Jim Clark Drives Corsair - 1963 

I have never seen footage of Jim Clark driving so slowly!

What a nice period piece. This would be 1963. Some utter rubbishy written about the Corsair in these comments. I owned a 1500 inline Corsair for ten years in the 90s. Yes it was a Cortina Mk1 derivative, with three inches let into the rear floor pan, which was double skinned for science. These were quite refined, comfortable cars for their day. Ford shifted 150,000 of the inline Consul Corsair models between October 63 and August 65. It was then replaced by the Corsair V4 in 1663cc and 2 litre versions. These sold less well, shifting another 150k or so units, before being replaced by the Cortina Mk3 late in 1970.. Biggest problem was rust, but a thoroughly pleasant, roomy, distinctive car. Good examples can make 10k these days! There is a very good owners club, with reasonable parts availability. I love the styling, by Charles Thomson., it was a very clever use of Cortina bits, uses the same glass and door frames believe it or not and the pre cross flow engine was quite sweet and economical.. In all a very likeable 60s family car. That steering wheel is correct for an early car, mine had the square horn ring too. Long live the Corsair!

I'd feel comfortable at any speed and in any car if Jimmy were the driver.

I was 10 when jimmy was killed and couldn't get it into my head. for me he,s the best of all time and would advise anyone to visit his trophy room. god bless you jimmy!

JIM CLARK - By far the greatest driver ever - no doubt. He is and was the Best of the Best. No other driver in history until today was so superior as Clark. This man is the Olymp of driving - the Michelangelo of racing - a dynamic art at the highest level. So smooth, so precise, so fast....simply out of this world. One, who won in Spa by 5 minutes (!) in monsoon rain...One, who takes back a complete lap (!) in Monza and back into the lead... One, who took pole on the original 22,8 km Nürburgring track by 9 (!) seconds and more....One who won Indy by 2 whole (!) laps...For eternity and by lightyears unmatched in the sport. That`s just four examples of his mesmeric unique genius...

Dig that crazy 60's music , man!

The Late Great Jim Clarke, my parents had two corsairs when i was a Kid, one after the other, brings back memories of the good old days

A LOT OF PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT AUTOMATICS HERE.The Corsair Jim's driving is a MANUAL with a column change.

On my God ! Oh my God ! This is absolutely priceless for fan's of Jim Clark. Many thanks.

Jim is quite defiantly the most naturally gifted driver to ever race a car so he is the best ever and Ayrton Senna the greatest ever. I wold love to have seen Jeremy clarkson interview Jim Clark.

1:46 Jimmy making sure he can heel n toe

I love how Jimmy is dressed in this video. Casually refined.

Only Jim Clark would need Heel Toe in an about town Corsair 😂😂 #thebestofthebest

Wonderful old clip, 1963.and the late , great Jim Clarke.

8.06 men went from looking like that to looking like Jimi Hendrix in less than seven years.

A friend of mine had the 2000 V4 version which went like hell. It had wider wheels and lower suspension . 4 on the floor, a neat row of dials in the middle of the dash. Much more plush than this. Peter Kozub, legend. RIP.

One of my favourite cars driven by my favourite racing driver. Great.

glad he got past those Daleks at 5:10!

I could listen to this for days

Lucans favourite getaway car

See as he mentions the pedals he tests them for heel and toe

Just for information, this was filmed at the Ford proving ground at Lommel Belgium. A really early car with bench seat and column gear-change and a 1.5-litre bent flow in-line four-cylinder engine.

I live in Detroit MI and am lucky enough to have seen Clark’s Indy 500 winning lotus in person at the Henry Ford Museum. As an American and a big F1 Fan, it’s always special to be close to a something that Clark was involved with. If you weren’t there to see him driving, all that’s left are brief glimpses of his brilliance to be found in memories. I wish there was more.

Corsair, was and still is a good looking car.

The Corsair is the love child of the Taunus P3 (Badewanne) and the Cortina MK2. Thanks so much for all these vids and please keep em comin :D!!!

I owned a Corsair v4 ,The car was 1 year old when I purchased it,very stylish for the year,Beige colour with red interior,I was After a 2000e at the time,but none available used at the time,The grill was a pain to clean,I used a toothbrush.lol. haven’t seen one on the road for years.

Here he doesn't look like the greatest racing driver of all time does he? But that's precisely what Jim Clark is. Along with Senna, beyond anybody else!

Top man in a top car.

The V4 engine in the Corsair, the mk 4 Zephyr, and the Transit was a good boat anchor.

My grandfather bought a 1959 Ford Anglia.None of the body panels lined up.It shook itself apart on the washboard roads of rural Quebec Canada.

Jim Clark looks soo well in this film, also looks as being a great person..Im very sure he was a pleasant man. So sad tha the good ones leave first..I know of a guy that roams aroun the streets near the place where I live...when is not flying through the airs, because some driver hit him while jay walking; you find him getting into a fight with the neighbors because he stole a tv set...but you never find him DEAD...though, a lot of people whished he was..he never is..!!!...why are the good ones die first...? RIP JIM CLARK...

love it , thanks

My late dad had a V4 Corsair for years and he never encountered any problems with the Engine. Maybe he was lucky but great motor

Ford: let's get Jim Clark to drive our new car Jim: "5 miles per hour under the maximum speed"

We used to have this exact model . Bench seat at the front. Column manual gear stick . Note no seat belts . I'm sure this is a 1500 cc engine. Engine had push rods with the cam inside the engine. It was not a crossflow head. Leaf springs at the back with drum brakes

I can remember my uncle coming home to visit with my grandmother from the USA in 60s he hired one for Time he was here the Neighbours Thought we had won the pools

In my opinion Jim was the best ever,winning by almost 5 minutes at Spa in a downpour,making up a lap at Monza, and many more great moments. Indy 500 winner too,would have won it 2 years running but for car problems.

Mon pilote Préféré, RIP , GRAND CHAMPION. GRAND HOMME.

I have same car sport edition forod consul corsair 1968 needs work out. I love this car.

Great car great driver.

Ill buy it !

drove a lot of these cars,i liked them mainly the 2ltr v4s,long chasic and short track rear wheel drive afforded predictable long and lazy oversteer,great fun,if you notice even tidy jim with the 1500 gets a touch of oversteer at one point.Surprised this car failed for the blue oval,nice vidio.

Good and perfect Inglish car my Ford Corsair V4 1.7c.c. four doors years 1966 in Italy👍🏼👍🏼

V4 madness!

Nice watch Jim

You'll never guess who was driving my taxi the other day!!!!

I had a v4 Corsair,1 year old when I purchased it many moons ago. I wanted the 2000e but insurance then ,was too high,And like most Teenagers and those in their 20s it was washed and cleaned every week in the roadside,the grill was a bugger to keep clean,I used a toothbrush,A good car for the money.

1:10 Those days are long gone aren't they

Jim Clark could have made a tea trolley go faster than it should. I got his autograph at Aintree when I was small.....I lost it of course.

I had on V 4 but put a v 6 in it that made it under steer but lot quicker

RIP Jim Clark.

Imagine seeing a world class driver promoting an average car today.

Wow impressive, going up a 180 degree incline in 2nd gear!

When I started working in a garage in 1970, no one wanted to use this as a going home car lol

My second car. Why do they not do front bench seats and column gear change any more?

jacked the car up to change the front offside tyre but as the boot closed from the wind needed the key to open the boot to get the spare wheel the body shell flexed so much i had to lower the jack B4 i was aloe to open the door n get the key from the ignition thought all cars where like that till i bought a Toyota tried it n the door opened NP just a small difference in the gap round the door,

Anyone know what the music is and who is performing this ?

Nice simple design in hose days without all the wires and crap... I was offered one of these in about 1972 but it was awful dull green colour.

3:31 that a was along way from straight.

At 7:42 - the guy sitting rear nearside wearing glasses - different people in the car ??.

Does anyone know this music?

The Corsair is the forgotten car in the Ford history of Britain. There are so few of them around nowadays, compared to Cortinas that came along at about the same time. I think the American styling was a bit too much for the Brits to take at the time.

"For safety reasons, vision is important in a saloon car". Seat belts, however, are clearly not.....

Looks like a Kent engine, when did the V4 become available? My father had a V4 version, I always thought it looked a bit odd! He had an almost fatal accident in it, he wasn't wearing a seat belt and the steering column punched him in the chest and broke his sternum. His left knee collided with the diecast lower dash, which almost took his kneecap off! He was in a bad way for a few weeks. He had trouble with that knee for the rest of his life. The car was recovered to a local garage, I went to see it on the way home from school. It was shocking, the front end seemed almost flush with the windscreen! The steering wheel was only about a foot from the seat back! Obviously not a collapsible type! Wonder what it's ncap rating would be?!

Una venganza de alguien, un francotirador , oculto en el bosque , por lo de VonTrip en 1961 . Terminó con la vida del más gran piloto de la historia de la F1. Recuerden que Hawthorn también trató de matar a Fangio con Mercedes en Le Mans , y se equivocó de piloto ( Levegh) .

love column changes but the ones fitted to early corsairs operated too high up as you can see for yourself but the later ones operated lower down. no they are not uncomfortable to use they are great. i wish they had never been phased out and could be bought back into production. i did not at first like the shape but it grew on me in time and i actually owned two at one time and liked (separately) and really liked them. peter newbrook not josephine. yourself

he didn't hit the clutch when he stopped. if not out of gear it would have stalled.

Hilarious how three fellas piled in the back. Nobody asked to ride shotgun?

Jim Clark or not you can tell he isn't used to column change.

Edsel name, small falcon body, T-bird grille, DISC BRAKES. Coupe?

2:52 "For safety reasons, visibility is important in a saloon car" ... so are seat belts. Remarkable how we change what is important: In most modern cars you can't see out the tinted, squat little 'port holes' offered as windows. But the plethora of air bags and seat belts have made the manufacturers lawyers very wealthy.

Shockingly under-damped - count the bounces at 00:45. But to be fair, that was pretty normal for those days unless you drove a Mini or sports car.

Pity they never made a lotus version,and they rotted out like mad. Looked nice though.

Didn't realise that Corsairs were column change, perhaps they changed that later on.

Heavy duty battery fitted

Jim Clark was one of my schoolboy sporting hero’s. I always made out I was him when playing with my Scale electric. 👌

No pointless woffle back then…unlike today!

Haha what cars used to sound like. You had no doubt there was a OHV engine about a foot a way from you, it was working hard for it's living and it would not appreciate being revved beyond 4000rpm. edit my guess is 65 ("5 mph below the legal limit") was about top end. At least any thing would be a long time coming..... That's a big body for a 1500. Probably giving 60 bhp.

I love this stuff. It’s hard to know what Jimmy drove I suspect a Lotus Elite or early Elan.Something boring at the farm probably a Ford. Such a complex guy, but boy could he drive.

When did automatic transmission become popular in England? Was it well accepted?

Brave man for pushing it on crossplies. I wonder how much they paid him for that speel?

The guy on the right sitting at the back looks just like Greg Alexander ( the NRL player for Penrith Panthers.!)

Stirling Moss is the best driver ever

Must be a pre production model - don't think that steering wheel ever appeared on any of the production models.

a 15oo/60 hp now nothing less that 120 hp haha

01:13, I wonder what he would have said of a Honda Civic Type . That music so irritating. 😣

Bernie Ecclestone disliked this video and Jim Clark

Ya hear that ....ROOM FOR ROUTINE MAINTAINANCE

Jim must use seatbelt!!!!

That mindless elevator music that film makers of the time thought we all listened to on the radio! Not when Luxembourg was around, or finally the pirates!

Wasn't Jim a tax exile at this point, living abroad? It must have been part of the factory team deal with Ford that he made himself available for promotional work.

A cortina in drag..nothing more..

My hero racing driver Jim Clark. As a Ford car salesman. In 1963, he needed money, I guess.

at the front it looks like a Fiat-Ritmo

No seat belts...

Can't hear a word he is saying? dx

Looks like across between a1960 Ford and a Falcon

Let The Stig drive it.

He picks up THREE male prostitutes at the end ????? Bloody hell Jim, risky or what in 1963 ??

It’s a nice looking car but that gear change lever looks awful and awkward to use.