Morris Oxford Farina
The Morris Oxford Farina is a series of motor car models that were produced by Morris of the United Kingdom from 1959 to 1971. Named by W R Morris after the city of dreaming spires, the university town in which he grew up, the manufacture of Morris's Oxford cars had helped to turn the south-side of Oxford into a thriving industrial area. Like its predecessors, the Morris Oxford for the 1960s was a four-cylinder family car, it would have been seen as mid-sized in the UK, where most of the cars were sold. The Oxford competed with models such as the Singer Vauxhall Victor. For 1959, the Oxford, announced on Lady Day 25 March 1959, was merged into the mid-sized Pininfarina-designed BMC Farina range along with a half-dozen other announced models, including the 1958 Wolseley 15/60 and 1959 Riley 4/68, Austin A55 Cambridge Mark II, MG Magnette Mark III; the Austin and Morris cars were produced in separate factories. Differences in the Morris included some of the chrome and interior trim, the rear lights.
Inside, a front bench seat and special dashboard fitted with speedometer, oil pressure gauge, coolant temperature gauge, fuel gauge and clock were used. A choice of floor or column gear change was available; the handbrake was floor-mounted to the side of the seat. The 1.5 L B-Series engine continued. Drum brakes of 9 in diameter were fitted front and rear and the steering used a cam and peg system; the suspension was independent at the front using coil springs and had a live axle and semi-elliptic leaf springs at the rear. The Series IV Traveller was still listed till September 1960, by which time a Series V Traveller had been introduced. Tested by The Motor magazine the car had a top speed of 78 mph and could accelerate from 0–60 mph in 25.4 seconds. A "touring" fuel consumption of 29.8 miles per imperial gallon was recorded. Both standard and de-luxe versions were offered; the de-luxe package included a heater, manual screen washer, twin sun visors, twin horns, bumper over-riders, a clock and leather-covered seat.
A two-tone paint scheme and a radio were available as options. On the home market the Standard version cost the de-luxe £ 844 including taxes. In all, 87,432 Series V Oxfords were built. All five Farina cars were updated in October 1961 with a new 1.6 L version of the B-Series engine, longer wheelbase and a new revised look. The tail fins had been trimmed and there were still detail changes between the marques; the Morris retained the series V dash. The Morris Oxford Traveller series V was replaced by a series VI, although little changed apart from the front grille. A diesel-engined Oxford series VI, introduced shortly after the 1961 update, was popular as a taxi. Variants of the same diesel engine enjoyed a long life in marine applications; the Oxford VI remained in production. The Oxford range was to have been replaced by the 1967 Morris 1800, but in the event both were built in parallel until 1971 because in terms both of pricing and of interior space the 1800 fell into the market segment of a larger car.
The ADO17 1800 continued until 1975, when it was succeeded by the ADO71 Morris 1800. The car which took the Oxford's place at the smaller end of the market segment was the Morris Marina, which succeeded the yet smaller Minor. Footnotes Bibliography
Lotus Cars
Lotus Cars is a British automotive company that manufactures sports cars and racing cars in its headquarters in Hethel, United Kingdom. Lotus cars include the Esprit, Europa, Elise and Evora sports cars and it had motor racing success with Team Lotus in Formula One. Lotus Cars are based at the former site of RAF Hethel, a World War II airfield in Norfolk; the company designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and fine handling characteristics. It owns the engineering consultancy firm Lotus Engineering, which has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States and Malaysia. Lotus was owned by DRB-HICOM through its subsidiary Proton, which acquired it following the bankruptcy of former owner Romano Artioli in 1996. On 24 May 2017, Geely announced that it will take a 51% controlling stake in Lotus and thus became the owner of the automobile manufacturer; the remaining 49% were acquired by Etika Automotive. The company was formed as Lotus Engineering Ltd. by engineers Colin Chapman and Colin Dare, both graduates of University College, London, in 1952, but had earlier origins in 1948 when Chapman built his first racing car in a garage.
The four letters in the middle of the logo stand for the initials of company founder, Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman. When the logo was created, Colin Chapman's original partners Michael and Nigel Allen were led to believe that the letters stood for Colin Chapman and the Allen Brothers; the first factory was situated in old stables behind the Railway Hotel in North London. Team Lotus, split off from Lotus Engineering in 1954, was active and competitive in Formula One racing from 1958 to 1994; the Lotus Group of Companies was formed in 1959. This was made up of Lotus Cars Limited and Lotus Components Limited, which focused on road cars and customer competition car production, respectively. Lotus Components Limited became Lotus Racing Limited in 1971 but the newly renamed entity ceased operation in the same year; the company moved to a purpose built factory at Cheshunt in 1959 and since 1966 the company has occupied a modern factory and road test facility at Hethel, near Wymondham. This site is the former RAF Hethel base and the test track uses sections of the old runway.
In its early days, Lotus sold cars aimed at privateer trialists. Its early road cars could be bought as kits; the kit car era ended in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Lotus Elan Plus Two being the first Lotus road car not to be offered in kit form, the Lotus Eclat and Lotus Elite of the mid-1970s being offered only in factory built versions. After the elegant but delicate Lotus Elite of the 1950s, which featured a complete fibreglass monocoque fitted with built-in steel pickup points for mounting major components, Lotus found critical and sales success in the 1960s with the Lotus Elan two seater developed to two plus two form. Lotus was notable for its use of fibreglass bodies, backbone chassis, overhead camshaft engines supplied by Coventry Climax but replaced by Lotus-Ford units. Lotus worked with Ford on a successful sports saloon. Another Lotus of the late 1960s and early 1970s was the two seater Lotus Europa intended only for the European market, which paired a backbone chassis and lightweight body with a mid mounted Renault engine upgraded to the Lotus-Ford twin cam unit as used in the Elan.
The Lotus Seven, originating in the 1950s as a simple, lightweight open two seater continued in production into the early 70s. Lotus sold the rights to produce the Seven to Caterham, which has continued to produce the car since then. By the mid-1970s, Lotus sought to move upmarket with the launch of the Elite and Eclat models, four seaters aimed at prosperous buyers, with features such as optional air conditioning and optional automatic transmissions; the mid engined line continued with the Lotus Esprit, to prove one of the company's longest lived and most iconic models. Lotus developed its own series of four cylinder DOHC engines, the Lotus 900 series, a V8, turbocharged versions of the engines appeared in the Esprit. Variants of the 900 series engine were supplied for the Jensen Healey sports car and the Sunbeam Lotus "hot hatchback". In the 1980s, Lotus collaborated with Vauxhall Motors to produce the Lotus Carlton, the fastest roadgoing Vauxhall car. By 1980, Group Lotus was in serious financial trouble.
Production had dropped from 1,200 units per year to a mere 383. The combined reasons were that the world was in the middle of an economic recession, sales in the key United States market had collapsed and there had been limited development of the model range. In early 1982, Chapman came to an agreement with Toyota to exchange intellectual property and applied expertise; this resulted in Lotus Engineering helping to develop the Mk2 Toyota Supra known as the Toyota Celica XX. Secondly, it allowed Lotus to launch the new Lotus Excel to replace the ageing Lotus Eclat. Using drivetrain and other components from Toyota enabled Lotus to sell the Excel for £1,109 less than the outgoing Eclat. Looking to re-enter the North American market, Chapman was approached by young law professor and investment banking consultant, Joe Bianco, who proposed a new and separate United States sales company for Lotus. By creating an unprecedented tax-incentived mechanism wherein each investor received a specially personalised Lotus Turbo Esprit, the new American company, Lotus Performance Cars Inc. was able to provide fresh capital to the Group Lotus in the United Kingdom.
Former Ferrari North America general manager John Spiech was brought in to run LPCI, which imported the remarkable Giugiaro-designed Turbo E
Rover P6
The Rover P6 series is a saloon car produced by Rover and subsequently British Leyland from 1963 to 1977 in Solihull, West Midlands, England. The P6 was voted European Car of the Year in 1964, the first winner of the title; the P6 was announced on 9 October 1963, just before the Earls Court Motor Show. The vehicle was marketed first as the Rover 2000 and was a complete "clean sheet" design intended to appeal to a larger number of buyers than earlier models such as the P4 it replaced. Rover had identified a developing market between the standard'1.5-litre' saloon car class and the accepted'three-litre' large saloon cars. Younger and affluent professional workers and executives were seeking out cars that were superior to the normal 1.5-litre models in style and luxury but which offered more modern driving dynamics than the big three-litre class and lower purchase and running costs than sports saloons such as the Jaguar Mark 2. Automotive technology had improved in the mid-to-late 1950s, typified by the introduction of cars such as the Citroen DS and Lancia Flavia in Europe and the Chevrolet Corvair in America.
The replacement for the traditionally-designed P4 would therefore be a smaller car with a two-litre engine utilising the latest design and styling, thus making the Rover one of the earliest examples of what would now be classified as an executive car. The P6 would be lower-priced than the P4 and sales volumes were anticipated to be higher; the more upmarket and conservative P5 was sold alongside the P6 until 1973. The 2000 was advanced for the time with a de Dion tube suspension at the rear, four-wheel disc brakes, a synchromesh transmission; the unibody design featured non-stressed panels bolted to a unit frame, inspired by the Citroën DS. The de Dion set-up was unique in that the "tube" was in two parts that could telescope, thereby avoiding the need for sliding splines in the drive shafts, with consequent stiction under drive or braking torque, while still keeping the wheels vertical and parallel in relation to the body; the Rover 2000 won industry awards for safety when it was introduced and included a designed "safety" interior.
One innovative feature was the prism of plastic on the top of the front side lights. This allowed the driver to see the front corner of the car in low light conditions, confirmed that they were operative; the sharp plastic projections did not meet homologation standards in some export markets, including Germany, however and so a lens with a smooth top was substituted where the law demanded. One unique feature of the Rover 2000 was the design of the front suspension system, in which a bell crank conveyed the vertical motion of the wheel to a fore-and-aft-horizontally mounted spring fastened to the rear wall of the engine compartment. A single hydraulically damped; the front suspension was designed to allow as much width for the engine compartment as possible so that Rover's Gas Turbine engine could be fitted. The styling outline was first seen in the 1961 prototype T4, a front-engined front-wheel drive gas turbine saloon, one of a line of gas turbine prototypes built by Rover in the 1950s and 60s.
T4 can be seen at the British Motor Museum. In the event, the gas turbine engine was never used for the production vehicle, but the engine compartment width did facilitate the accommodation of the Buick derived V8 engine made available in the P6 from April 1968. Sculptor Flaminio Bertoni's Citroën DS body inspired David Bache. With a nod to the new Kamm tail, the finished Rover appearance incorporated a enlarged boot filled otherwise by Rover's de Dion rear suspension, it lacked the Citroën shark nose, which it was planned to introduce as a drooping bonnet with headlamps in pods and projecting sidelights. Luggage compartment space was limited due to the complex rear suspension and, in Series II vehicles, the boot mounted battery; the spare wheel competed for space, stored either flat on the boot floor or vertically to the side. A optional'touring package' allowed the spare to be carried on the boot lid, with a vinyl weatherproof cover; when not in place, the mounting bracket was concealed by a circular Rover badge.
Series II models offered Dunlop Denovo Run-flat tyre, eliminating the need for a spare, though this was not selected and is unusual on surviving examples. The car's primary competitor on the domestic UK market was the Triumph 2000 released in October 1963, just one week after the Rover. In continental Europe the Rover 2000 competed in the same sector as the Citroën DS which, like the initial Rover offering, was offered only with a four-cylinder engine – a situation, resolved in the Rover when the V8 was engineered to fit into the engine bay; the Rover 2000 interior was not as spacious as those of its Triumph and Citroën rivals in the back, where its sculpted two-person rear seat implied that customers wishing to accommodate three in the back of a Rover should opt for the larger and older Rover P5. The first P6 used a 2.0 L engine designed for the P6. Although it was announced towards the end of 1963, the car had been in "pilot production" since the beginning of the year, therefore deliveries were able to begin immediately.
Original output was in the order of 104 bhp. At the time the engine was unus
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p. A. is an Italian luxury car manufacturer, founded by Frenchman Alexandre Darracq as A. L. F. A. on 24 June 1910, in Milan. The brand is known for sporty vehicles and has been involved in car racing since 1911; the company was owned by Italian state holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale between 1932 and 1986, when it became a part of the Fiat Group. In February 2007, the Alfa Romeo brand became Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p. A. A subsidiary of Fiat Group Automobiles, now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Italy; the company that became Alfa Romeo was founded as Società Anonima Italiana Darracq in 1906 by the French automobile firm of Alexandre Darracq, with Italian investors. In late 1909, the Italian Darracq cars were selling and the Italian partners of the company hired Giuseppe Merosi to design new cars. On 24 June 1910, a new company was founded named A. L. F. A. Still in partnership with Darracq; the first non-Darracq car produced by the company was the 1910 24 HP, designed by Merosi.
A. L. F. A. Ventured into motor racing, with drivers Franchini and Ronzoni competing in the 1911 Targa Florio with two 24-hp models. In August 1915, the company came under the direction of Neapolitan entrepreneur Nicola Romeo, who converted the factory to produce military hardware for the Italian and Allied war efforts. In 1920, the name of the company was changed to Alfa Romeo with the Torpedo 20–30 HP the first car to be so badged. In 1921, the Banca Italiana di Sconto. Nicola Romeo & Co, went broke and the government needed to support the industrial companies involved, among, Alfa Romeo, through the "Consorzio per Sovvenzioni sui Valori Industriali". In 1925, the railway activities were separated from the Romeo company, in 1928, Nicola Romeo left. In 1933, the state ownership was reorganized under the banner of the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale by Benito Mussolini's government, which had effective control; the company struggled to return to profitability after the Second World War, turned to mass-producing small vehicles rather than hand-building luxury models.
In 1954, it developed the Alfa Romeo Twin Cam engine, which would remain in production until 1994. During the 1960s and 1970s, Alfa Romeo produced a number of sporty cars, but struggled to make a profit, so Istituto per la Reconstruzione, the state conglomerate that controls Finmeccanica sold the marque to the Fiat Group in 1986. Alfa Romeo has competed in Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing, rallies, it has competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries, private entries. The first racing car was made in 1913, three years after the foundation of the company, Alfa Romeo won the inaugural world championship for Grand Prix cars in 1925; the race victories gave a sporty image to the marque, Enzo Ferrari founded the Scuderia Ferrari racing team in 1929 as an Alfa Romeo racing team, before becoming independent in 1939. It has had the most wins of any marque in the world; the company's name is a combination of the original name, "A. L. F.
A.", the last name of entrepreneur Nicola Romeo, who took control of the company in 1915. The company that became Alfa Romeo was founded as Società Anonima Italiana Darracq in 1906 by the French automobile firm of Alexandre Darracq, with some Italian investors. One of them, Cavaliere Ugo Stella, an aristocrat from Milan, became chairman of the SAID in 1909; the firm's initial location was in Naples, but before the construction of the planned factory had started, Darracq decided late in 1906 that Milan would be more suitable and accordingly a tract of land was acquired in the Milan suburb of Portello, where a new factory of 6,700 square metres was erected. Late 1909, the Italian Darracq cars were selling and Stella, with the other Italian co-investors, founded a new company named A. L. F. A. Still in partnership with Darracq; the first non-Darracq car produced by the company was the 1910 24 HP, designed by Giuseppe Merosi, hired in 1909 for designing new cars more suited to the Italian market. Merosi would go on to design a series of new A.
L. F. A. Cars, with more powerful engines. A. L. F. A. Ventured into motor racing, with drivers Franchini and Ronzoni competing in the 1911 Targa Florio with two 24-hp models. In 1914, an advanced Grand Prix car was designed and built, the GP1914, with a four-cylinder engine, double overhead camshafts, four valves per cylinder, twin ignition. However, the onset of the First World War halted automobile production at A. L. F. A. for three years. In August 1915, the company came under the direction of Neapolitan entrepreneur Nicola Romeo, who converted the factory to produce military hardware for the Italian and Allied war efforts. Munitions, aircraft engines and other components and generators based on the company's existing car engines were produced in a vastly enlarged factory during the war. After the war, Romeo invested his war profits in acquiring locomotive and railway carriage plants in Saronno and Naples, which were added to his A. L. F. A. Ownership. Car production had not been considered at first, but resumed in 1919 since parts for the completion of 105 cars had remained at the A.
L. F. A. Factory since 1915. In 1920, the name of the company was changed to Alfa Romeo with the Torpedo 20–30 HP the first car to be so badged, their first success came in 1920 whe
Formula One
Formula One is the highest class of single-seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and owned by the Formula One Group. The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1950; the word "formula" in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix, which take place worldwide on purpose-built circuits and on public roads; the results of each race are evaluated using a points system to determine two annual World Championships: one for drivers, the other for constructors. Drivers must hold valid Super Licences, the highest class of racing licence issued by the FIA; the races must run on tracks graded "1", the highest grade-rating issued by the FIA. Most events occur in rural locations on purpose-built tracks, but several events take place on city streets. Formula One cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, owing to high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce.
The cars underwent major changes in 2017, allowing wider front and rear wings, wider tyres, resulting in cornering forces closing in on 6.5g and top speeds of up to 375 km/h. As of 2019 the hybrid engines are limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 rpm and the cars are dependent on electronics—although traction control and other driving aids have been banned since 2008—and on aerodynamics and tyres. While Europe is the sport's traditional base, the championship operates globally, with 11 of the 21 races in the 2018 season taking place outside Europe. With the annual cost of running a mid-tier team—designing and maintaining cars, transport—being US$120 million, Formula One has a significant economic and job-creation effect, its financial and political battles are reported, its high profile and popularity have created a major merchandising environment, which has resulted in large investments from sponsors and budgets. On 8 September 2016 Bloomberg reported that Liberty Media had agreed to buy Delta Topco, the company that controls Formula One, from private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners for $4.4 billion in cash and convertible debt.
On 23 January 2017 Liberty Media confirmed the completion of the acquisition for $8 billion. The Formula One series originated with the European Grand Prix Motor Racing of the 1930s; the formula is a set of rules. Formula One was a new formula agreed upon after World War II during 1946, with the first non-championship races being held that year. A number of Grand Prix racing organisations had laid out rules for a world championship before the war, but due to the suspension of racing during the conflict, the World Drivers' Championship was not formalised until 1947; the first world championship race was held at Silverstone, United Kingdom in 1950. A championship for constructors followed in 1958. National championships existed in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. Non-championship Formula One events were held for many years, but due to the increasing cost of competition, the last of these occurred in 1983. On 26 November 2017, Formula One unveiled its new logo, following the 2017 season finale in Abu Dhabi during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit.
The new logo replaced F1's iconic'flying one', the sport's trademark since 1993. After a hiatus in European motor racing brought about by the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the first World Championship for Drivers was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina in his Alfa Romeo in 1950, narrowly defeating his Argentine teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. However, Fangio won the title in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, his streak interrupted by two-time champion Alberto Ascari of Ferrari. Although the UK's Stirling Moss was able to compete he was never able to win the world championship, is now considered to be the greatest driver never to have won the title. Fangio, however, is remembered for dominating Formula One's first decade and has long been considered the "Grand Master" of Formula One; this period featured teams managed by road car manufacturers Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz, Maserati. The first seasons were run using pre-war cars like Alfa's 158, they were front-engined, with narrow tyres and 1.5-litre supercharged or 4.5-litre aspirated engines.
The 1952 and 1953 World Championships were run to Formula Two regulations, for smaller, less powerful cars, due to concerns over the paucity of Formula One cars available. When a new Formula One, for engines limited to 2.5 litres, was reinstated to the world championship for 1954, Mercedes-Benz introduced the advanced W196, which featured innovations such as desmodromic valves and fuel injection as well as enclosed streamlined bodywork. Mercedes drivers won the championship for two years, before the team withdrew from all motorsport in the wake of the 1955 Le Mans disaster. An era of British dominance was ushered in by Mike Hawthorn and Vanwall's championship wins in 1958, although Stirling Moss had been at the forefront of the sport without securing the world title. Between Hawthorn, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, John Surtees and Graham Hill, British drivers won nine Drivers' Championships and British teams won fourteen Constructors' Championsh
Citroën GS
The GS is a small family car manufactured and marketed by Citroën for model years 1970-1986 in saloon and estate bodystyles, over a single generation. The GS received a facelift in 1979 and was subsequently marketed as the GSA in hatchback and estate bodystyles. 2.5 million units were sold. The GS was voted European Car of the Year for 1971 and was noted as technologically advanced, with class leading comfort and aerodynamics; the GS filled the gap in Citroën's range, between the 2CV and Ami economy cars and the luxurious DS executive sedan. The DS had moved upmarket from its predecessor the Citroën Traction Avant, beyond the finances of most French motorists. Leaving this market gap open for fifteen years allowed other manufacturers entry into the most profitable, high volume market segment in France; this combined with the development costs and new factory for the DS-replacing Citroën CX, the 1974 oil crisis, an aborted Wankel rotary engine, led Citroën to declare bankruptcy in 1974. The GS was the largest selling Citroën model for many years.
1,896,742 GS models and 576,757 GSA models were produced in total. Unlike the 2CV, Ami, DS and SM, the GS was never imported to the USA; the GS took 14 years to develop from initial design to launch. In 1956, Citroën developed a bubble car prototype to fill the gap in its range between the DS and the 2CV, known as the C10. Development continued with ideas like a Wankel engine and hydropneumatic suspension suggested as possibilities, with a new, modern body to match. Another iteration was the "C60," which resembled an Ami 6 with a smooth nose. In 1963, development had moved to "Project F", close to being production ready. Citroën decided the car was too similar to the 1965 Renault 16 and by 1967 Project F was suspended. Many of the mechanical components continued to "Project G", which became the GS; the GS was designed by Robert Opron, with a smooth two box design that bears some resemblance to the 1967 design study by Pininfarina Berlina Aerodinamica. On 24 August 1970, Citroën launched the GS; the body style was in a fastback style with a sharp Kammback.
The aerodynamics gave the best drag coefficient of any vehicle at the time. On its launch, its main competitors in Europe included the Fiat 128, Ford Escort, Renault 6 and Vauxhall Viva. Good aerodynamics enabled the car to make the best of the available power, but the car as launched drew criticism that it was underpowered. Citroën addressed the issue with the introduction in September 1972, as an option, of a larger 1,222 cc engine. Claimed power increased from 41 kW to 45 kW, but it was the improved torque that marked out the more powerful engine, which enabled the manufacturer, with the larger engined versions, to raise the second gear ratio and the final drive ratio, increasing the vehicle speed per 1,000 rpm from 23 km/h to 24.5 km/h. Larger front brake discs were fitted. Visually the GS bore little resemblance to any other car on the market, until the development of the larger Citroën CX in 1974; the fastback design, with a separate trunk, was controversial – a hatchback layout was considered too utilitarian by CEO Pierre Bercot.
The 1974 CX shared this feature. The boot was exceptionally large, in part due to the positioning of the spare wheel on top of the engine. Both the early GS and the GSA have the unusual rotating drum speedometer, rather than the dials found in a conventional dashboard; the GS had a conventional speedometer. The GS was offered in four trims: G Special, GS Club, GS X, GS Pallas; the GS X and Pallas were only offered as saloons. The GS was available, from September 1971, as a four door station wagon and a similar two-door "service" van; the GS was facelifted in 1979 and given a hatchback, renamed the GSA. This change reflected the growing popularity of small family hatchbacks in Europe since the launch of the Volkswagen Golf. Other modifications included a new grille, new plastic bumpers, new taillights, new hubcaps and new exterior door handles, it had a revised dashboard with the auxiliary controls on column-shaped pods so they could be reached without moving the hands from the single-spoked steering wheel.
It was replaced by the larger BX in 1982, although production continued in reduced volumes until 1986. Citroën did not re-enter the small family hatchback market until the launch of the ZX in 1991. Contemporary journalists remarked at the smooth ride quality – the hydropneumatic suspension is designed to absorb bumps and ripples that would be uncomfortable in a conventionally sprung car with just a slight body movement; the vehicle was powered by a flat-4 air-cooled engine. A series of small engines were available, displacing 1,015, 1,129, 1,222 and 1,299 cc. Power ranged from 40 kW to 49 kW. Mated to a four speed gearbox, these were able to pull this car up to steady 151 km/h at 6,250 rpm, due to the aerodynamic body shape. Citroën's 3-speed C-Matic semi-automatic transmission was available as an alternative to the manual gearbox. With the introduction of the GSA a 5-speed gearbox was offered, which made cruising at high speeds more comfortable and economical; the GS and GSA were always low powered and needed full use of the free-revving engines to maintain progress, except when cruising, in the tradition
Ford Cortina
The Ford Cortina is a car, built by Ford of Britain in various guises from 1962 to 1982, was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s. The Cortina was produced in five generations from 1962 until 1982. From 1970 onward, it was identical to the German-market Ford Taunus, a different car model; this was part of a Ford attempt to unify its European operations. By 1976, when the revised Taunus was launched, the Cortina was identical; the new Taunus/Cortina used some panels from the 1970 Taunus. It was replaced in 1982 by the Ford Sierra. In Asia and Australasia, it was replaced by the Mazda 626–based Ford Telstar, though Ford New Zealand did import British-made CKD kits of the Ford Sierra estate for local assembly from 1984; the name was inspired by the name of the Italian ski resort Cortina d'Ampezzo, site of the 1956 Winter Olympics. As a publicity stunt, several Cortinas were driven down the Cortina olympic bobsled run at the resort, called Cortina Auto-Bobbing. Using the project name of "Archbishop", management at Ford of Britain in Dagenham created a family-sized car which they could sell in large numbers.
The chief designer was Roy Brown Jr. the designer of the Edsel, banished to Dagenham following the failure of that car. The Cortina, aimed at buyers of the Morris Oxford Farina and Vauxhall Victor, was launched on 20 September 1962; the car was designed to be inexpensive to produce in Britain. The front-wheel drive configuration used by Ford of Germany for the new Ford Taunus P4, a sized model, was rejected in favour of traditional rear-wheel drive layout. To be called Ford Consul 225, the car was launched as the Consul Cortina until a modest facelift in 1964, after which it was sold as the Cortina; the Cortina was available with 1200 and 1500 four-cylinder engines with all synchromesh gearbox, in two-door and four-door saloon, as well as in five-door estate forms. Standard, Super, GT trims were offered but not across all body styles. Early Standard models featured a simple body coloured front grille, earning it the nickname'Ironbar', large, round, ‘Ban the Bomb’ tail-light clusters. Since this version cost the same as the better equipped Deluxe it sold poorly and is rare today.
Options included bench seat with column gearchange. Super versions of the estates tailgate trim. In an early example of product placement, many examples of the new Cortina featured as "Glamcabs" in the comedy film Carry On Cabby. There were two main variations of the Mark 1; the Mark 1a possessed elliptical front side-lights, whereas the Mark 1b had a re-designed front grille incorporating the more rectangular side-light and indicator units. A notable variant was the Ford Cortina Lotus; the Cortina was launched a few weeks before the London Motor Show of October 1962 with a 1198 cc three-bearing engine, an enlarged version of the 997 cc engine fitted in the Ford Anglia. A few months in January 1963, the Cortina Super was announced with a five-bearing 1498 cc engine. Versions of the larger engine found their way into subsequent variations, including the Cortina GT which appeared in spring 1963 with lowered suspension and engine tuned to give a claimed output of 78 bhp ahead of the 60 bhp claimed for the Cortina 1500 Super.
The engines used across the Mark I range were of identical design, differing only in capacity and setup. The formula used was a four-cylinder pushrod design that came to be known as the "pre-crossflow" version as both inlet and exhaust ports were located on the same side of the head; the most powerful version of this engine was produced 78 bhp. This engine contained a different camshaft profile, a different cast of head featuring larger ports, tubular exhaust headers and a Weber double barrel carburettor. Advertising of the revised version, which appeared at the London Motor Show in October 1964, made much of the newly introduced "Aeroflow" through-flow ventilation, evidenced by the extractor vents on the rear pillars. A subsequent test on a warm day involving the four different Cortina models manufactured between 1964 and 1979 determined that the air delivery from the simple eyeball outlets on the 1964 Mark I Cortina was greater than that on the Mark II, the Mark III or the Mark IV; the dashboard and controls were revised, for the second time, having been reworked in October 1963 when round instruments replaced the oblong speedometer with which the car had been launched: twelve years however, the painted steel dashboard, its "knobs scattered all over the place and its heater controls stuck underneath as a obvious afterthought" on the 1964 Mark I Cortina was felt to have aged much less well than the car's ventilation system.
It was in 1964 that front disc brakes became standard across the range. Ford Cortina Lotus was offered only as a two-door saloon all in white with a contrasting green side flash down each flank, it based on the Cortina's Kent OHV engine. Aluminium was used for some body panels. For a certain time, it had a unique A-frame rear suspension, but this proved fragile and the model soon reverted to the standard Cortina semi-elliptic rear end; the second incarnation of the Cortina was designed by Roy Haynes, launched on 18 October 1966, four years after the original Cortina. It had some styling elements in common with the third generation US For
