Ford's most controversial cars

Nearly 70 years later, the exact cause no longer matters. What does matter is that Edsel was Ford’s first major disaster, and a sign that even an enormously wealthy company with talented staff can sometimes get things very badly wrong.

Ford Anglia (1959)

The last of many European Fords to bear the Anglia name is probably best known now for its appearance in the Harry Potter films, though it’s also notable for being the first car fitted with an engine from the Kent family. Its most controversial feature, which applied only to the saloon versions, was a reverse-angled rear window, which one authority has described as being given “short shrift by customers who could see no rationale for it beyond a perverse desire to be different”.

That might well have been the case when the Anglia was launched in 1959, but in the following eight years Ford had reason to build more than a million examples, so the car’s other qualities seem to have overcome early distaste for its unusual appearance.

Ford Taunus (1960)

The appearance of the P3 Taunus was approximately as controversial as that of the ‘baroque’ model it replaced in 1960, but for completely different reasons. American influence had been eliminated, and the car’s shape was so unusual for the period that it became known as the Badewanne, or ‘bathtub’.

Even more remarkably, the P3 had lozenge-shaped headlights. These would have had to be replaced if the car had been exported to the US, since it was illegal to use anything other than round headlights there at the time.

Ford Consul Classic (1961)

While Ford of Germany was removing American influence from the Taunus, Ford of Britain adopted it in a big way for the Consul Classic. By UK standards, the front end was brash and the finned tail was enormous, while the reverse-angled rear window was carried over from the Anglia.

Despite early concerns, the Anglia quickly became accepted, but the even more unusual Consul Classic never was. Production lasted only from April 1961 to September 1963.

Ford Consul Capri (1961)

It’s difficult to say if the Consul Classic looked stranger than its coupe equivalent, or the other way round. The first Ford model with Capri in its name was lower than the saloon, and although its rear window sloped the ‘correct’ way, this also emphasised the length of the car’s tail even more.

At under 20,000, sales of the Capri were less than a fifth those of the Classic, though in fact the Capri remained on the market for slightly longer, until July 1964. It’s possible that Ford needed a replacement for the Consul far more urgently than it did for the Capri.

Ford Corsair V4 (1965)

The Consul Classic was replaced by the far more conventional-looking Corsair, which was relatively cheap to develop because it shared all its mechanicals and part of its structure with the Cortina. Launched in 1963, it remained uncontroversial until late 1965, when Ford decided to replace its Kent engine with the Essex V4. Also available in the Transit, the Essex was larger and more powerful than the Kent, but it was also heavier.

While the Corsair’s performance certainly improved, it was now also less economical, didn’t handle as well (due to the extra nose weight) and sounded harsher. Demand fell to such an extent that Ford needed to build slightly fewer V4 Corsairs in four years than it had been obliged to manufacture Kent-engined versions in just two.

Ford Thunderbird (1967)

The glory days of the Thunderbird were already behind it when Ford introduced the fifth-generation model in 1967. The T-bird was now larger than before, there was no convertible derivative, a saloon was added to the range, and Ford returned to the old-fashioned body-on-frame construction method for the first time in a decade.

Customers were unconvinced. Sales were reasonably strong at first, but dropped to just over 36,000 in the 1971 model year, the lowest figure for the nameplate since 1957.

Ford Torino Talladega (1969)

The Talladega was the subject of a motorsport controversy rather than a general motoring one. Based on the Sportsroof fastback version of the regular Torino, it had a more aerodynamic front end which reduced drag – a very useful feature on high-speed NASCAR oval tracks.

In early 1969 Ford built just enough road-going versions to qualify for that year’s NASCAR series. David Pearson (1934-2018) won eleven rounds and his third title. Other manufacturers followed Ford’s lead until the aero warriors, as they were known, were legislated out of contention, a sure sign that someone had had a better idea than the rule makers were expecting.

Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II (1969)

The Spoiler II was the exact equivalent of the Ford Torino Talladega homologation special, built in similar numbers from the same material and for the same reasons. It was also equally competitive, at least potentially – LeeRoy Yarbrough (1938-1984) won two rounds in a Spoiler II in 1969, but competed more often in a Talladega, in which he won five.

The contrasting results achieved by the two models were appropriate, and possibly deliberate. While the Spoiler II gave Mercury a lot of publicity, the idea of the junior brand beating the senior one across a whole season might not have sat well with upper management.

Ford Pinto (1971)

Ford’s first North American subcompact sold in very high numbers throughout the 1970s, but it’s more famous now for its tendency to burst into flames if the fuel tank was ruptured in a rear-end collision.

While there are differing views on just how dangerous the Pinto really was compared with similar cars built in the same decade, there is no doubt that it was an extremely costly car for Ford in terms of both money and reputation.

Ford Falcon GTHO Phase IV (1972)

Along with high-performance versions of the Holden Torana and Chrysler Valiant Charger, the GTHO Phase IV was one of the most controversial cars ever developed for road use. All three were created as homologation specials for the 1972 model year, and were expected to battle it out on Australian race tracks in that season.

However, a newspaper article in the Sydney Sun-Herald gave rise to what has become known as the supercar scare, which led to these cars being strongly criticised by politicians. Within days, each manufacturer had abandoned its project. As a result, very few GTHO Phase IVs were actually built. In 2021, one of them set a new auction record for an Australian-built car of $1.75 million.

Ford Granada (1972)

By far the most controversial thing about the first-generation European Granada introduced in 1972 was its name. The Granada Group, a large UK media and catering conglomerate (including operating motorway service areas ), took Ford to court over this, on the grounds that members of the public might think it had something to do with the car, which was described in court as “an unfair and unlawful incursion into [the Group’s] goodwill”.

The judge, Justice John Graham, decided Granada had “failed to produce evidence that satisfies me that such is likely to be the case”, and found in favour of Ford. The car went onto great success in Europe, becoming the car to aspire to for any senior manager, before German brands inevitably came calling for that market…

Ford Mustang (1973)

The second-generation Mustang, introduced in the 1974 model year, is widely regarded as a poor substitute for the first, which had made its debut a decade earlier. Media reaction was mixed, and often hostile – journalists complained at the time, as later commenters have also done, that it just wasn’t sporty enough to be a ‘real’ Mustang.

The controversy made little difference to customers. Mustang sales in 1974 were higher than they had been since 1967, and over the course of five years the car found more than a million buyers. Whatever people think of it now, it was successful in its day.

Ford Escort (1980)

The Escort launched in 1980 was a completely different machine from the two versions built over the previous 12 years. It was available as a hatchback, it had front-wheel drive, and it came with a new engine called the CVH, which had an overhead camshaft and hydraulic lifters. After more than a decade of rear-wheel drive and overhead-valve engines, it was all rather exciting – or, if you were a traditionalist, rather alarming.

Reviews were mostly favourable, but there was immediate criticism of the poor ride quality, which Ford responded to by revising the suspension. In 1982, the new Escort became the most-registered car in the UK, according to figures collated by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and remained so (if you include the fourth-generation car, which was really just an update of this one) until 1989.

Ford Mustang (1980)

The third Mustang arrived around the time of the second global oil crisis in six years. In an effort to keep fuel economy favourable, Ford smothered its Windsor V8 engine, reducing its capacity to 4.2 litres and its power output to just 120bhp.

In this form, the engine was available in the Mustang from 1980 to 1982. Cars of that period had miserable performance, and are now regarded as the low point both of V8-powered Mustangs and of the generally respected Windsor.

Ford Sierra (1982)

A section of the British motoring public, familiar with the Ford Cortina for two decades, reacted hotly to the arrival of the Sierra in 1982. It had a silly name, they said, and it looked like a jelly mould.

The controversy eventually died down, and the Sierra became as familiar as its Cortina predecessors had been. The high-performance RS Cosworth and later RS500 variants added glamour to what, by the end of the decade, was regarded as a very conventional car.

Ford Bronco II (1984)

The Bronco II, a compact SUV sold from 1984 to 1990, developed a terrible reputation for falling over due to its combination of a small footprint and a high centre of gravity. Other vehicles of the same type have had similar problems, but the Bronco II became the poster child due to a series of high-profile cases.

The total cost to Ford is difficult to determine, but a magazine report published in 2001 included an estimate that the company had had to pay “approximately $2.4 billion in damage settlements”. Its follow-up model, introduced in 1991, became controversial in another way when a 1993 example became involved in one of the most famous - albeit slow-speed - car chases in history when it carried OJ Simpson, in Los Angeles in 1994…

Ford Probe (1988)

The controversy surrounding the Probe was over and done with before the car went on sale in 1988. This compact coupe was designed in collaboration with Mazda, had front-wheel drive and was powered by either a four-cylinder engine or a V6, all of which seemed acceptable.

The problem was that it was originally planned as the new Mustang. Both inside and outside Ford, it was felt that front-wheel drive, partly Japanese heritage and the lack of a V8 option simply didn’t add up to something that could be called Mustang, so the car was launched as the Probe instead. The then-current Mustang wasn’t replaced until 1994, by which time the Probe was in its second generation.

Ford Escort Mk5 (1990)

The European Escort entered a new generation in 1990. Compared with its immediate predecessor, the car was roomier, better equipped and only slightly more expensive. Customers liked it, and it was a big success for Ford.

This happy tale is spoiled only by the fact that early models were heavily criticised for their ride, handling, gutless engines and appearance. Ford reacted very quickly to the complaints, and introduced a revised version in only slightly more than two years, making the new Escort the car it should have been in the first place. Luckily perhaps for Ford the market, and competitor cars, were more forgiving then than today.

Ford Scorpio (1994)

The final European Ford in the Granada/Scorpio line, launched in 1994, was a conventional large saloon/estate which in normal circumstances wouldn’t have offended anyone. The abnormal circumstance which made it one of the most talked-about Fords ever (in an entirely negative sense) was its design.

Commentators fell over themselves trying to out-do each other with ever more insulting remarks about the car’s appearance. Ford couldn’t do much about this without starting again from scratch (too expensive to contemplate), but it did give the Scorpio a minor facelift in late 1997, which helped slightly.

Ford Aspire (1994)

Like the much earlier Parklane, the Aspire was an example of a mild controversy between Ford and its customers – the former wanted the latter to buy it, but the latter weren’t interested.

This inexpensive little hatchback was co-developed with Kia, which sold it as the Avella. It was introduced in North America in 1994, but dropped three years later due to lack of interest.

Ford Explorer (1995)

The second-generation Explorer SUV went on the market in 1995, and quickly became notorious due to a series of major accidents. This led to a legal battle between Ford and tyre supplier Firestone. In February 2001, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it had denied a request by Firestone to open a safety defect investigation into the handling and control characteristics of the Explorer if the tread of a rear tyre came away from the rest of it.

The NHTSA stated that analysis of claims data showed there was “no significant difference in the likelihood of a crash following a tread separation between Explorer vehicles and other compact SUVs”. The affair led - among other things - to the exit of Ford CEO Jac Nasser.

Ford Fiesta (1996)

The 1996 Fiesta (also sold as the Mazda 121) was largely the same as the previous one apart from a new engine, less weight and a mild restyle. The last of these was perhaps the least successful and caused adverse comments, some of them including the word ‘fish’.

Fortunately, it didn’t last long. Ford adopted its New Edge styling for the facelifted version, which looked significantly better.

Ford Ka (1996)

The original Ka, which made its debut in 1996, was only mildly controversial, but there has always been disagreement about how to pronounce its name – with a short ‘a’ as in cat, with a long ‘a’ as in ‘car’, or even spelling out each letter as if they were intials (which is not the case).

Then there was the question of its styling. The Ka was the first production Ford with a New Edge design, and while it looks innocent enough now it was quite startling at the time, especially to people who hadn’t seen pictures of the similar Saetta concept car.

Ford Racing Puma (1999)

The 1999 Racing Puma was a special version of the Fiesta-based Puma coupe developed by Tickford. Among other modifications, the standard 1.7-litre engine was uprated from 123bhp to a still less than startling 153bhp, though the emphasis was more on handling. Two race drivers, one of whom later became a British Touring Car Champion, agreed that it suffered from understeer on a circuit, but this was not apparent in road use.

The most controversial thing about the Racing Puma was its price. Ford charged £22,750, at a time when a Subaru Impreza WRX cost significantly less and a Lotus Elise only slightly more. Sales were understandably low.

Ford Excursion (1999)

At 5758mm (226.7in) from end to end, and weighing around four US tons, the Excursion remains, nearly a quarter of a century after its debut, one of the largest, heaviest and least economical SUVs ever to go on sale.

Onlookers concerned about safety and the environment reacted with alarm, and came up with several nicknames for the vehicle, including Fordasaurus, Ford Saddam and Ford Valdez. The last of these was a reference to the Exxon Valdez supertanker which dropped ten million US gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, in 1989.

Ford Focus RS (2001)

The first of what would become three series of Focus RS arrived in 2001, and was immediately impressive because Ford (for either technical or cost reasons, depending on who you spoke to) had made it front-wheel drive like the standard model rather than four-wheel drive like the versions competing in the World Rally Championship.

Torque steer, which happened only if you were driving very hard, was a controversial issue, and unfairly blamed on the car’s Quaife limited slip differential, which wasn’t in fact causing the problem. The second Focus RS – also front-wheel drive, and also fitted with the Quaife diff – behaved far better because of its superior front suspension geometry, which Ford achieved by developing the ingenious RevoKnuckle system.

Ford Thunderbird (2001)

After building Thunderbirds in ten generations for 42 years, Ford discontinued the nameplate in 1997, but then brought it back five years later. Like the original T-bird, but unlike any of the nine in between, this version was a two-seat convertible, and was based on the same platform as the Jaguar S-Type and Lincoln LS.

After an initial flurry of interest, sales fell sharply, leading to the cancellation of the model after just four years. Perhaps a truly modern Thunderbird would have been more successful than a retro tribute, and perhaps also Ford had been right to abandon the two-seat convertible configuration in the late 1950s, and wrong to bring it back in the following century.

Lincoln Blackwood (2002)

Ford’s luxury brand made the unusual decision to produce a pickup truck in 2002. Based on the contemporary F-150, it was resoundingly unpopular, and stayed on the market for just one model year in the US and one more in Mexico.

Lincoln’s next effort, the Mark LT, was barely more successful. Even in combination, they didn’t come close to GM’s equivalent, the Cadillac Escalade EXT, which wasn’t exactly a big hit either. The message seems to be that no matter how much you want to put a luxury pickup on sale, don’t do it.

Ford Five Hundred (2004)

Ford’s second largest saloon of its period, after the Crown Victoria, was sold only in the 2005 to 2007 model years and was based on a platform inherited from Volvo, which made this car a slightly unlikely sibling of the Volvo XC90 Mk1. The Five Hundred’s lack of success has been attributed to its conservative styling, which was widely criticised. Ford designer J Mays admitted that the look of the Five Hundred was problematic. “It’s just lacking in the emotional appeal that we should have put into it,” he admitted in one interview, though this was not the whole story.

In another interview, talking about the same car, he hinted at another reason by saying, “I've been at the company 13 years and I've been through five CEOs. Some of those CEOs have had more conservative tastes than others.” Ford’s latest CEO, Alan Mulally who arrived in 2006, ordered an immediate re-design and the revival of the Taurus nameplate, which he said had much greater brand equity, having been around between 1986 and 2005; this seemed to improve sales, especially when an all-new Taurus arrived in 2010.

Ford EcoSport (2014)

“It’s been a long time since a new Ford was as bad as the EcoSport,” we said in 2014. Launched in other markets two years earlier, the model had been developed in Brazil and built (for Europe) in India (and also in several other places), where it suited local conditions, and brought over to Europe, where it definitely didn’t, to allow Ford to compete in the highly competitive compact SUV sector.

With question marks over its ride, handling and interior quality, the EcoSport at first sold poorly in the region, though Ford made amends by improving it considerably in later years. It sold reasonably well in the US, despite being very small for that market – but at least it was cheap.

Lincoln Continental concept (2015)

The concept version of what would become the new Continental caused quite a flurry when it was revealed at the 2015 Detroit Show. Bentley design chief Luc Donckerwolke (born 1965) thought it bore a suspiciously close resemblance to his own company’s car of the same name, and vigorously conveyed his objections on social media.

Lincoln made some adjustments (which would probably have happened anyway) before the production Continental went on sale two years later, but the basic shape remained the same.

Ford Focus RS (2012)

The third and last Focus RS was the only one in the series with four-wheel drive, which wasn’t controversial, and a setting called Drift Mode, which was – at least in Australia.

Representatives of the Pedestrian Council of Australia and the National Roads and Motorists’ Association, along with a former head of Australian Medical Association, all expressed concerns about Drift Mode. Ford responded to calls for it to be disabled by not disabling it, and there the matter rested.

Ford GT (2015)

In order to prevent ‘flipping’ (selling a car for a vast profit shortly after purchasing it) Ford required buyers of the second-generation GT to keep it for 24 months. Not everyone did, which led to various lawsuits.