old slot mags were the cause of a noise under turning as well, the extra width combined with a wheel bearing needed adjustment made the car into a fantastic lathe!



I also removed this awful cut down Maestro fuel cap which was forcing the number plate out, and replaced it with a Mini injection one. Much nicer, makes the plate sit flush, and even though it's not original it can't be seen. Yes I am aware I've a lot of cleaning to do, but while it's in storage I am leaving it be for now. ;)




The boot is pretty big too, but not quite big enough for all of these.



These photos also show the difference in paint quality on the rear quarter from the repair by the previous owner. It's much nicer in real life, and camera flash exaggerates it, but it is a priority to get this panel blended in.

 
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Love the wheels. Make the car looks infinitely better. :D In my opinion the Rostyle looks good on every single 1960's and 1970's cars. No exception.
 
The wheels are a huge improvement indeed.

And fuck I want that kind of space for cars! :D. Also needs a lift.

It's just rented unfortunately, but it's a fantastic storage space and a reasonable price given the amount of stuff I send there. I still bring them home to do real work on them in the workshop. :)
 
I'm sure you're all getting tired of these car in shed updates, but after the Anglia thread went wayward, I'm determined to try doing a proper progress thread again. :lol:

Today I continued cutting back the flat paint and polishing, this time the roof and boot, and I think the results are good. It's really getting a decent shine now, can't wait to see it in daylight rather than this dingy shed.

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Thanks Craig!

More boring pics of a car getting gradually cleaner in a shed incoming. Cut back the sides and sills today, leaving the entire car now cut (except the front valance as I found checking these pics...).

I still want a couple more coats of polish, and then a good wax, but it's now looking a completely different car to the one I bought. I also discovered the rear 'Corsair' badge has had the pins removed and replaced with magnets, meaning I could move it back to it's correct bootlid position. Or stick it on anything I liked really... instant debadging!

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The steering wheel needs refurbing, but I have a friend who does very nice work on these so in the future he'll be getting it for a new coat of gloss black.

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The rear quarter is better having been cut back a bit. The entire panel has been covered with lacquer over the top of cellulose despite only a small section needing paint. Hoping I can do a much neater temporary repair until I get the panel painted.

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The number plates I'm not a fan of, so will probably be changed soon.

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Wheels still looking very nice, but I must paint the calipers and drums back to black.

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Next up, cleaning the interior and rubbing down any surface blisters and touching in any chips.
 
Pretty sure this move is going to be very unpopular with pretty much anyone but proper nerds, but this one makes me happy!

In about 1967 reflective number plates first came out in the UK, and by 1973 were a legal requirement on new vehicles. In the late 60s when you ordered a new car, you were given a choice between the two styles, and a lot of people plopped down the extra couple of pounds for reflective plates as they made a car look more modern. (My dad was busy making reflective plates for his car using letters from the scrapyard in the late 60s to go on an early 60s Anglia, as were all the boy racers of the time!).

Most classic car owners now want to make their cars look older, and will typically fit black and silver plates to everything legally entitled to have them. I reckon if I were buying a Corsair in '69 I'd have paid the little bit extra and gone reflective, and so did Ford with all of their G-reg demonstrators having them.

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Long story short, I ordered a set of the correct plates up, and I think they look pretty good. :D It's a bit different too, because everything under the sun has black and silver on now, and you just don't see the old reflectives very often any more.

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I think it'll look great on the Corsair!

Quick question about British plates. I got the impression (pun intended) that the government doesn't make the plates and you buy them from a 3rd party, is that correct?

Thanks!

Yes, plates come from DVLA (Driver vehicle licensing authority) approved sources, upon showing proof of ID and the car's registration document. Which is a pretty good system, as it means if a damage a plate you can go out to any decent motorfactors and get one made up the same day. It also allows for specialist companies making classics plates to exist.
 

Never heard of most of those so I looked them up. I would totally rock a Zodiac Estate.

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That particular one looks like its wearing a Lincoln star. Is that how they were sold originally? I'd love to get one over here and bring it to the employee auto show in Dearborn.
 
It's a definite nod to a Lincoln badge, although the brand has never been offered in the UK and most people (especially in the 60s) wouldn't have heard of one. The Zodiac was the top of the range UK Ford, and I think they were added mostly to try and give the car a bit of fake prestige. They were standard equipment on some models.

I love the Zodiac, in all it's forms. Very nice cars! They always had very American influenced styling, even more so than the rest of the UK Ford range. Unfortunately they command strong prices.

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Mk4
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