For other Ford-related cars called Zephyr, see Ford Zephyr

Ford Zephyr

The Ford Zephyr was a car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United Kingdom. Between 1950 and 1972, it was sold as a more powerful six-cylinder saloon to complement the four-cylinder Ford Consul: from 1962 the Zephyr itself was offered in both four- and six-cylinder versions.The Zephyr...

, Lincoln-Zephyr

Lincoln-Zephyr

Lincoln-Zephyr was a marque for the lower priced line of luxury cars in the Lincoln line 1936-40. Lincoln-Zephyr and Mercury, introduced 1939, bridged the wide gap between Ford's V-8 De Luxe line and the exclusive Lincoln K-series cars. This served a purpose similar to Cadillac's smaller LaSalle...

, and Lincoln Zephyr

The Mercury Zephyr is a compact car

Compact car

A compact car , or small family car , is a classification of cars which are larger than a supermini but smaller than or equal to a mid-size car...

 sold by the Lincoln-Mercury division of Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...

 for the North American market. Introduced as a replacement for the Mercury Comet

Mercury Comet

The Mercury Comet is an automobile produced by the Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company from 1960–1969 and 1971-1977 — variously as either a compact or an intermediate car.The Comet was based on the compact Ford Falcon and later the Ford Maverick...

, it was produced from 1978 to 1983. Along with its corporate cousin, the Ford Fairmont

Ford Fairmont

The Ford Fairmont is a compact car produced by Ford Motor Company for the North American market. Introduced for the 1978 model year, the Fairmont was produced in several bodystyles until it was replaced by the Ford Tempo for the 1984 model year...

, it was the first use in the Mercury division of the long-lived unibody Fox platform

Ford Fox platform

The Ford Fox platform is a rear wheel drive, unitized-chassis, automobile architecture used by Ford Motor Company in North America. Introduced for the 1978 model year, it would go on to be produced until 1993 in its original version; a substantial redesign of the Ford Mustang in 1994 extended its...

, which did not completely leave production until 2004.

Zephyr, taken from a poetic name for the west wind

West wind

A west wind is a wind that blows from the west, in an eastward direction. In Western tradition, it has usually been considered the mildest and most favorable of the directional winds....

, has a considerable history in the Ford line. It was first used in the late 1930s for a smaller, less expensive Lincoln, which provided the basis for the first Continental

Lincoln Continental

The Lincoln Continental is an automobile which was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford Motor Company from 1939 to 1948 and again from 1956 to 2002...

. From 1950 to 1972, it was used on a European Ford model. In 2006, it returned to the Lincoln line once again.

Design

The Mercury Zephyr shared most of its characteristics with the Ford Fairmont; both were available with four, six, or eight-cylinder engines and appeared in coupe

Coupé

A coupé or coupe is a closed car body style , the precise definition of which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and over time...

, sedan, or station wagon

Station wagon

A station wagon is a body style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door , instead of a trunk lid...

 forms. At introduction, the Zephyr was most easily distinguished from its Ford counterpart by its curved grille

Grille

A grille or grill is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.-Spelling:In the United States, "grille" is used to differentiate the automotive...

 and four square headlights. The Fairmont was styled with a flatter grille and two headlights. In 1981, an adaptation of the Zephyr's four-light front was also used on Fairmonts. The Zephyr was outfitted with Ford's 'Ride Engineered' suspension package.

By 1982 and 1983, Zephyr options dropped off one by one as the Marquis and Topaz were being readied for the market. In 1983, both of the V8 engine options were discontinued. These cars became popular to drag race because they are relatively aerodynamic, lightweight, and have a large engine compartment which easily accommodates the Big Block 460 Ford engine.

Zephyr Z7

Along with regular 4- and 2-door sedans (and 4-door wagons) introduced in 1978, Mercury also released a limited production, uniquely styled 2-door version of the Zephyr called the Z-7. Influenced by the larger Ford Thunderbird

Ford Thunderbird (seventh generation)

For the 1977 through 1979 model years, the Thunderbird nameplate was shifted to the smaller 114" wheelbase chassis that underpinned the 1972-76 Ford Torino and its replacement, the concurrent 1977-79 LTD II, as Ford's first effort at downsizing the car. The squarer, sharper styling was popular, and...

, the Z-7 was a 2-door coupe featuring a wrapover roof design (also inspired by the Crown Victoria

1955 Ford

The Ford line of cars gained a new body for 1955 to keep up with surging Chevrolet, although it remained similar to the 1952 Ford underneath...

 of the 1950s) with wraparound taillights. Many Z-7 models included a two-tone paint job; under the hood, the powertrain usually featured either the inline-six (I6) or one of the V8 engines (very few Z-7s had the four-cylinder engine). Unlike the similar Ford Fairmont Futura, which was also a trim level on sedans and wagons, the Z-7 was only produced in the 2-door coupe bodystyle for Mercury.

Discontinuation

In the early 1980s, Ford started to phase out the Fox platform as a basis for compact and mid-size family cars. Although the Zephyr weighed well under 3000 lb (1,360.8 kg), efforts were under way to replace it with a lighter front-wheel drive car to improve the company's fuel economy numbers. The Zephyr and Fairmont were discontinued after the 1983 model year, and were most directly replaced by the Mercury Topaz and Ford Tempo, based on a stretched Ford Escort platform

Ford CE14 platform

The Ford CE14 platform was a front wheel drive automobile platform used by the Ford Motor Company for its compact cars during the 1980s and early 1990s. The CE14 platform was heavily derived from the platform of the European Ford Escort...

.

The discontinuation of the Zephyr did not spell the end for the Fox-body Mercury sedan, however. In 1983, the sedan and wagon versions of the Cougar were reskinned and rebadged as the Mercury Marquis

Mercury Marquis

These were known as the "Continental Styling" years, as Mercury was trying to market itself as an affordable Lincoln, rather than a more expensive Ford...

, as Mercury downsized that product line into the mid-size segment. The flagship full-size Grand Marquis

Mercury Grand Marquis

The Mercury Grand Marquis was a full-size rear-wheel drive sedan sold by the Lincoln-Mercury division of the Ford Motor Company; the Grand Marquis was the flagship of the Mercury lineup. The nameplate itself had been in use since 1975 as the premium trim level of the Mercury Marquis; the Grand...

was introduced as a stand-alone model. The smaller Fox-based Marquis dropped the Zephyr's long-used 3.3 L I6 for 1984 and replaced it with the larger and more powerful 3.8 L "Essex" V6, but kept the same 2.3 L I4 as standard and the same 5.0 L V8 as an option. The Fox-based Marquis was replaced by the 1986 Mercury Sable; however, it continued production into early 1986, albeit without the 5.0L option.

External links

• Fairmont page with some Zephyr material
• Four Eyed Pride - A resource for all early Foxes