Ford Corcel: Бразильская история и эволюция модели.

The Ford Corcel ("stallion" in Portuguese) is a family car which was sold by Ford do Brasil in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela. It was also assembled in Venezuela (along with the upscale Del Rey derivative). The French influenced styling of the Corcel was unique to Brazil until late 1977. From this year, the redesigned Corcel II (as it was originally sold) bore a strong resemblance to the European Ford Escort and Ford Cortina of same era, but its Renault underpinnings remained the same. The Corcel was eventually replaced by the Del Rey, which was originally introduced as a better equipped version of the Corcel.

The Corcel's origins lay in the Renault 12. Willys Overland's Brazilian operations included manufacturing the Renault Dauphine as the Willys Dauphine/Gordini/1093/Teimoso. Plans were underway to replace this outmoded range with a new car based on the upcoming Renault 12, internally referred to as "Project M". When Willys do Brasil was bought by Ford do Brasil in 1967, Ford inherited the project, meaning that the Corcel was actually presented nearly two years before the Renault 12.

The first year of production of the Brazilian Ford Corcel was 1968, when it debuted as a four door sedan at São Paulo. It was originally equipped with the water cooled overhead valve "Cléon" engine picked directly from the Renault 12, albeit with a slightly lower compression ratio of 8:1 to allow it to run on 70 octane gasoline. A coupé was added in 1969 to target the second car market, quickly becoming the fastest selling version, followed by a three door station wagon version called "Belina" in March 1970. The early Corcels had severe quality issues and sales suffered accordingly, but after Ford do Brasil received a new head (Joseph W. O'Neill) in 1970 the decision was made to ameliorate the situation. In Brazil's first automotive recall, 65,000 owners were contacted and free repairs were made available; the Corcel once again became Ford's biggest selling model in 1971. Each passing year running styling changes were made, borrowing several details from the Ford Maverick, and becoming more and more like a pony car in appearance. The GT was updated in the form of new decals every year, and eventually also got a larger, more powerful engine.

The facelifted Corcel I (sometimes called the "Mark 1½") arrived in 1973 and had a more aggressive look compared to the more conservative 1968 version. Some of the L and all GT versions were also equipped with a new, bored out 1.4 litre (1372 cc) version of the existing engine. Claimed power for the regular Corcel was (SAE gross), with on tap at 5400 rpm from the "XP" engine used in the GT, with its double barrel carburettor. With the later SAE net ratings, these figures became and .

In 1975 a minor facelift occurred, in which the grille and headlight surrounds were subtly changed and the Ford logo moved from the grille onto the leading edge of the bonnet, along with the existing "F O R D" script. The taillights were now single piece units. Also new for 1975 was the luxurious "LDO" version, available as a coupé or estate. Meanwhile, the locally developed 1.4 gradually replaced the old 1.3 throughout the lineup. This was very easy to modify for greater power and some dealers had the option to install an unofficial small tuning kit that would improve the engine's horsepower to 95 (SAE Gross). Note that all of these power outputs were achieved using the low quality, low octane petrol available in South America at the time. The Corcel GT was moderately successful in Brazilian Tarumã, Interlagos and beach rally street car championships during the 1970s, thanks to its front wheel drive stability and low weight (920 kg), which allowed a high power to weight ratio. It would not be faster than the V 8 Maverick and Chevrolet Opala, but it would beat everything else in the Brazilian market, including four and six cylinder Mavericks and some Dodge Chargers that partook of the events. These competitions uncovered that the front drive universal joint was prone to break under heavy stress, so in 1976 the Corcel line switched to constant velocity joints.

In 1977, for the 1978 model year, Ford launched the Corcel II. The second generation had a completely remade design and straight lines as opposed to the pony car style of the original Corcel. These changes were also applied to the Belina, while the four door version was dropped in response to lack of consumer interest. The resulting two door sedan was of a fastback style, with long and heavy doors. The Corcel II was also used for an FIA Group 1 one marque championship in Brazil, in the years of 1979 to 1983. In 1986, Ford Motor de Venezuela produced 2244 Corcel IIs and 2439 Corcel Ghias (all two door sedans), although by then, it was concentrating on production of the European sourced Ford Sierra.

All had a slight face lift for the 1985 model year. The Corcel II became known again simply as the Corcel. The interior was now the same for all four models. Externally, the Corcel and the Del Rey differed at the rear; the Corcel received fastback style bodywork while the Del Rey was of a more traditional sedan design. The Belina and the Scala, however, had by now lost nearly all of their interior/exterior differences and became near identical: only a few details, such as the taillamps, differentiated these two models. Between 1985 and 1987 the Belina was made available with the same four wheel drive system used in the Pampa. This system seemed to have questionable reliability; Quatro Rodas magazine did a long term test of a Belina 4x4 (50,000 km) in which breakdowns were very frequent the resulting bad reputation led to Belina 4x4 production ending after only a few model years, while the Pampa 4x4 continued to be available. 1986 was the last year for the Corcel. The Belina was also discontinued in 1986, but its name was from then on applied to what had been the Scala (a name that had never really caught on) as the "Del Rey Belina". In 1989, as a result of the Autolatina joint venture, the higher output Volkswagen AP 1800 engine replaced the 1.6 litre unit in all models of the Del Rey and Belina, and was made available in all models of the Pampa except for the ones with four wheel drive. The Del Rey and the "new" Belina were discontinued in 1991, being replaced by the Ford Versailles and Ford Royale respectively. The Pampa continued to be sold on until 1997, when Ford introduced the smaller, Fiesta based Ford Courier a year later.