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It would be fair to say that Dan Godley is a dyed in the wool Ford Granada enthusiast.

‘After I passed my driving test in 1994 I bought a 2-Litre for £40’. AEV 252 L is his fifth member of this dynasty of Fords  - and one of the few surviving examples of the Ford Consul “Base”.

There is ‘no heated rear screen, plain bumpers and only one interior light. It does have a clock, but it must have been added as an optional extra!’

When the Ford for the sophisticated ‘Seventies’ debuted in March 1972 the Granada name was restricted to the upmarket versions while the revived Consul badge denoted the cheaper models.

The latter sported a different grille, and the engine choices comprised the 2-Litre V4 or the 2.5-Litre V6, plus the Consul GT, which offered the 3-Litre “Essex” unit and sports trappings. 

The Ford PR Film Two at the Top gives equal prominence to the top-of-the-range Granada and the Consul, for each was vital to Dagenham’s marketing plans.

The GXL targeted Zodiac/Executive Mk. IV owners and motorists who might otherwise consider the Rover 3500 P6B or the Triumph 2.5 PI Mk. II. It’s cheaper stablemate was for Zephyr 4/6 Mk. IV drivers and for fleet and private buyers who regarded the equally new Vauxhall Victor 1800 FE as lacking in durability.

Meanwhile, the latest Austin/Morris 2200 was FWD and altogether a little too unconventional while the Chrysler 180 was built in France at a time when fleet managers still tended to “Buy British”.

AEV dates from March 1973 and Dan notes the subtle differences from the 1972-models; ‘the gold stripe and the different hub-caps’.

Post-December 1973  Consuls were fitted with partially reclining front seats, but this “Base” has fixed backrests.

There are also inertia reel seat belts that are somewhat more comfortable than the standard static fittings. Dan’s Ford has also been retro-equipped with reversing lights, and he drily notes that the first owner ‘was fond of the 1970s accessories. He fitted an eight-track later replaced by a cassette player – plus an electric ariel. There were those awful plastic speakers screwed into the plastic trim in the front footwells’.

The Godley Ford once sported a factory-fitted vinyl roof, wing mirrors and Granada wheel trims and overrides but Dan decides to remove these.

The result is the Consul “au Naturelle” with no descriptions to detract from its extremely well - proportioned lines. Gone is the “Mid-Atlantic” look of its Zephyr predecessor in favour of a low-key and purposeful appearance.  

Nor was the limited specification of the “Base” at all unusual for a bottom-of-the range car in 1973 - the Victor FE and the six-cylinder BLMC “Landcrab” also followed a minimalist approach to creature comforts.

After all, a company car with a rear folding armrest could make a sales rep. idle, decadent and altogether devoid of corporate ambition.

The Consul also dates from a time, let us not forget, when the roads were often dominated by rusting ten-year-old models - just look at the backgrounds of films or television programmes of the early 1970s. 

The arrival of any new car on your driveway would have provided a talking point for the neighbours, especially one as imposing as the Ford.

An Evergreen Consul would have truly contrasted with the second-hand Austin A60 Cambridges and Singer Vogues in the car park at the local Sainsbury’s.

Ford offered the Consul until 1975 when Granada-badged successors replaced the range.

This comparatively limited production run combined with the poor survival rate for entry-level cars means that this Consul Base is rarer than a Rolls-Royce Phantom IV.

Dan recalls seeing a Ford brochure featuring the early Consuls and Granadas ‘about thirty years ago and I fell in love with the “Evergreen Metallic” paint finish’.

His quest for a car in the shade was a challenging one as ‘it was discontinued in autumn 1973’, but he saw AEV advertised on eBay in 2008.  

In terms of its history, the Consul was bought by a Basildon pharmacist named Brian Baker ‘who owned the car from nine months old - he traded in a Cortina Mk. II Estate. I found out from his daughter that although the car was last taxed in 1993, he kept it until around 2007 as the car was being vandalised in its lock-up. He was hoping to drive it again but had had a stroke in 1993 and never recovered fully to drive again’. The Consul was Mr. Baker’s ‘pride and joy, and he mainly used the car for family holidays’.

This vandalism meant ‘Brian decided to reluctantly sell the car but couldn’t get a buyer, so they had to PAY someone to take it away! I’m assuming that would be the scrapyard where it ended up. Fortunately, they had the foresight to sell the car as it was too good for the crusher or broken for parts...’ Dan did not buy the Consul in 2008, and it was eventually acquired by a friend who was a Granada expert – ‘he has seven or eight’.   This gentleman had plans to convert AEV ‘into a GT replica, but he thought the Consul was too original’.

Dan had first refusal on this fine car, and in March 2013, it was finally transported to Nottinghamshire.

‘She was in a sorry but not rotten state’. The restoration process ‘took five and a half years in total. The shell was surprisingly solid. The only panels replaced were the front wings with genuine Ford ones’.

These were the most difficult parts to source, and Mr. Godley was ‘very lucky to find them near Dagenham – drove all the way down to Essex to collect them’.  

The doors, rear wings, bonnet, sills boot lid and rear arches ‘are all original to the car. They had some rust in but mainly bashed and dented. I found a good guy to do the paintwork locally who did a fantastic job of that!’

On the road Dan thought the 2-Litre V4 engine to be ‘fine. It is a bit quirky and a little noisy at speed, but it actually performs and drives surprisingly well’.

By late 1974 this unit was replaced by the OHC “Pinto” unit which Mr. Godley finds ‘better at mid-and top speed’ although the V4 does offer more ‘low-down torque’.

The Consul “Base” is naturally devoid of power steering – ‘it is not excessively heavy, but I do slightly miss PAS when driving at parking speeds!’.

As for the public reaction Dan’s splendid “Base, it tends to vary from ‘that’s absolutely stunning’ ‘to ‘Can’t remember seeing one for years’. And such praise is wholly appropriate for the Ford that is ‘elegantly sculptured with a sporting flavour’.

WITH THANKS TO – DAN GODLEY

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