This is a car that became a huge hit here in Brazil and now has now achieved the status of classic. The Corcel was produced between 1969 and 1985, and despite the Ford emblems and ‘Willys’ on the manufacturer’s plate, it’s DNA is from the French automaker Renault. A true multinational.
In the beginning of 1960s the Brazilian operations of Kaiser-owned Willys built several cars for the local market, all of them US based-designs (Aero, Jeep MB, and Jeep Rural truck) as well as a license-built version of the Renault Dauphine, a small car that was in no way prepared for the task. It is a four door sedan, but it is nearly impossible to squeeze four adults in the car; the suspension could not stand up to the roughness of the Brazilian roads of the times, and the little 900cc in line four was totally underpowered, especially when compared with its rival, the 1200cc VW Beetle.
By 1968, Willys was in negotiation with the French to replace the Dauphine for a modern economical car and the choice was the future Renault 12 (above). The idea was not to bring over and build the R12 as it was built in France, as Willys wanted something more personal, and with a design that was not so obviously French. Something both more brazilian and perhaps a touch of American too. For the first time, Brazilian designers would handle such a project.
But the reality behind all of this was Willys was in a bad financial shape, so in 1967 Brazilian Ford took the opportunity to acquire the company and increase its range of local cars. The only passenger car Ford had in 1968 was the very big and luxurious Galaxie, so the opportunity to have a good, small economical car was not passed up on.
Ford took over the new project with enthusiasm, even the name for the car had to be good and was based on the rich American cousin, the Mustang, Corcel is also a horse breed.
The car came to life in 1968 as a four door sedan, and looking rather like Ford’s own Cortina Mk2. Was there enough time for Ford to influence the styling? Or just coincidence?
The next year the handsome two-door coupe version arrived, and later a station wagon called “Belina”. The new car was everything that the Dauphine wasn’t: it had a roomy interior, a strong suspension ready to take the punishment of our bad roads, front wheel drive, and yet the car was a comfortable ride. The engine was a version of the Renault ‘810’ engine, and had a 1300cc. The new powertrain gave decent performance to the Corcel, making VW adopt a bigger displacement engine for all its cars; in 1970 even the Beetle had a 1500cc engine option.
The Corcel was an instant hit, although it would never beat the sales numbers of the cheap and popular VW Beetle, but it created a new class of car in the Brazilian market: the upper class compact sedan. The car was by itself in this class but the competition was eager to have a slice of this cake.
For 1973 Ford increased the engine by another 100cc in the Corcel, preparing the car for the heavy fire that was about to come. In 1974 all the brazilian automakers presented new models, Chrysler unveiled the Dodge 1800, based on the British Hilmann Avenger; GM came with Chevette, based on the Opel Kadett; and VW took the first step to replace all the models built on the Beetle plataform with a modern car, water cooled engine and front wheel drive, the Passat.
By 1978 Ford redesigned the car and called the new version Corcel II and Belina II, but the four door version was dropped, and in 1981 the engine reached its biggest displacement with 1600cc.
In 1982 Ford came with a luxurious version of the Corcel, named “Del Rey”. The “new” car offered some items that the Corcel never dreamed to have, such as fog lights, sun roof, A/C, power windows, alloy wheels, power mirrors, power steering, automatic transmission and so on. And a four door version was back. The Del Rey was a good breath of life for a car that was becoming obsolete.
By this time Ford had to replace the old horse with a new car and the choice was obvious: in 1984 the Escort debuted in the Brazilian market. Everything was new but the Corcel DNA was still there, to make the car affordable, it came with the old but reliable 1600cc Corcel engine.
1985 was the last year production for the Corcel, but Ford kept the Del Rey until 1991. Another interesting fact, in 1987 Ford and VW united forces and created a new giant automaker: Autolatina. The company became operational only in 1989 and under this new umbrella, the old rivals started to exchange powertrains and plataforms.
The Escort and Del Rey had the benefit of more powerful VW engine options like the 1800cc and 2000cc. But Autolatina had a very short life, ending in 1996.
The Red Corcel in the pictures is a 1969 2 doors coupe in a very rare“GT” trim.
To honor those badges this version has a double barrel carburetor, customized 13 inches steel wheels (not shown here) , a complete set of instruments with tachometer, oil pressure and voltmeter and vinyl top.
Since 1969 was a transitional year, the identification tag shows the name of both Ford and Willys.
The first generation of the Corcel (1969 – 1977) has became a classic, and nowadays the prices have skyrocketed.
A cool bit of history there .
-Nate
More south American cars please,a great read thank you
+1!
Yes indeedy! +2!
I’m working on it !!!!
Great work Rubens in spread brazilian auto history to the world!
This is an interesting article. I had never heard of the Corcel before. In my opinion, the Corcel II GT and Corcel Del Rey models had attractive styling. The Brazilian Escorts pictured above are attractive, too – better than the versions sold here in the USA.
They look like European Ford Escorts
Yes, they all look completely identical to the 1980 Ford Escort Mk3.
Nice article, Rubens. Keep them coming, always interesting to see the specific models from other continents. Like the countless number of small car-based pickup models you guys have in South America.
same breed
?So even Brazil got better-looking Escorts than we did, thanks to the Dearborn Dunces! Ford’s cousin Mazda didn’t see the need to dumb-down their mechanically-related 323 for Americans, beyond its name.
Brazilian Escort was actually the European Escort. Engines may vary by the Brazilian then standards/specifications…
Del Rey was a Genuine Brazilian. For those times I think IT has a very sophisticated design and good proportions. A serious car anyway.
The brazilian escort had the best seller: Ayrton Senna
Very interesting, not to mention quite confusing! One of these would sure stand out in the USA. Great design decision to have the locals draw up the body, ensuring maximum appeal in its market.
The Del Reys look like European Granadas, judging by the rear tail lights
definetely it was inspired on Granadas.
The Renault R12 can be seen in the four door but 1969’s two door looks like it’s taken more from Vauxhall’s HB Viva beyond the B pillar, while the Corcell II looks like a small ’70s VW Passat. After all that following though the Del Ray almost previews the Ford Orion (booted Escort) of 1983 (I assume they didn’t sell the Orion in Brazil).
A fascinating range!
That’s right, instead of the Orion, Ford developed a 2-door sedan over the Escort base, the Ford Verona, which was also sold by VW as the Apollo. The Verona mk2 was the Orion mk2 with VW engines.
That certainly looks much better from the back than the Orion!
The Orion deserved a better finishing in the belt line with the C pillar, but it looks sort of sportier and younger than the Jetta and the Kadett. At that time Brazilians had a weird bias against cars with 4 doors, specially sedans, which prevented us to have the Orion. The Escort hatch 4 door received some reception, however it always was a rarity. In a closed market like Brazil in the 80’s, Ford used to be a premium brand and it’s main public was the A and B classes, who used to be a little bit off-beat from the common sense, as GM always was oriented for the general public, 4 doors versions only were available for the higher ends of the Ascona and the Rekord based cars, but both were equally rare in the market.
Considering that it’s land all the way to Cape Horn with a highway stretching from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia, Argentina, I’m surprised we don’t get very many used imports from Central and South America. I see LOTS of interesting cars that would make an interesting project what with chasing parts for restoration. How does one go about importing a clássico curbside?
Hopefully Rubens will answer that question. Maybe a swap could be arranged; the Brazilians, like the Europeans, are big on big American cars.
Well, we are more involved with the other way around, witch is buying american cars and bring them to Brazil. But I can provide a phone number or e-mail of a trusted import / export agent here in Brazil. As a matter of fact, I have (well, not me but my boss) some brazilian classics for sale. I can send some pics of the cars.
Even the red 69 Corcel of this article is for sale…
Then you get it past customs and the EPA and licensing!
The Corcel is one of the stranger Latin American hybrids. Looking at the Del Mar, who would guess that there’s a Renault 12 hiding under there? Thanks for this closer look.
Indeed – I thought it was going to be a Granada or even Cortina/Taunus derivative.
And didn’t the Corcel predate the Renault 12? Very intriguing, but then Renault paired up with Willys, through AMC, in the USA as well, much later.
The interesting thing about the Del Rey is the fact that Brazilian Ford made this car to replace the Galaxie/Landau. Everytime I imagine a Renault 12-based car replacing a land yacht that even the Brazilian heads of state proudly used for decades, my head blows.
That was a hell of downsizing.
The Del Rey replaced the Maverick, which had been a bad decision to launch in 1973 since a Taunus derived version was considered as well and would have been more successful against Chevrolet Opala (Opel Rekord C body with different engines).
I thought Corolla-Tercel when I first saw the header.
Just to add another curiosity about the Ford Corcel family of cars, there were also a Jeep version of the Pampa trucklet available for some time. Ford had the rights for the Jeep brand in Brazil but didn’t used the name since the discontinuation of the Willys CJ in the 80s, and per Brazilian laws they were due to lose these rights for lack of use, so when the first batch of Grand Cherokee arrived in Brazil imported by Chrysler, they slapped the Jeep badge on Pampa 4×4 just to show they were still using the brand, but it was too late.
Here are the brochure:
And a picture I found on Google showing the Jeep badge:
Interesting factory mashup it doesnt look anything like a MK2 Cortina it does vaguely resemble a Corsair and a MK1 Escort but the downward slope of the rear quarter and lower body wheel arches etc are pure Renault, The MK2 Ford Capri tail lamps are a bit obvious though, I guess the GT wore Rostyle pressed steel wheels like a Vauxhall 4/90 or Hillman GT originally.
Beautiful car! All my favorite brands mixed together. From every angle it’s just about half Ford and half Renault. I don’t see much Willys, unless the V-shaped black thing in front was meant to echo the Rural.
If one tries hard enough, one could see the Corcel’s grill as an evolution of the 1966 Willys Itamaraty’s grill, with the parallel bars and the round lights motif…
The prototype at the design department, with a few of Willys Capeta studies in the background. The Corcel had an extremely comfortable ride and front seats that were unmatched by any other Brazilian car at that time.
Love these “alternate universe” articles. I had heard of the Corcel, and even seen a picture or 2 (almost all Corcels seem to be red GTs) but had never heard of or seen a Corcel II or Del Rey.
Interesting that Ford dropped the 4 door model for several years but added a wagon. Imagine any car company doing that ANYTIME in any other market?
Keep any Corcel, I’ll (gladly) take a Corcel II GT.
Love hearing about these unique Brazilian models! Will you do an article on the Del Rey’s successor, the Ford Versailles? They have always intrigued me.
Is that a Maverick I see in the background, in the shop?
It is a Maverick indeed. A 1974 brazilian Maverick, also a “GT” model equipped with the 302 V8 engine. That car is going through a ground up restoration and will be 100% factory original. It’s almost done.
Hey what is the paint code for that orange on that maverick?! (: I LOVE it
The Escort and Del Rey had the benefit of more powerful VW engine options like the 1800cc and 2000cc. But Autolatina had a very short life, ending in 1996.
The imagination runs amok. The Del Rey is on the Corcel II platform, so what fits in the Del might fit in the Corcel….a slick Corcel II wagon with a VW Gol (Fox in US) powertrain that I could actually get parts for??????….maybe some go fast parts from the VeeDub parts bin?
Yep… this is a very good idea and even had been done already. I saw pics of a 1984 Belina with a 2.000cc VW engine, turbocharged producing something around 300 horses.
Those Brazilian made, Renault engined Escorts were briefly imported by Ford of Norway, as a cheaper alternative to the German made CHV engined ones. They also imported South-African Sierra-pickups at one point… I don’t think either of them were much of a success.
The Renault 12 got around: I saw the Romanian Dacia 1300 version in either Yugoslavia or Hungary, & even Greece, if I recall accurately.