Ford Britain's First Postwar Designs

Post- World War 2 years were difficult for the British despite being a victor.  Its automobile industry had to deal with shortages of key materials and was under government pressure to focus on exports so as to bring cash into the country.  One result was that a carmaker such as Jaguar that had good American sales might have more easily obtained some of theose key materails, whereas makers focused on the domenstic market had to wait for matters to return more to normal.

Perhaps for that reason it wasn't until the 1951 model year that Ford's British subsidiary was able to launch postwar styling in for its key Consul and Zephyr brands. (I wrote about early postwar British Ford cars here.  They were simply carryovers of prewar designs.)

The link to the Wikipedia entry on the Consul mentiones that "Most cars were four-door saloons with body design by George Walker of the parent United States Ford Motor Company...."  That was with respect to the 1951 model.  Some background on Walker is here.  At the time the Consul and Zephyr were styled, Walker was a consultant to Ford, not a Vice President as he later bacame.  Moreover, I have yet to find corroberation for the stated comment.

That said, the 1951 Consuls and Zephyrs resemble...

...the 1949 Ford that was styled by Walker's group and some moonlighters from Studebaker.

Gallery

1951 Ford Consul
The roof, fenderline and bustle back trunk (boot) resemble the '49 Ford, as do the wheel openings.

The low hood is more "European" in the vein of the 1952 Nash that had some stying input from Pinin Farina.  The grille with vertical bars and a wider central band faintly suggests grilles on the 1949 Mercurys styled by Bob Gregorie.

Basically a simple design with the wraparound character line to reduce what visual bulk this small car had.

1951 Ford Zephyr
Zephyrs had a slightly longer (4 inches, 20 cms) wheelbase than Consuls and received a more traditionally English grille.

But the rear was the same apart from some script and ornamentation.

1952 Vauxhall Wyvern
This is a competing model from General Motors' Vauxhall brand.  Its styling seems to me busier and more awkward.