aussie ford zephyr's

[torbirdie]

Originally Posted by castellan

Valiant RV1 & SV1 were a fine auto. do you know when valiant went to the B/W35 in the 6 cyl. I am thinking maybe the VH.

Not sure exactly, can remember the torqueflite badge on the ve, but the vf definitely came with the bw35

[max]

Originally Posted by castellan

Yes last fairlane.
1961 EK is a 3 sp auto.
The EJ to EH may even be called a 4 sp auto. weird how it works.
Holdens had 2 sp powerglide from HD to HT in 6 cyl and all V8's and also in the HG 350. were as all other HG got the trumatic 3 sp auto.

Valiant RV1 & SV1 were a fine auto. do you know when valiant went to the B/W35 in the 6 cyl. I am thinking maybe the VH.

I'm pretty sure EK, EJ and EH had 3 speed Hydramatic auto
HD, HR and HK had 2 speed Powerglide auto
HT and HG had 3 speed Trimatic Auto

[John Roberts]

Originally Posted by last fairlane

How many mistakes in one post as I recall
for a start it was 1957 and Ford 7a Customline had a 'Fordomatic" 3 speed
(where do you think we got the "FMX" name from) Chrysler had a manual overdrive you could also get a Standard 10 ( think Triumph) with push button clutch on top of the gear stick

Holden got 3 I repeat 3 speed auto in 1961 with the EK and then 2 speed with the HD/HR and back to 3 speed in the HK but not the V8s they were 2 speed I had the pleasure of winding out a brand new HK Premier 307 "5 Litre " to 75 MPH in first gear but still couldnt get away from a BMW 2002

Zephyr had BW 35 in 1961 along with Wolsely and Austin Freeway and Mk 2 Jags

Falcons on debut were 2 speed air cooled transmissions they werent conected to the radiator and dont forget Valiants had auto from 1962 push button "Torque flite" 3 speed
thats my recollections thanks John

Thanks for your thoughts, John. Being ex-Canadian I never liked GM products and always plumped for Fords. But both marques could have good designs with crappy executions. My then-new '59 Mark II Zephyr had a Borg Warner 'DG' (Detroit Gear) 3-speed auto that was used by some British makes, with cooling through the radiator and a full-time lock-up torque converter in top gear as there was no 2nd-gear hold! I think the Zephyrs got the '35' in '62.

What was crap about Ford using the DG was there was no lockout between R and L. Great for rockin' her out of a mud puddle, but imagine you are hanging it around hairpin uphill bends at 20 mph in Low (held). You swing your hands hard left and you brush the shift lever. Bang! It goes into Reverse and you come to an embarrassing halt in a cloud of burning rubber! One of the reasons I tried to put a big gap between me and following traffic...

When I bitched to the dealer he told me, "Sorry, mate but Ford takes the rear auto pump out of these when they come here because they disintegrate and churn aluminium through the transmission!"

The rear pump protected the transmission and threw it into Neutral down to walking pace if something silly like a reverse-slip happened. It also allowed push-starts when the battery was flat (so THAT's why that hadn't worked when I'd left the parkers on over a weekend). Nice of them to tell me this after I'd experienced both issues with no rear pump!

No such problems with my 1960 XK auto (just a poorly-fitting grommet on the base of the stiff gearshift, and whose gear dial was not lit up at night either, making shifting bloody awkward!) - oh, the brakes were damn small too. I traded one in on the other, but have to say the 2-speed Fordomatic was no handicap for the XK on the road and having taken down times their accelerations up to 70 mph were absolutely identical give or take a tenth (because the XK was lighter and its Low wound out to 47 mph), as were their top speeds of 87 mph.

John

[Monkey]

Wish i still had my Mk3 Zephyr
4speed manual, power assit disk brakes all in 1964

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by Monkey

Wish i still had my Mk3 Zephyr
4speed manual, power assit disk brakes all in 1964

Seriously...When my mates and I got our drivers licenses in the mid/late 70's the typical first car of choice in NZ in those days was either a Mk 3 Zephyr, PA Vauxhall or a Valiant (AP5, AP6 or VC) ....I went a bit more upmarket and bought a TC Cortina.....The mates who bought the Mk3 Zephyrs or the Vauxhalls always complained at them being off the road...some new problem every week with them....Yet the Valiants by contrast just wouldn't die which says a lot for the toughness of the Aussie 6's versus those made by the Poms.

The Zephyr was a common site on our roads in the 60's and 70's and will always be remembered

[SpartanMcDoodle]

I got a mk II zephyr I've had for 10 years now. it was the first car I ever bought and I will eventually pull it down and rebuild it. The shape of these cars are pretty good and have the potential of being a very nice cruiser.

[ebxr8240]

Originally Posted by SpartanMcDoodle

I got a mk II zephyr I've had for 10 years now. it was the first car I ever bought and I will eventually pull it down and rebuild it. The shape of these cars are pretty good and have the potential of being a very nice cruiser.

Please please don't custom it though..

[Pedro]

Small piece of absolutely useless information ... The Mk1 Zephyrs had the same clutch as the 4 cylinder Consuls and used to trash them regularly due to the disparity in horse power. When I was an apprentice, my boss and I working as a team, could change a Zephyr clutch plate in 20 minutes.

[ebxr8240]

Comparing a mid 60's model to a 70's car is a little unfair ??
Besides back then the Cortina would be fairly new..
Plus the difference in engine size.. 2.6 against 3.3 or 4.1..
Not that the 3.3 was a grunt machine...

[GT0132]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

Comparing a mid 60's model to a 70's car is a little unfair ??
Besides back then the Cortina would be fairly new..
Plus the difference in engine size.. 2.6 against 3.3 or 4.1..
Not that the 3.3 was a grunt machine...

Just came back to this thread after being back in NZ ...(rushed trip...Dads funeral) The Cortina I had was a 2.0L 4cyl and 8 years old in November 1979
when I bought it, so hardly fairly new.

The 3.3 and 4.1 engines weren't available in NZ Corty's, although the 2.3 V6 was available in the MK5 (TD) from mid 1980 to early 1983

The point of my post was to highlight the reliability of the VC Valiant (and Aussie 6's in general) compared to the UK comparables - Not to show that Cortina's were better than mid 60's Zephyr

[ebxr8240]

Funny thing is when 50+ woman look at these cars they always look at the back seat... Aha don't know why... Good times I guess ?? Atleat they can still remember !!!

[AustinA40]

When buying an early car the back seat was a good indication of condition and usually the first thing to be repaired so the tradition could be carried on in comfort.

[Tonz]

congratulations, congratulations, Mr John Roberts on being the activator for the oldest thread starter on this forum. 2009 - 2024. 15 year gap has set a new recorord

[John Roberts]

Originally Posted by Tonz

congratulations, congratulations, Mr John Roberts on being the activator for the oldest thread starter on this forum. 2009 - 2024. 15 year gap has set a new record

I am an (old) ex-Canadian, and as we used to say in the frozen back country where I was dragged up: "It don't matter how long it takes, s'long as you don't die doin' it."

I'm into Mark IIs because I'm heavily into Neil Young, and his parents had one: bitly.ws/3hIRt.

Keep on Rockin' In The Free World! (while it lasts).

[IanC]

In 67 I had a Mk2 Consul. It was a clapped out banger. The wipers were vacuum powered and when you accelerated they slowed down almost to a stop. Take your foot off the gas and they went crazy. It was massively under powered for the size of the car not helped by the engine being so clapped that the blow by from the cylinders blew the sump oil out the dip stick hole.

[lra]

I am less concerned about the thread dig than the laughable inaccuracies posted initially, but thankfully corrected in later posts.
Zephyrs were better than the equivalent Holdens of the day by a long way, but were outdated by 1960. Thankfully Ford Aus decided to build the Falcon rather than the weird looking facelifted Mk2.

My father bought a Mk1 Zephyr from the Yelarbon (look it up) Ford Dealer in 1954, drove us to Sydney to run it in while visiting rellies, and then returned to our sheep station during the 1954 floods. I learned early in life how to negotiate flooded roads and creeks, being sent out to paddle / wade though the water and point out dodgy spots.

1956, we drove from Yelarbon to Esperence to check out prospective grazing land, but Dad decided that sand dunes were not ideal sheep country and we drove back 2 days later. The only mods he made to it was a homemade sump guard, and 'Jeep-type' tyres on the back wheels. Those tyres were not kind to the diff, and it whined something terrible after that trip. Despite its somewhat hard use on crappy dirt roads, it help up pretty well. I learned to drive in it, and developed muscles courtesy of the steering, clutch and brakes. I think he sold it about 1985.

I bought a 1957 Mk2 (egg-crate grille, high roofline) when I left school in 1965 for $500.
First mod was extractors, lovely exhaust note, which led to a lot of wasted $$$ and a steep learning curve.
Re-duco-ed, twin inch and half SUs, ported and polished head, big cam, rebuilt and balanced engine, and 6.5 inch rims steel rims with SP41 tyres was cool in 1967.
But it was an old car, in looks and mechanically in 1968, I had learned a lesson about modifying cars, and traded it on a new HK Kingswood with all the good fruit.

[John Roberts]

Originally Posted by lra

I am less concerned about the thread dig than the laughable inaccuracies posted initially, but thankfully corrected in later posts.
Zephyrs were better than the equivalent Holdens of the day by a long way, but were outdated by 1960. Thankfully Ford Aus decided to build the Falcon rather than the weird looking facelifted Mk2.

My father bought a Mk1 Zephyr from the Yelarbon (look it up) Ford Dealer in 1954, drove us to Sydney to run it in while visiting rellies, and then returned to our sheep station during the 1954 floods. I learned early in life how to negotiate flooded roads and creeks, being sent out to paddle / wade though the water and point out dodgy spots.

1956, we drove from Yelarbon to Esperence to check out prospective grazing land, but Dad decided that sand dunes were not ideal sheep country and we drove back 2 days later. The only mods he made to it was a homemade sump guard, and 'Jeep-type' tyres on the back wheels. Those tyres were not kind to the diff, and it whined something terrible after that trip. Despite its somewhat hard use on crappy dirt roads, it help up pretty well. I learned to drive in it, and developed muscles courtesy of the steering, clutch and brakes. I think he sold it about 1985.

I bought a 1957 Mk2 (egg-crate grille, high roofline) when I left school in 1965 for $500.
First mod was extractors, lovely exhaust note, which led to a lot of wasted $$$ and a steep learning curve.
Re-duco-ed, twin inch and half SUs, ported and polished head, big cam, rebuilt and balanced engine, and 6.5 inch rims steel rims with SP41 tyres was cool in 1967.
But it was an old car, in looks and mechanically in 1968, I had learned a lesson about modifying cars, and traded it on a new HK Kingswood with all the good fruit.

After I put my Mk II Zephyr sidewards due to locking the rear brakes when someone pulled out from the kerb in front of me in the pouring rain, my tyre man put wintertreads on the back (Must have been a 'thing' back then), and I had no more trouble under heavy braking in the wet. Didn't hurt the diff, but Ford diffs whine anyways, lol.

[Charliewool]

As soon as I think Zephyr, I can’t help but think of John Peterson! A great mate and an out and out Zephyr legend! To hear that 289 Windsor scream it’s nuts off.. you were just waiting for the huge “bang” (which never eventuated!) was amazing!
Also never seen someone swap cogs with a toploader like him.. Absolutely brutal!
https://www.streetmachine.com.au/fea...-john-peterson
RIP John…

[98TLS]

Fwiw pic of my mates wagon over here in NZ,goes very well.

[lra]

Originally Posted by Charliewool

As soon as I think Zephyr, I can’t help but think of John Peterson! A great mate and an out and out Zephyr legend! To hear that 289 Windsor scream it’s nuts off..

Had to dig the memory bank for this ........... Barry Sharp had a 289ci Mk2 that he used to race at Calder during 1967.
Photos of it at Oran Park seem to show it as LHD. Hmmmm .....Curious.

[jaydee]

Just for interest sake, here is a pic of a Zephyr my Dad took in Halls Creek, Kimberley region of WA when the Redex Reliability Rally came through in about 1958 or 59