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Richard
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DTCA MemberFrance

-162 Ford Zephyr Saloon (1956-60)

Hello everybody.

I don't know if there is already a page on this beautiful little car on this forum.
If no, I open it with my two items. (I am waiting for the third one !)

I have some questions about this Ford :
1)At the end of production, got it glasses ?
2)Had, some two "blue" versions, a rear number plate painted in silver ?
3)Have all the versions recieved the two types of tyres, slick or ribbed ?

Thank you very much to those who will have the answers.

Friendly yours.
Richard

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buzzer999
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DTCA MemberUK

Hi Richard

This is a lovely car from the 1950s which I remember very well. Here is the front cover of a leaflet on the Zephyr:

I can answer one of your questions on the Dinky car, it was never fitted with windows.

Dave

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Richard
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DTCA MemberFrance

Hi Dave.
Thank you for your information.
It's less item to look for ! :)

Richard's picture
Richard
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DTCA MemberFrance

All the sisters together.

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Lovely set Richard!
The light green version usually comes in the Car Transporter gift set I think, though I am sure I bought mine on it's own. It's one of only 3 Dinky's I still have from childhood, always loved Zephyrs!
Chris Warr.

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dinkycollect
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DTCA MemberFrance

A rare flyer.

Richard's picture
Richard
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DTCA MemberFrance

Beautiful Zephyr Jan ! As we say : Mint In Box !
Richard

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Wonderful!
I know Triang Spot On beat them to it, but why oh why didn't Dinky do a Mk2 and Mk3 Zephyr Zodiac?
Chris Warr.

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janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

I can only think of these smaller scale competitors:

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
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DTCA MemberUK

Something a little different about the Ford Zephyr:

This is an old printing block and an impression made from it.

The block is made from lead and they were normally returned to the owner (in this case Meccano) and when they were no longer required they were melted down and the lead was then reused for something else.

Consequently they are quite rare, I have this and one other.

Dave

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dinkycollect
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DTCA MemberFrance

At least 18 of these printing blocks are known, each with one or two models. They are of several types, shapes and material (lead-antimony alloy or aluminium) which seems to show that they come from different printers.

The type would have been set on a linotype machine. This is a hot metal process in which each line of type (or slug) is cast by injecting molten lead-antimony alloy into a mould formed by the mould wheel and the series of little dies of the line of matrices.

The pictures are achieved by photographing an illustration through a half tone screen (dot screen) to produce a negative, exposing light sensitive plate-marking material to ultra-violet light passing through this negative, and then chemically etching the plates. The light sensitive surface is hardeed by exposure to ultra-violet light and form the raised printing surface. The remainder is etched away.


Albion press c. 1865

Once the 'forme' (body of type made ready for printing) is ready, a flong (a plasticized papier-mache) is placed on top of it and subjected to a pressure of 200 tons per square inch (30 t/cm2). This sets the flong as it takes on the impression of the page.

The flong is placed in a curved mould into which molten lead is poured. This produces a half-roll printing plate, which is then placed on a printing press.

After use the flong is recycled to make cardboard and the lead is melted for re-use.

This subject has been discussed previously somewhere on TMT.

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buzzer999
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DTCA MemberUK

Here is an absolutely beautiful Ford Zephyr Six I spotted at a classic car event I went to on 24th August 2014.

You can see from this that Dinky got it absolutely right - that's why I loved them so much as a child.

Dave

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janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

And it is 'with windows'!:lol:

55Zephyr
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Greetings everybody,

as you would gather from my ID, this car is one of my favourites so I hope you will not find the following information boring!

The Ford Consul and Zephyr Six were introduced by Ford GB at the October 1950 London Motor Show, although production did not start until 1951 - 1st January with the Consul and 12th February for the Zephyr Six. Ford called them the 'Five Star Cars'. They were revolutionary for their time - unitary (monocoque) body construction, the innovative independent (MacPherson strut) front suspension, 'oversquare' engines which on the 4-cylinder Consul (designation EOTA) was 1508cc and on the 6-cylinder Zephyr (EOTTA) was 2262cc. Both models were only available in a range of single colours. A two-door convertible was displayed at the 1951 Motor Show, but it's production did not commence until early 1953.

However on 21st October 1953, Ford introduced the new 'luxury' Zephyr Zodiac: two-tone paintwork in a choice of three colour schemes (the upper body was always 'Dorchester Grey', the lower half either 'Canterbury Green', 'Winchester Blue' or 'Bristol Fawn'); leather upholstery; twin spot and foglamps; wing mirrors; an electric clock; a higher-compression cylinder head from 6.9:1 to 7.5:1 for more power; and other little touches including gold-plated name badges for the bonnet and boot lid.

In 1955 my uncle purchased a brand-new Consul for

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Adrian

What an absolutely splendid story on the 162 Ford Zephyr. I particularly like the story of your real model, somewhat sad, as the car meant so much to the widow. You were indeed very fortunate in obtaining it. Your collection of Dinky Zephyrs is excellent, coupled with a very detailed and accurate history of the model.
The DTCA is so fortunate having you now as a contributor. I hope one of these days I will be able to see both ZZ1955 and your Dinky collection.

Kind regards

Bruce

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buzzer999
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DTCA MemberUK

Hi Adrian

What you have written about your Fords is fabulous.

Here is the cover of an original Ford leaflet for the Zephyr Six dated July 1952.

Here is Page 6 showing the blue coloured car.

The "Five Stars' can be seen on the front cover.

I can't wait for the story of the 990 set, this is on my wants list.

Dave

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Hi Adrian,
Thank you so much for the post, and what a beaut of a Z car you have there! I had always wondered if the Lime Green came separate from the gift set, mine is among the Dinky's I have owned for 40+ years, surviving the sale of most of my childhood collection due to my love of the real cars, the Spot On MK2, and Matchbox Mk 2 and 3 were the only others I kept when I sold all my Dinkys to buy the next best thing a '75 3 litre Granada.
Chris Warr.

55Zephyr
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Hi Bruce, Dave and Chris,

many thanks for your comments - looks like I am beginning to develop a style for my future posts, but must improve my photography! Anyway, I appreciate the feedback and encouragement, and hope you enjoy the memories, there is plenty more to come.

Dave - needless to say, I have a collection of around 20 or so Zephyr brochures from the first 1951 issue (very old fashioned style) up to the last MkII brochure of 1962. Out of interest, the 1952 brochure you pictured shows the early cars which had semaphore indicators in the 'B' pillar, these were replaced by flashing indicators in around October that year. My old Consul was a very early 1951 model with what is called a 'flat dash' and also had the semaphore indicators - they were prone to sticking and sometimes you had to thump the inside of the door pillar to make them work properly, especially if you were moving quickly (i.e. over 25mph!) - the wind resistance made them stick.

My next contribution will be on the 990 set - just for you!

Chris - sounds like you have an affinity for old Fords? I always thought it was a pity that there was no Dinky model of the MkII, but as you say, Tri-ang Spot-on did it extremely well, even down to the electric headlights - I have four of these in my Spot-on collection, and also three of the MkIII models, including the 'Z-Cars' police car. Maybe a little off-topic, but I expect you watched the recent BBC TV series 'For the love of Cars' hosted by Phillip Glenister?
What a great series!

Bruce - thanks for your encouragement and kind words - you know that you are most welcome here, we could talk Dinkies for hours and only scratch the surface. As I mentioned to you, I still have all my copies of 'Dinky News' which you published, and they are just as useful a reference as they were back then (the last issue I have is no.17 in September 2003 - was this the last one you produced?) You obviously have not only a wealth of knowledge about Dinkies, but also an enviable collection of marketing and sales literature, all of which is invaluable for the Forum.

Regards to all, Adrian.

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Hi Adrian, thank you for your very special Ford Zephyr contributions. Risking that an omniscient Ford Zephyr expert as you are is familiar already with the following information, which I posted on the TMT forum a long time ago, others may appreciate this quote of mine, regarding the development of the Dinky Ford Zephyr and some contemporaries:

"Though not abundantly, especially in the 1990s more and more publications relating to the factory drawings showed up, scattered here and there. Some publications gave testimony of the existence or even adoption of some factory drawings. An interesting example was published in Collectors Gazette of July/August 1993. There, toolmaker Dennis Childs told the story of his personal engagement in the development of the body casting of the Ford Zephyr Saloon and the Aston Martin Sports car, and the Austin Healey Sports car. These moulding jobs

buzzer999's picture
buzzer999
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DTCA MemberUK

My collection of original vehicle leaflets is very much based on my favourite Dinky Toys, or cars owned by my father.

I will add some more where appropriate over the coming months.

Dave

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

55Zephyr wrote:
"Hi Bruce, Dave and Chris,

many thanks for your comments - looks like I am beginning to develop a style for my future posts, but must improve my photography! Anyway, I appreciate the feedback and encouragement, and hope you enjoy the memories, there is plenty more to come.

Dave - needless to say, I have a collection of around 20 or so Zephyr brochures from the first 1951 issue (very old fashioned style) up to the last MkII brochure of 1962. Out of interest, the 1952 brochure you pictured shows the early cars which had semaphore indicators in the 'B' pillar, these were replaced by flashing indicators in around October that year. My old Consul was a very early 1951 model with what is called a 'flat dash' and also had the semaphore indicators - they were prone to sticking and sometimes you had to thump the inside of the door pillar to make them work properly, especially if you were moving quickly (i.e. over 25mph!) - the wind resistance made them stick.

My next contribution will be on the 990 set - just for you!

Chris - sounds like you have an affinity for old Fords? I always thought it was a pity that there was no Dinky model of the MkII, but as you say, Tri-ang Spot-on did it extremely well, even down to the electric headlights - I have four of these in my Spot-on collection, and also three of the MkIII models, including the 'Z-Cars' police car. Maybe a little off-topic, but I expect you watched the recent BBC TV series 'For the love of Cars' hosted by Phillip Glenister?
What a great series!

Bruce - thanks for your encouragement and kind words - you know that you are most welcome here, we could talk Dinkies for hours and only scratch the surface. As I mentioned to you, I still have all my copies of 'Dinky News' which you published, and they are just as useful a reference as they were back then (the last issue I have is no.17 in September 2003 - was this the last one you produced?) You obviously have not only a wealth of knowledge about Dinkies, but also an enviable collection of marketing and sales literature, all of which is invaluable for the Forum.

Regards to all, Adrian."

Adrian

Thank you very much for your most appreciated words, in particular your comments on DINKY NEWS as other members appear disinterested in its former existence at a time when information and a general outlet on all matters relating to Dinky Toys was sparse if not almost totally non-existent.

Your home is definitely on my itinerary providing I can find something for my wife to keep her occupied for many days while we are immersed in Zephyrs and Dinky Toys!! :laugh:

Thank you again for your comments and like others I look forward to your next treatise on the 990!

Kind regards

Bruce

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buzzer999
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DTCA MemberUK

Somewhere along the way I missed out on Dinky News, I don't know why. I have a set of Binns Road Gazettes and all nine Classic Toys as well as all the relevant books.

I obviously have another collecting target now!!

Dave

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janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

The same goes for me and - if only for the bibliography in progress - I would love to have someone help me with the relevant titles in there (and - but that may be a dream - tell me how to get the actual paper issues or digital representations). Kind regards, Jan

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dinkycollect
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DTCA MemberFrance

For the fans of Ford Zephyr, I have just posted one on eBay. It is item # 181597233219

The Zephyr is part of an extremely rare Solido set BABY 2 made in 1956 - 1957. It comes with an ambulance and the original box.

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
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DTCA MemberFrance

Bruce and others,

If you collect car leaflets of the 50's and 60's, you may have one of around 1955 - 56 showing this peculiar house in the background. The leaflet was from Ford and probably for the Anglia.

I did have this leaflet and I would be very pleased to get a scan of it as I lost mine. I know this house very well for having stayed there many times between 1956 and 1970 when the first owner sold it to move to Auckland NZ.

I could tell you the interesting story of this house which has been build to high way code measures of the time.

Is there a web site or forum for car leaflets ?

Thank you for your help.

Jacques.

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Jacques

I only have a few Anglia advertisements on file, and these are shown below. None however have the house you have depicted and only one, (the last advertisement) related to your part of the world..

Bruce

Dinkinius's picture
Dinkinius
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AustraliaDTCA Member

Dave K and Al K

Post #14 has been cut during the transfer process. Adrian from memory prepared a very detailed Post on the 162 Ford Zephyr and it is a terrible shame that all his hard work has disappeared.

Is there any way that it can be recovered in the same way that many of my Posts were recovered last year?

This is what Adrian wrote to save going back to #14:

Greetings everybody,

as you would gather from my ID, this car is one of my favourites so I hope you will not find the following information boring!

The Ford Consul and Zephyr Six were introduced by Ford GB at the October 1950 London Motor Show, although production did not start until 1951 - 1st January with the Consul and 12th February for the Zephyr Six. Ford called them the 'Five Star Cars'. They were revolutionary for their time - unitary (monocoque) body construction, the innovative independent (MacPherson strut) front suspension, 'oversquare' engines which on the 4-cylinder Consul (designation EOTA) was 1508cc and on the 6-cylinder Zephyr (EOTTA) was 2262cc. Both models were only available in a range of single colours. A two-door convertible was displayed at the 1951 Motor Show, but it's production did not commence until early 1953.

However on 21st October 1953, Ford introduced the new 'luxury' Zephyr Zodiac: two-tone paintwork in a choice of three colour schemes (the upper body was always 'Dorchester Grey', the lower half either 'Canterbury Green', 'Winchester Blue' or 'Bristol Fawn'); leather upholstery; twin spot and foglamps; wing mirrors; an electric clock; a higher-compression cylinder head from 6.9:1 to 7.5:1 for more power; and other little touches including gold-plated name badges for the bonnet and boot lid.

In 1955 my uncle purchased a brand-new Consul for

And that was all that was transferred from the old website.

Hoping it can be recovered as quite frankly this Topic will be lost without it!

Kind regards

Bruce H.   (150)

20170414/1079:0123

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Some more pictures of the Ford Zephyr, as I have a nice replacement available now for my earlier duotone blue example. As a spin-off this always produces new pictures:

1. The medium blue / pale blue example.

2. Here with its regular green/cream counterpart.

3. Comparison with my previous (later, with 'engraved' tyres) example unveals differences in paint detailing at the rear.

4. The general 1957 Meccano catalogue shows the model in a prominent place.

5. A Dutch advertisement of two contemporaries.

6. The previous Dinky Toys no. 162, since 1939.

7. Which was renumbered 691 in 1954, perfectly in time to make place for the Ford Zephyr of 1956.

8. At least two Dinky Toys have been represented on post office stamps, this Ford Zephyr and the no. 34a Royal Air Mail Service Car (a replaced contribution from Jacques).  

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janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

The complementing lime green lower half body version, the G/26 green finish, which replaced the darker G/20 green version in the course of 1957, as documented in the Amended Colour Schemes List of 5 February 1957. The colour spot on the box is unchanged, cream/green, identical to the colour spot for the darker predecessor. Far below the whole family (Ford Zephyr and Vauxhall Cresta) of final British duo-tone saloons which both were issued without windows and never got them in the end. Kind regards, Jan