Ford V8 Pilot

The Pilot was Ford of Britain’s first big post-war car and the machine the Consul and Zephyr were built to replace. Underneath it is the pre-war Model 62 chassis on a 108.25in wheelbase, with Marles worm-and-roller steering and a column change. It appeared in August 1947, initially offered with a 2535cc side-valve V8 of 66bhp; the car people know is the E71 30hp, 3622cc, bore 78mm and stroke 95mm, single Solex, 81bhp (Grace’s Guide’s 1950 data says 85bhp at 3,500rpm — possibly a real mid-life change, possibly gross against net). 0–60 in 21 seconds, 80mph, 18mpg. Twin exhaust, leather, Bakelite trim, trafficators, vacuum wipers and an opening chromed-brass windscreen. £610 plus £170 3s 11d purchase tax in 1950.

The brakes are the thing to get right. The Pilot is hydro-mechanical: hydraulic at the front, cable-operated at the rear. Three independent sources say so and they agree, which is more than can be said for most figures on this car. Electrics are 6-volt Lucas, starter and generator included. 22,155 built — Grace’s Guide says 21,487, and we go with the two sources that agree. Built at Dagenham, and introduced by Ford Australia at Geelong from 1949, both fully assembled and in SKD form, with exports to Norway and elsewhere in Europe. Police work and hearse bodies kept a lot of them alive well past the point where a private owner would have given up on the fuel bill.