Ford's don't get built in Blighty any more. But when they did, they were pretty damn awesome
Last week saw the passing of a once-great entity: Ford’s British vehicle manufacturing arm. The closing of the Southampton plant, home of the Transit for over forty years, means that for the first time since 1911, no Ford vehicles are being produced in this country. Which, rightly or wrongly, makes us feel kinda sad.
But let’s not be despondent about Ford’s leaving; let’s instead be glad it was ever here. Because as a result of Ford setting up shop in the UK, some of the most memorable and exciting cars ever to wear the blue oval were conceived in our own back yard. They’ve won races and rallies; moved us, our luggage, and many of the things we’ve bought; and starred in some of our most fondly-remembered TV series. So here are the five British Fords we’ll remember most of all.
1. Lotus Cortina
Source: autowp.ru
Fan of the BMW M5? Love the Audi RS6? Sell your mother for a Merc C63 AMG? Or perhaps a classic Lotus Carlton is more your cup of tea? Whichever’s the case, you’ve got this car to thank. The Lotus Cortina was the first ever super saloon, and although its 105bhp 1.6-litre might not sound particularly super today, back then there was nothing else quite like it. The deal was simple: Ford would supply the basic car, while Lotus would add its own heavily modified version of the Ford Kent engine, as well as a host of mechanical changes. The result would then have a Racing Green stripe splashed down its flanks, before being sold through Ford’s dealerships. For Lotus, it would mean a huge publicity boost, and access to its product via an infinitely higher number of dealerships. Ford, meanwhile, would get a groundbreaking new car that it could use to ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ – a mentality that’s served it well through the years. The car was an instant hit, its only real rival being the much smaller Austin Mini-Cooper, and it achieved huge success in motorsport, becoming an instant classic in the process.
2. Escort RS2000
Source: Brian Snelson
Developed by Ford’s Advanced Vehicle Operations department in Aveley, Essex, the RS2000 continued the trend for small, fast saloons set first by the Lotus Cortina, and then by the Escort Mexico, Twin Cam , and RS1600. But it was the RS2000 that was top dog - this was the one everyone knew about and wanted, and along with its siblings, it laid the groundwork for the hot hatches we know and love today. Yes, we know, it wasn’t a hatch, and it was rear-drive – but the concept of taking a small family car, shoving a big, pokey engine under the bonnet and covering its bulging bodywork in lairy colours and loud graphics doesn’t sound too dissimilar to today’s finest hot hatch icons.
3. Capri 3.0 S
Source: mocgb.net
OK, so the 3.0 S wasn’t the fastest Capri of the bunch – that honour fell to the later 2.8 Injection – but the 2.8 wasn’t built in the UK, as by the time it was introduced, Ford had moved all Capri production over to Germany. The 3.0 S, however, was around from the start of Mk3 production, and not only was it built in Britain, but it’s played an enormous part in British car culture ever since. Who can forget its starring role – arguably as important as actors Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins – in ‘The Professionals’? Or, indeed, its place as a boy racer’s favourite through the late ’80s and early ’90s, a dubious honour earned by its tail-happy handling and vocal Essex V6 engine? It might not have had the motorsport pedigree of its forebears, but the Capri 3.0 S epitomised what we came to know and love about a British-built Ford. It was crude, lairy, loud, and proud of all of those things.
4. Sierra RS Cosworth
From the whopping rear spoiler to the plethora of slats, vents and air dams, the Sierra Cosworth needs no introduction. And it was a British creation through-and-through, too. The idea of Stuart Hayes, Ford’s head of motorsport for Europe, it took form with a huge amount of input from Northampton-based engineering firm Cosworth, as you might have guessed from the name. And the limited-run, touring car hom*ologation RS500 model was fettled and tweaked at Tickford, Aston Martin’s specialist coachbuilding arm. Needless to say, the Sierra Cosworth was probably Ford of Britain’s finest hour, and it continues to inform Ford’s attitude to performance car design to this day.
5. Transit
Eh? What’s a chugging old van doing in this list? Well, we don’t care whether you’re with us on this one or not – the Transit has every right to sit alongside this lot as one of Ford’s high points. It was, after all, the last Ford to be made in this country, and throughout its 48-year life it’s been a constant in every Brit’s life, whether it was lugging you and your mates around as a school minibus, dropping off your milk in the morning, rescuing you from the side of the road after a breakdown, or simply delivering your mail. But the most interesting Transits of all weren’t doing any of these things. The most interesting Transits of all were the Supervans.
The original Supervan featured a classic Mk1 Transit bodyshell over a Ford GT40 chassis. With around 400bhp, it was… um… a bit nippy. Put together for Ford by Terry Drury Racing, it did the rounds at various shows and races before being retired. Little is known of its whereabouts now.
Supervan 2 was built on the same basic premise – however, this time, the base racer was a Ford C100 Group C car. It was, therefore, capable of some indecent speeds – despite the aerodynamics of a CRT TV, it managed to record 174mph during a test at Silverstone.
Supervan 3, meanwhile, may have looked like a Mk3 transit, but in fact it was a cleverly disguised re-skin of Supervan 2. The previous Cosworth DFL engine was replaced by a Cosworth HB – the very same that powered Benetton’s 1989 Formula 1 car through the latter part of the season. One thing’s for sure: nobody’s mad enough to bung an F1 engine into a van these days. Sad times.
Supervan 3 still exists today as part of Ford’s Heritage fleet, though these days its Formula 1 engine has been replaced by a nearly-as-nuts Cosworth Pro Sports 3000 V6 powerplant.
