The Consul was first shown at the 1950 London Motor Show and was the start of Ford of Britain's successful attack on the family saloon car market and replaced the larger-engined V-8 Pilot which had only been made in small numbers. It was given the Ford code of EOTA. Most cars were 4 door saloons with body design by George Walker of the parent United States Ford company but a few estate cars were made by the coachbuilder Abbott. From 1953 a convertible conversion by Carbodies became available. The body was reinforced by welding in a large X-frame to the floor pan. Unlike the more expensive Zephyr the hood (convertible top) had to be put up and down manually. It was also the first car they built with up-to-date technology. The new 1508 cc 47 bhp (35 kW) [4] engine had overhead valves and hydraulic brakes were used but a three-speed gearbox, with synchromesh only on second and top, was retained. They were also the first production cars to use the now-common MacPherson strut independent front suspension, and was the first British Ford with modern unibody construction. There is a bench front seat trimmed in PVC and the handbrake is operated by an umbrella style pull lever under the fascia (dash). The windscreen wipers use the antiquated vacuum system. The instruments, consisting of speedometer, ammeter and fuel gauge, are positioned in a housing above the steering column and there is a full width parcel shelf on which an optional radio could be placed. A car tested by The Motor magazine in 1953 had a top speed of 72 mph (116 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 28 seconds. A fuel consumption of 26 miles per imperial gallon (11 L/100 km; 22 mpg-US) was recorded. The test car cost ?732 including taxes. (Wikipedia) - - - Die britischen Ford-Werke prasentierten 1950 einen neuen Mittelklassewagen. Er hatte als erster europaischer Ford eine moderne Pontonkarosserie und einen neu konstruierten Motor mit 1500 cm? und 48 PS (36 KW). Bemerkenswert war seine innovative Radaufhangung, die vom amerikanischen Ingenieur Earl S. McPherson entwickelt worden war: die McPherson-Achse. Sie besteht als wesentliche Neuerung aus dem McPherson-Federbein, das mit einem einfachen Querlenker und dem Querstabilisator das Rad fuhrt. Diese Federbein-Konstruktion hat sich seitdem weltweit durchgesetzt, wobei radfuhrende Stabilisatoren in der Regel nicht mehr verwendet werden, sondern mit dem einfachen Querlenker zu Dreieckquerlenkern zusammengelegt werden.

Yes, another half ass solution to keep us flush with water. Our $20 totes have leaky non standard ball valves. I took a 2" PVC elbow and a little stick of PVC at the bottom of the container to seal up the leak. Hardly ideal, but we needed to store our rain water. The last few days have given us almost 4" of rain. We only managed to catch about 70 gallons of water due to our complete lack of planning. Next week we should have it together enough to start filling our initial 500 gallon containers. I can feel a little better about the collapse of society having 500 gallons of drinking water on hand.