Ford Zodiac: Dagenham's affordable luxury car (1953-1972)
At a glance
- Years
- 1953-1972
- Body styles
- Four-door saloon (also estate and convertible on early cars)
- Drivetrain
- Front engine, rear-wheel drive
- Engines
- 2.3-2.6-litre straight-six (Mk1-3); 3.0-litre Essex V6 (Mk4)
- Power
- Around 71 bhp (Mk1) rising to 136 bhp (Mk4 3.0 V6)
- Top speed
- Around 100-105 mph (later cars)
- Trim levels
- Zodiac, plus Executive trim on the Mk3 and Mk4
- Production
- The upmarket model in the Consul/Zephyr/Zodiac range built by Ford of Britain from 1950 to 1972
- Assembly
- Dagenham, Essex
- Designer
- Ford of Britain, with strong American styling influence
- Values
- Project around £3,000-£7,000; good £8,000-£14,000; excellent £15,000-£25,000 (finned Mk2 convertibles and Executives top the range)
- Place in the range
- The luxury flagship above the four-cylinder Consul and the Zephyr
- On screen
- The big Fords were the patrol cars of the BBC police series Z-Cars
At the top of Ford of Britain’s range, above the workaday Consul and the six-cylinder Zephyr, sat the Zodiac: the company’s affordable luxury car. For buyers who wanted American-style space, brightwork and a smooth six without the price of a Jaguar or a Rover, the Zodiac was the answer, and through four generations from 1953 to 1972 it gave Dagenham a genuine flagship.
The Zodiac is one of the most characterful of the big classic Fords, a car that wore its transatlantic influence proudly and is now valued for exactly that flamboyance.
The top of the range
Ford’s big saloon was always sold as a three-model family. The four-cylinder Consul was the base car, the six-cylinder Zephyr sat above it, and the Zodiac was the luxury version at the top. The Zodiac kept the six-cylinder engine and added the equipment, the brightwork and the interior trim that justified the higher price, two-tone paint, a richer cabin, more chrome and, on later cars, an upmarket Executive specification.
That positioning is the key to the car. A Zodiac is a fully-loaded Zephyr, and the appeal then and now is a lot of car, a lot of space and a lot of style for the money.
Four generations
The Zodiac changed completely over its life. The Mk1, from 1953, was an upmarket take on the original Zephyr. The Mk2 (1956-62), one of the famous Three Graces alongside the Consul and Zephyr, is the flamboyant one: tail fins, a wrapped windscreen and unmistakable late-1950s American glamour, and the most sought-after of the line, especially as a convertible.
The Mk3 (1962-66) was crisper and more restrained, a cleaner early-1960s shape that also introduced the well-equipped Executive. The Mk4 (1966-72) was a different animal again: a much larger, longer car with a vast bonnet, the new 3.0-litre Essex V6, and the first independent rear suspension fitted to a British Ford. Its styling divided opinion in period and still does, which makes a good one quietly distinctive today.
What it is like to own
A Zodiac is a big, comfortable, easy-going classic. The six-cylinder engines are torquey and unstressed, the cars cruise happily, and the cabins are spacious and well trimmed. They are simple, sturdy machines built in huge numbers, so the mechanicals are well understood and most service parts are available, though some trim and brightwork for the rarer models can take hunting down.
To drive, these are cars of their era: soft, roomy and relaxed rather than sharp, designed to waft a family in comfort. That is exactly their charm. They make excellent, affordable entries into big-saloon classic motoring, with real presence for the money.
The Executive and the convertibles
Two corners of the range matter more than the rest to collectors. The first is the Executive, the loaded flagship specification introduced on the Mk3 and carried on with the Mk4, which bundled the best of the options list into one top-of-the-line car; a genuine Executive is the most sought-after closed car in the range. The second is the convertibles of the 1950s, built in small numbers by the coachbuilder Carbodies: rare then and very rare now, they sit at the absolute top of Zodiac values, with the finned Mk2 drophead the poster car of the whole line.
Between those poles, the ordinary saloons remain the value: the same six-cylinder smoothness and the same period style, at prices a fraction of the glamour models’.
Buying guide: what to look for
Rust is the main concern across all four generations. Check the floors, sills and inner sills, the front and rear wings, the wheel arches, the boot floor and the bottoms of the doors, and on the bigger Mk4 the various box sections and suspension mounts. Two-tone cars and the brightwork-heavy Mk2 can hide corrosion behind trim, so inspect carefully.
Mechanically the engines are durable and the running gear is tough. On the Mk4 the independent rear suspension and the V6 are both strong but worth checking for wear and overheating respectively. As with all these cars, a sound body and complete, correct trim matter far more to value than mileage, and a rust-free car is always the better buy.
Current value and where it sits
A project Zodiac sits broadly around £3,000 to £7,000, a good usable car around £8,000 to £14,000, and an excellent example around £15,000 to £25,000, with the finned Mk2, the early convertibles and the loaded Executives at the top. For the size, the style and the six-cylinder smoothness, these are still affordable luxury classics. For the wider period, see British classic cars of the 1950s and 1960s.
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