“Elegance welcomes you the moment you open the door” - the Ford Corsair 2000E

In 1968, a new Ford Corsair 2000E in Silver Fox Metallic demonstrated that you had “made it” to your neighbours and business colleagues. This example sold by www.rfhclassics.co.uk has all its trademark features from pile carpets that would look “luxurious in a penthouse” to upholstery which maintained an “atmosphere of leisured luxury”. Ford also claimed that with a 2000E “Elegance welcomes you the moment you open the door”.

In other words, the Corsair 2000E was the car for sophisticates who knew their way around The Len Deighton Action Cookbook. It was Ford GB’s third ‘Executive’ car after the flagship versions of the 1965 flagship Zodiac Mk. III and the 1966 Zodiac Mk. IV. The 1,996cc engine with twin-choke Weber carburettors, a higher lift camshaft and a close-ratio gearbox was one sales feature - and another was the equipment list.

To quote the sales copy, “When you get into this car you’ll see at once that nobody tried to save a few shillings here and there by leaving out this or that”. When Ford launched the Corsair 2000E in January 1967, a MW/LW radio was a very unusual fitting, and that was before you noticed the vinyl roof, metallic paintwork, extra sound deadening, reversing lamps, cigar lighter, and reclining front seats.

The 2000E owner further merited a wood-veneered dashboard, a front centre armrest/locker, and lights in the boot and engine bay. The price was £1,107 for the 18s 4d compared with £878 for the 17s 1d for the Corsair 2000 De Luxe, which came with a bench front seat, a steering column gear lever, and not a lot else. The Daily Express ran a “Win a Corsair 2000E and £1,500” competition. Entrants needed to list eight features in order of sales appeal to “a businessman needing a car for business commuting and pleasure.”

Ford’s boasts of a “new £1,300 luxury car for £1,008” were almost certainly intended to appeal to potential Rover P6 and Triumph 2000 owners. The former cost £1,357 and the latter £1,198, so your friendly local Ford dealer could claim the 2000E seemed quite a bargain by comparison. The Telegraph thought it represented “money well spent for the pleasure in terms of return for the pleasure given”, although the writer complained of the “rather flashy hubcaps”.

Motor Sport regarded the 2000E as an excellent car, even if they disliked the vinyl roof, which they regarded as “becoming the mark of the pseudo-executive automobile”. That now reads as a prime example of 1960s motoring journalism snobbery. Besides, what was the point of ordering a new Corsair 2000E unless everyone was aware of your enhanced social status?

Car, who were not easy to please, described the 2000E as making “a success of the Corsair at last” and remarked on how it stole sales from the Ford Zephyr/Zodiac Mk. IV. They further noted, “Considering its age it’s a good car”, as the original ‘Consul Corsair’ debuted in 1963. As it transpired, the 2000E’s main rival was neither the Rover P6 nor the Triumph 2000 but Ford’s own Cortina 1600E, which made its bow in autumn 1967. It may have been slightly smaller than the 2000E, but it cost just £982 2s 1d.

Corsair production ended in 1970, and only 37 2000Es remain on the road in this country. Of these, a mere nine have the optional automatic gearbox. To appreciate the heyday of the 2000E, with its Cirrus 500 upholstery and air of faint Kings Road glamour, take a look at this cinema advertisement, voiced by Patrick Allen - 

And personally speaking, this writer has long appreciated the sheer style of the Ford Corsair 2000E’s hubcaps.

With thanks to www.rfhclassics.co.uk for their time.

With thanks to www.rfhclassics.co.uk for the permission to use the images in this blog.