The Ferguson Zephyr is an intriguing part of four wheel drive history
It's got to that time of year again when winter weather is here and the roads become covered in snow and ice. The modern day solution in the motoring world to keep mobile during these conditions is the all-wheel drive car. Tracing back through history to the point at which it became a feature that was added to normal family cars and not just agricultural and military station wagons such as the Land Rover Series I & II and Jeeps, is an interesting trail.
Going back through the 1980’s Audi started to create a bit of a fuss in the rally world with their Quattro. The early system was a permanent four-wheel drive system, which utilised a central differential to distribute the torque in a predetermined ratio. Later the system was based around a Torsen differential that could deviate away from a 50:50 front to rear torque split dependent on which of the four wheels were losing traction. The Quattro system was available on the Coupe as well as the 80, 90, 100 and 200 model ranges in the early years.
Subaru were also at the forefront of the all-wheel drive from as early as the 1970's but their rally glory years didn’t arrive until the early 1990’s. There was also an interesting twist from Ford too as they developed the Sierra Cosworth all-wheel drive quickly followed by the Escort Cosworth. BMW produced an all-wheel drive version of the E34 5 Series Touring that had X added to the standard nomenclature.
You have to wind the clock further back in time to get to the birth of the all-wheel drive family car. In fact you have to go back to 1968, it was Ford that were the first, and this was more to do with their willingness to work with the Home Office and the various Police forces across the country to develop an all-wheel drive motorway patrol car.
As the motorway network started to form in the 1960's the Police could see a problem developing, the ability for criminals to drive cars at very high speed on this vast open motorway network, which meant that their existing fleet of Police cars were going to struggle if they came across such a situation. However, they didn’t just want outright straight-line performance, they wanted higher power along with increased traction and more importantly improved control under braking.
The car that had probably caught their eye about two years earlier was the Jensen FF, this car was in fact the first none station wagon or military vehicle to have both four-wheel drive and ABS, although it wasn’t a family car. But it gave the Police a chance to see what could be achieved when the correct design and technology were applied to a sports car. The FF in the Jensen name stood for Ferguson Formula because that was the company behind the four-wheel drive system, Ferguson Research. This company was owned by the same Harry Ferguson whose company built tractors. Even though Ferguson had developed a four-wheel drive racing car in the early 1960’s, the P99, it roots were in tractors and it’s hard to image in today’s world a car manufacturer collaborating with a tractor manufacturer to develop a four-wheel drive car. But then the motor industry in the 1960's was like a kid fresh out of University, there were no limits or barriers, or meaningful health and safety regulations.
The ABS system was also another innovative system fitted to the Zephyr four-wheel drive. It was the Maxaret system that had been developed by Dunlop in the 1950’s for the use on aircraft; this system had also first been used on the Jensen FF a couple of years earlier, and as per the four-wheel drive system it had been used on the Ferguson P99 racing car in the early 1960’s. It was a purely a mechanical system as you would expect at this point in history with no electronic input whatsoever. It was a similar concept to a mechanical limited slip differential. But instead of locking up to drive train like a limited slip differential it released a pressure valve in the hydraulic braking system that backed off the brake pressure once the clutch system had reached a certain number of degrees of turn, indicating that one of the wheels was locking up.
So the scene was set. Ford were happy to work with the Home Office to assist them to develop a four-wheel drive car with ABS and the four-wheel drive system designer and manufacturer was to be Ferguson.
The model they chose to fit the system to was the recently updated Zephyr, known as the Mk4. The Mk4 saw the end of the tail fin era that had dominated the Zephyr look since the late 1950's. As was fairly normal at this time with Ford larger cars there was the cooking model, which was the Zephyr and the more plush range topping Zodiac; the pair were known as the Z cars.
The Mk4 was launched in 1966 with some features that were ahead of the competition. The suspension was one of them; this was fully independent which meant Ford could move away from the “ox cart” rear spring set up giving the car more dynamic handling. The Zephyr utilised the smaller capacity engines, including the very odd 1996 cc V4 and also a 2495 cc V6, whereas the Zodiac had the Essex 2994 cc V6 power plant. The Zodiac also had quad headlights and full hubcaps, and full width reflector panel at the rear. On the inside, the Zodiac also had a few additional features over the Zephyr, but it was the very plush Zodiac Executive that had all the specification, including walnut dashboard, leather seats, sunroof and power steering. Another feature, which you don’t see on the modern day car, is that you could have the car with a manual column gear change. This meant that you could have a bench seat in the front. The Z cars were pitched at two different audiences as can be seen in this promotional video from the mid 1960’s (how times have changed with promotional videos).
The Zephyr that the Police chose was a special build as it had the Essex 3.0 V6 under the bonnet and this was a high compression version with an uprated oil pump to boot, the suspension was also uprated. Inside it had full Police specification with a zipper in the head lining for the roof lights. The transmission they chose to mate the four-wheel drive system to an American sourced three speed automatic transmission.
Once the standard Zephyrs had been built by Ford, they were handed over to Ferguson in Coventry for the conversion to begin, with the conversion taking about six months to complete. In total 22 cars were converted and when the conversions were done they were handed over to the various Police forces across the country. The first stage of the testing was off road trials, and then once the Police were happy with the cars and any adjustments were made to the system the cars could enter service on the motorway network.
The program was monitored and reported on by the Home Office, with the results helping shape the future requirement of the Police. The program was concluded in the early 1970’s at which point there had been a fundamental development in the car world - the Range Rover had been launched. This car was quickly adopted by the Police for Motorway duties as it had all they were looking for in a Motorway patrol car and even today the modern day equivalent - the SUV - is still a favorite with the Police and also the Highway Agency, who also patrol the motorway network alongside the Police.
Of the original 22, it is believed that there are only two survivors with only one left in the UK. As is often the case with Police cars they see very heavy use and are viewed as just a tool to do a job, but thankfully the last UK Zephyr 4x4 is in the safe hands of the classic car market now and will be preserved as an important part of motoring history.
The Good: The start of something big for all wheel drive cars.
The Bad: It was only a prototype with just 22 built.
The Ugly: Cost was never discussed but it would have been high.
Next month
Dave remembers the Saab 900 Turbo
