Ford · 1963–present

Ford Corsair

The name Ford Corsair was used both for a car produced by Ford of Britain between 1963 and 1970, and for an unrelated Nissan-based automobile marketed by Ford Australia between 1989 and 1992.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Predecessor: Ford Consul Classic

All Ford Corsair data: UK builds, safety, recalls, model years →

Ford Consul Corsair (1963–1965) and Ford Corsair V4 (1965–1970) – Britain

The Ford Consul Corsair (later known simply as the Ford Corsair), manufactured by Ford UK, is a midsized car that was introduced at the London Motor Show in October 1963 and available as either a saloon or estate from 1964 until 1970. Also, a convertible version was built by Crayford Engineering, which is now very rare and highly sought after as a classic. Two-door Corsair saloons are also rare, being built only to order in the UK, although two-doors were produced in quantity for some export markets. The Consul Corsair S was an export-only model with a two-door Deluxe body and 1500GT engine, sold in Austria and Sweden, and also in South Africa as the Corsair 83. Only one example of the fleet model, the Consul Corsair Standard, is known to survive. Unlike the Ford Cortina which had five versions (Mks), or the Ford Capri which had face-lifts, the entire production run of the Ford Corsair was a consistent Mk 1, with the body remaining the same, and the design changes being confined to the interior, engine, and mechanicals. The Corsair was designed by the same team as the Mark 1 Cortina, with Roy Brown Jr. overseeing the styling by Charles Thompson, and Fred Hart in charge of the engineering. Replacing the Consul Classic range, it was essentially a long wheelbase re-skinned Cortina with extra soundproofing and more comfortable seating for high speed long-distance driving. The windscreen and side windows are shared with the Cortina, the mechanical components with the Cortina GT, and the body's internal panels are basically similar. The Corsair had unusual and quite bold styling for its day, with a sharp horizontal V-shaped crease at the very front of the car into which round headlights were inset. This gave the car a relatively aerodynamic shape; the top speed of the Corsai

Ford Corsair (UA, Australia)

Between 1989 and 1992, the Ford Corsair name was used by Ford Australia for a badge-engineered version of the Nissan Pintara (a version of the Bluebird). Known during development as 'Project Matilda', the Corsair was produced under a model-sharing scheme known as the Button Plan. It was offered as a four-door sedan and as a five-door liftback, in GL and Ghia trim levels with 2.0 L (CA20E) and 2.4 L (KA24E) four-cylinder engines. The Corsair was intended to replace the Mazda 626-based Ford Telstar, which was imported from Japan. The two were sold side by side in the Australian Ford range, with the Telstar available only as the high-performance TX5 hatchback. However, it proved less popular than the Telstar had been, losing sales dramatically during 1991. When Nissan closed its Australian plant in 1992, the Corsair was discontinued and the imported Telstar once again became Ford's main offering in the midsized segment, until being replaced by the Mondeo in 1995.

Edsel Corsair

The unrelated Edsel Corsair was produced by the former Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln Division of the Ford Motor Company in the United States and sold under its Edsel marque in 1958 and 1959.

Sections adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); text is shortened. Read the full article for the complete history and citations.

Specifications

name: Ford Consul Corsair, Ford Corsair V4
Manufacturer: Ford UK
Production: 1963–1970
Assembly: United Kingdom: Halewood (1964–1969), United Kingdom: Dagenham (1969–1970)
Successor: Ford Cortina Mark 3
Body style: 4-door saloon, 2-door saloon, 2-door convertible, 2-door cabriolet, 5-door estate car
Engine: 1498 cc Pre-Crossflow I4 (1963–1965), 1663 cc Essex V4 (1965–1971), 1996 cc Essex V4 (1966–1971)
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Layout: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Height: 55.5 in
Kerb weight: 2194 lb
Width: 63.5 in
Wheelbase: 101.0 in
Length: 176.75 in
Related: Ford Cortina Mark 1
sp: uk

Specification summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Measured facts from Wikidata (CC0). Check the linked sources for citations.

More photos

Sources

Wikidata — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1436775CC0 1.0 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_CorsairCC BY-SA 4.0 · Text © Wikipedia contributors; revision 1368404770 · retrieved 2026-10-01
Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_Consul_Corsair1965.jpgCC BY-SA 2.5 · Photo: see file page · retrieved 2026-10-01
Car Model Index — https://models.autoculturesociety.com/Compiled record. Sources that do not permit reuse are not copied; this index is credited instead.