SECRET FORDS

‘Behind-the-scenes snaps from the studio, the workshop and testing add to the sense that you’re getting a tour around a hidden part of Ford history’

After the runaway success of his first tome, The Cars You Always Promised Yourself, this new effort from Steve Saxty had the potential to turn into a difficult second album. Fortunately, it’s a cracker.

The first of two volumes (the next one will cover the 1990s and beyond) begins by going through the birth of a prototype at Ghia and setting the scene for the Blue Oval under Henry Ford II at the start of the 1970s. After looking into the AVO department and the various suggestions for the stillborn Capri replacement, succeeding chapters deal with the gestations of the Mk2 and Mk3 Escorts, Fiesta, Sierra, Mk2 Granada and Scorpio.

Seeing how differently some of the most familiar shapes on British roads could have turned out is endlessly entertaining, but inevitably the hotter machinery provides the biggest draw. Here you’ll learn the full story of the wild Escort RS 1700T and the rebirth of the RS brand with the RS 200 rally programme and the mighty RS Cosworth. As ever, however, it’s the stuff you didn’t know about that proves the most fascinating: the likes of the twinturbo Sierra XR4I (ditched in favour of the Cossie) or the bonkers Bda-engined, rear-wheel-drive Fiesta (forerunner to the RS 1700T).

Throughout, the book is packed with intriguing unicorns from the archives, be they sketches, clay models or mules: Fords that look like Opels, Fords that look like Simcas… even Fords that, if you squint a bit, look a touch like Maseratis. And then there are the Fords that look like nothing else at all, such as Ghia’s proposed Capri replacement.

The input of editor Mel Nichols (famed former Car editor and C&SC editorial director) is clear in the magazine-style approach, which makes the book particularly accessible with lots of inviting routes of entry to each spread through side panels, extended captions and clear, easily navigated design. The pun-tastic headlines can get a little wearing, but the conversational ‘I was there’ text is enjoyable, illuminating and easily digestible.

Where Saxty has a huge advantage over most authors is in his access, both through the imagery he has been able to extract from the archives, and through the number of A-list-status names in his little black book. As a former Ford product designer, Saxty was on hand for the early development of many of these vehicles, so the key players were his friends and colleagues.

He sets out his stall with the joint forewords by design legend Patrick Le Quément and former Ford CTO Richard Parry-jones, and the expertise continues throughout the book with contributions from the designers and teams responsible for the machines featured. Many have also provided behind-the-scenes happy snaps from the studio, the workshop and out during testing, all of which add to the sense that you are getting a private tour around a hidden part of Ford history that’s usually unavailable to members of the public.

This might lead you to think that you need to be a Blue Oval fanatic (or a committed child of the ’80s) to enjoy the book to the full, but that’s far from the case – though if you do tick either of those boxes, it’s likely to be unmissable. AC

£39.95 Steve Saxty, Seven Spoke Publishing. ISBN 9781838223205