1956 FORD ZODIAC

Pre-’60 Touring Cars have always held a strong position in historic racing going way back to when the CSCC ran races for such models, albeit in very standard form. As interest in more potent versions of these cars became evident, Top Hat Racing announced a series named ‘Oldies but Goldies’ which firmly established the status of these cars in modified form and this continued until the HRDC announced a revived series in 2010 named ‘Touring Greats’.

In a collaboration between HRDC founder, Julius Thurgood, and Lloyd McNeill, who was then the Competition Manager at Goodwood, a set of regulations were drawn up that could be shared with both organisations. Goodwood had then taken the decision to split the Pre-’60 Touring Cars from their combined 50s/60s St. Mary’s Trophy race for these cars thus allowing Goodwood to run separate versions of the two genres on alternative years and to secure a stable regulations platform for the ‘50s cars. The regulations for the Pre-’60 Touring Cars are shared by Goodwood and the HRDC and, as period regulations for these cars were vague or non-existent, the basis of these shared regulations was to maintain the appearance of the cars exactly as they raced in period but to allow pragmatic upgrades in the use of ‘family’ components from pre-’66 cars to enhance their performance in terms of tuning and safety. Goodwood issues a Technical Declaration document for these cars, and the HRDC issues a Historic Race Passport, both of which are recognised by these respective organisations.

This 1958 Zodiac is a well established and successful historic racing saloon, in both the UK and Europe, and is accompanied by an extensive history file which shows competition history as early as the 1970s including several older HSCC papers, proof of a Classic Saloon Car Championship win in 1980, the important Goodwood Technical Declaration and its UK V5C making it eligible for both rallies and tours.

A significant rebuild took place in 2020 when it was stripped to a bare shell and fully rebuilt with all major components replaced or rebuilt and upgraded within the rules and features an original Greg Margets competition engine which was rebuilt in 2025 by Steve Stanton Motorsport. More recently, it has been an active participant in the brilliant HRDC 'Touring Greats' run by the ever enthusiastic and highly competent, Julius Thurgood, competing in the class for cars built between 1950 and 1959. This class mirrors the period for eligible cars for the St. Mary’s Trophy 1950s race held every other year at the famous Goodwood Revival where NSV 450 has appeared in the hands of experienced historic racer, Mr. Kerry Michael, on many occasions, and is always an early invite.

Famous co-drivers in the past have included legends such as John Fitzpatrick, Sir John Whitmore, Tony Dron, Christian Horner, Mark Blundell and Scott Dixon. Well prepared and well maintained, this venerable Zodiac racer is priced to sell today and ready to compete, subject to potential buyers checking the currency and suitability of all safety-related equipment. We welcome and encourage your viewing of this well known historic racer at our forthcoming BRDC Silverstone sale.