Ford Corsair

With a disastrous 1957 Edsel variant and dismal 1962 UK Ford preceding it, it’s a wonder Ford chose "Corsair" as the name for its Telstar replacement in 1989.

This one was the plain, numbingly mediocre twin to the equally ignominious and outdated U12 Pintara, the front-wheel drive mid-sized four-door sedan (and, from September ’90, a useful hatchback) Nissan developed locally under the Federal Government’s model sharing plan.

Two gruff four-cylinder engines (an 83kW 2.0L in the basic GL and 96kW 2.4L in the well-equipped Ghia) were available. Both could be had with a four-speed auto or five-speed manual transmission.

Cruelly, the curse of the Corsair moniker struck, forcing its builder Nissan to shut-up shop as an Australian manufacturer in late 1992.