Like clockwork, whenever FordMuscle puts together a feature car article dedicated to an unappreciated Ford model or category (Taurus SHO, 1989 Cougar XR7, Ford 8N, Fords do Brasil) the enthusiastic feedback arrives through email. It’s the best part of our role as writers when we find the work we have done has influenced a group of fellow Ford owners positively. Niche Ford enthusiasts are always pleased to see their nearly unrecognized model given the respect it deserves and we are proud to be the digital magazine that brings it to them.
So here it goes, in February of 2005 I put together a piece on Fords of Brazil after a vacation to the country’s capital of Brasilia. I was curious to find that the Maverick was a celebrated classic among Brazilian collectors. Subsequently, I dedicated a majority of the article to that car. However, since that article was published I have received a number of emails asking why I skipped over the Ford Corcel GT.
This excerpt from the article proved unpopular among some Ford Corcel owners and prompted a email from Rodrigo Fagundes, the editor of Classic Show Magazine, to make me aware of the GT model …
“Unfortunately, the Corcel, Del Rey, and Belina fall towards practical on the excitement spectrum, but since they are unfamiliar to the average American, the cars are rather interesting.”
Click on the thumbnail image above and you’ll see a picture of three Ford Corcel GT’s submitted by Rodrigo. The two up front are 1970’s and the one in the background is an 1983. While the 1.4L four-cylinder equipped Corcel GT’s were still pretty modest when you consider what was happening in the U.S. at the same time, take a look at the visual cues Ford applied to what was once the Renault 12. These perfect restorations show flat black hoods, boss-like stripes, simulated Magnum 500’s, hoods scoops, Mustang-like fog lights, and emblems that must have been lifted from a 68 Torino GT.
If you know more about the performance figures or racing history of the Brazilian Ford Corcel GT, please contribute throught the comment feature below.
BTW
By Atriel. May 11th, 2007 at 9:00 pmnice site
I have a Ford Corcel L 1975 in pretty good condition, having always loved old cars, specially the Corcel.
I´ve made part of the Wikipedia article about the Ford Corcel, with links to racing results as well as a nice pic of my car.
The 1.4l Ford Corcel had better performance than Mavericks with 4 and 6 piston engines (kent).
0-100 km/h (~0-60 m/h) 16 secs
top speed ~145 km/h
These numbers are true to the really bad fuel we had at the time, with today´s fuel and a original car we can easily get 0-100 km/h in 14 sec and top speed 160 km/h.
The most loved mechanical aspect of the Ford Corcel was that due to having a very long piston course in his lengthened Renault Ventoux engine, the car had very high torque at very low RPM, actually more torque than most bigger VW AP engines, at the expense of final HP (~72), losing torque only over 3500 rpm.
The Ford Corcel stability made it able to beat big engine cars like Dodge Chargers and Mavericks with 302 windsor engine in Rio de Janeiro Beach Rally, with the bad terrain giving advantage to the Front Wheel drive.
At the time, most of the racing with street cars were endurance tests in bad terrain.
There was a supercharger tuning kit made by 1974 by some Souza Ramos engineers for the first Corcel, improving HP slighty but Torque a lot, around 3/4 of the torque of the 302 Windsor Maverick. Top speed with the kit was around 230 km/h, but it is very rare now due to the small number of produced units.
By Atriel. May 11th, 2007 at 8:56 pmeMail (will not be published)
By cc. April 10th, 2006 at 1:53 am