1985 Ford Telstar - Aussie Brochure review

Thanks to all of you for your comments and continued support and of course the loyal subscribers of the channel - after all this channel is for you!
If you have enjoyed this episode please do hit the like button as it helps me tell KZbin my videos are worthwhile.
I would appreciate it if you could subscribe to the channel - this means you don't miss an episode and is completely free!
New videos every Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Ford Friday) and Saturday's which features Special and Limited Edition's!
You can now also becoming a member to get access to special perks and help myself support and channel for ever better content - see home page or use link below
/ @quarterlight
#ford #fordescort #carbrochures #carbrochurecollector, escortmk4
#fordorion
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @quarterlight
#ford Telstar #Car Brochures #Ford Telstar Ghia

[@saxongreen78]

Nan and Pop got one in 1986...they were driving home in around 1992 when they were hit from the rear by a car traveling at about 60kph. Both seats SNAPPED OFF at the base of their rear squabs and they were left looking up at the headlining! 😆😆😆 Both unhurt...the seats probably protected 'em by absorbing energy in the collapse while keeping their backs straight. It was a rather tight and competent machine before its death on that fateful day - they still owned their 1968 Falcon (faded blue metallic, barest base model, worn out) so they cashed the policy and eventually bought an EB Falcon in '93. RIP Telstar.

[@sw2092]

Greetings from Australia. The Ford Telstar (and Ford Laser) wasn't just an Australian model - it was sold over much of South-East Asia, including Japan, and was quite popular. Ford owned a percentage of Mazda at the time, and started sharing small utes in the late 70's. The Ford Laser was the first mass market project between the two, released in late 1980 to replace the Ford Escort here in Australia/Asia. It shared it's platform with the fwd Mazda 323 of the time. It became instantly popular and the exercise was repeated with the Ford Telstar/TX5 hatch in 1983, twinning the new fwd Mazda 626. The Cortina and Escort did okay in Australia, but never really hit great sales heights being rather poorly built, and having reputations of fragility and unreliability. The Telstar and Laser turned that around - they were easy to build well (Ford invested a lot to match the Japanese quality), had a lot of the Japanese-style mod cons, and dealers loved them because they had awesome reliability and low warranty costs. Over time they evolved to be better than their Mazda twins by having more local development input, making them even better suited to Australian conditions. Ford really rode the wave with these two cars. It all started getting more complicated in the 90's, but that's another story. Really great cars for their time but, like most 80's cars that were very common, they were ultimately disposable and you barely see them now.

[@gaufrid1956]

My brother-in-law owned a used Telstar which I think was a Ghia model. I only rode in it once or twice when his family and mine were on holiday. It had an airconditioner which was certainly luxury compared to any of the cars that my late wife and I owned until the mid-nineties. As others have commented here, Ford owned a share of Mazda, and as well as the Telstar and the TX-5 hatch, the Laser and Festiva models were also Mazda sourced. My youngest brother owned a 1984 Laser Ghia, which was a nice car. Ford Australia also sold a sedan version of the Laser, called the Meteor. I bought a brand new Mazda 121 three door hatchback in 1989, and obviously because Ford Australia sold the Festiva, which was a five door hatchback, Mazda never sold a five door hatchback version of the 121 in Australia. Government policies and the reliability of Japanese vehicles produced a time when Ford Australia assembled Mazda sourced cars, Holden had the Nissan Pulsar sourced Astra, Mitsubishi had Aussie built versions of the Sigma, and a widened version of that model called the Magna. Toyota sold a rebadged Holden Commodore as the Lexcen (named after the Aussie guy who skippered Australia II to victory in the 1984 America's Cup yacht races). Holden later sold some restyled Toyota Corolla models as the Astra instead of the Nissan Pulsar sourced cars. They were interesting times.

[@christophervalentine8021]

These were popular and well liked cars in Australia. Ford Australia’s marriage with Mazda was very successful in terms of sales as the Mazda based products were more suited to Australian tastes in the small car market. Despite the Australian markets association with big cars these only accounted the top two sellers. The remainder of the top ten in the 80s was dominated by Laser, Telstar, Corolla, Colt (Mirage), Sigma (Galant), Pulsar (Cherry), Corona and Camira/Gemini.

[@club1fan552]

Very popular in Australia and being fwd, seen as much more modern/trendy than the sales 2L sales king of the era, the Sigma. Aussies queued for fuel in the early 80's and the Telstar seemed like a logical progression for those selling a car like a Falcon and in most respects, the Telstar offered more and was more fuel efficient. 80's cars though, despite their age are usually far less collectable now than those of the 70's. In recent years I drove a 626 from the same era and was highly impressed. Another damn good vid Mate.

[@quarterlight]

Interesting comment thank you

[@obesetuna3164]

I can remember hiring one of these. This was a weird period for the Australian motor industry in general. For some inexplicable reason, the labour government decided it would be a wonderful idea to consolidate platforms across the various brands that were assembled there at the time. Ford had long since owned a percentage of Mazda. But you had some models from Toyota being sold under the Holden brand, and even vice versa. Certain Mitsubishi and Nissan models too I think, were also swapped about. They even had the short-lived Rover Quintet, which was totally a Honda, and unlike the other tie ups between these brands, had nothing whatsoever to do with the UK. Strange times indeed.

[@musicbill101]

Also available in NZ. As there were no wagon (estate) variants, NZ did have the Sierra wagon. Telstar is a Mazda badged 626 with minor differences likewise the Laser is based on the Mazda 323 that replaced the Escort. Both the Telstar and Laser are FWD.

[@quarterlight]

NZ Sierra wagon brochure in a couple of weeks

[@MohdjesriOthman-oi1id]

nice too see this ford telstar model, this year 85 base mazda 626,this model share with mazda model, same parts in Malaysia here this best models still in Malaysia road until now, my favorite is the telstar tx5 models, the tx5 hatchback is 2.0 model is limited model

[@mrjsv4935]

Very interesting car, and brochure, nice to see this car in detail. Looks a lot like Mazda 626 GC, but with different front end and some other details. I'm in Finland, so haven't seen Ford Telstar here, but 626 was very popular car here, and have a brochure of it too.

[@eadonone]

Ford sold the laser and Telstar under FASPAC FORD ASIA PACIFIC sold in asia pacific made some markets like TAIWAN and Hong Kong got both sierra and Telstar. Also sold in South Africa when Ford Divested and Samcor took over ford sales.

[@NiceCakeMix]

Really nice brochure, its good to see another Australian car that we didnt get in the UK. I dont have any experience with a Telstar but i have seen the 626 which was an ok car in my opinion. Its good to see what Ford did with it for the Australian market. Ford did this with the Maza 121 in America calling it i think the Festival? Or Festiva? Mazda also produced the Fiesta i think or a version of it. This is a nice looking car and the front end reminds me of a fox body platform Ford Mustang from the 80s, the one that Vanilla Ice is driving in the Ice Ice Baby video. The rear end is also different too. I think this would have been a good addition to the UK following the Cortina then maybe 4 years later (1982 to 1986) then bring in the Sierra Mk2 as the first Sierra model as this car would have got people used to the more swooping front end etc and the Mk2 Sierra with the Sapphire being the booted version available from the outset might have been a good plan, then again it might have been a bad idea as im not a car marketing expert lol. Very good video and well edited as always.

[@iEnofadov]

The Ford Telstar was a pretty popular car in Australia for most of the 80's. It seemed that Ford Australia's decision to share models with Mazda in Japan was the right decision. Because Ford owned a percentage of Mazda at the time, there were many Fords shared with Mazda, many of which were sold in Australia and New Zealand. There was the Ford Festiva (Mazda 121), Ford Laser (Mazda 323), Ford Telstar (Mazda 626), Ford Courier Ute (Mazda B Series Ute), Ford Raider SUV (Mazda Proceed Marvie/B Series SUV), Ford Econovan Van (Mazda E Series Van), Ford Spectron MPV (Mazda Bongo MPV) and Ford Traider light truck (Mazda T Series light truck). A lot of these vehicles were not only sold in Australia and New Zealand, but also in Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, other parts of South East Asia and then of course South Africa. The Ford Telstar was popular in New Zealand. The second generation was also offered as a wagon, offered only in New Zealand and Japan, as wagons at the time were hugely popular there. It wasn't sold in Australia, due to there being a Ford Laser and Ford Falcon wagon. Before the Telstar wagon arrived in New Zealand, Ford sold the Sierra wagon there to plug a gap in it's model lineup and was sold alongside of the Telstar sedan and hatch, making New Zealand the only market in the world where the Sierra and Telstar sold side by side. There was a sales month, I can't remember the actual month, where Ford New Zealand sold so many Sierra wagons, it was the top selling vehicle in New Zealand for that month. The fact that it was only sold in wagon form and took the sales crown for one month, was an amazing feat!

[@quarterlight]

Interesting read - we will be looking at the NZ Sierra wagon brochure in a couple of weeks.

[@yossarian6799]

Woo hoo!

[@crazeepaving]

No experience of the Telstar, but it's very much a GC series Mazda 626 that we recieved in the UK with a new nose. All I can say from my memories as a child back in the day, is the Mazda made the equavelent Ford look like a gulag for similar money. Misplaced loyalty meant they never sold as well as they should have.

[@jorgecampos9659]

It’s was a rebadged Mazda 626

[@albertbekassy2709]

Sorry for commenting something totally unrelated, but there was a swedish pop band in the 60s and 70's called the Telstars 😂. Their greatest hit was a song that became the promotion song for the Swedish transition to right hand drive in 1967. "Keep right Svensson" 😂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/bICni6etoKeMhtUsi=aYIkLIk_Zh-ExpbW

[@user-qi8ns1fo5d]

I dont remember seeing alot of these Ford Telstar although do remember seen dark blue hatchback Ghia. Sigma n Camira were popular but XF falcon coming off XE sales success, XF had futuristic 80's dash, import car tax, slow down in economy heading towards 90's you see why Telstar struggle plus 626 would been go to model. Not a bad car but i think Telstar was late to party, not sure on pricing though.

[@dubster8086]

If this has a specially designed boot opening to allow easy loading and unloading, how was it beforehand? Welded shut?

[@mattw8332]

Perhaps more reliable than a Sierra given it's Mazda underpinnings.

[@Mtandy-vm2pt]

Boring looking car. Looks like a cross between a Daewoo esperro and a Mazda 626)

[@simonspider]

Looks like a Mazda 626 where someone with little or no stylist ability has quickly rushed into production. Flat and awkward looking car, the 626 was better looking in my opinion!