Cortina Capers. What are yours?

[mercrocker]

Streuth, that's a bit rare - hi-cluster 1500 GT estate. Most of 'em were the later cars I think.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I’ve never known what to believe about things like GT estates, 2 door Es, 4 door Lotuses etc In theory any permutation of body, trim and mechanicals was possible , but it’s odd that they’ve become more common years later. Then there’s the old chestnut about someone’s Uncle that worked at Dagenham and created his own V6 manual overdrive Escort estate with full RS interior and the car phone out of Henry Ford’s personal Jet.

[mercrocker]

AFAIK (and my memory is failing) Mk1 GT estates are dubious, Mk2 GT ones one of the theoretical combinations NnW refers to (several hundred apparently made according to some sources) and I have certainly seen them back in the day but any reference to Lotus ones I treat with high scepticisim.....

1600E 2 doors were available on some markets, I've seen French registered ones before all this rebuild malarkey started.

It is a bit like those Vitesse estates that once abounded several years after Herald/Vitesse production ended.

[xtriple]

Actually, thinking about it, it may have been a MK2. It was a LOOOOONG time ago and the brain cells are a bit sluggish these days

[59Impala]

I think that Mk1 GT estates were only available to police, seem to recall some went to the African continent plod. Mk2 GT estates were more widely available but probably to special order. At least one police force here had four door Mk2 Cortina Lotuses and a couple have survived.

1600E 2 doors were export only, indeed the millionth export Cortina was such a car and was flown across to Belgium slung beneath a Wessex helicopter where the buyer was waiting. I think some British diplomat, maybe the ambassador, gave him the keys and his cheque was torn up much to his delight no doubt. Ford got loads of publicity, I am sure it was in the papers here.

I was told that there were a few Escort Mexico estates built for important Ford people if you had the connections. Some years ago my friend's workshop which specialises in Consul/Zephyr/Zodiacs had a Mk2 Zodiac convertible in for a fettle. It was built at the request of the Ford UK chairman Sir Patrick Hennessey who wanted the incoming Mk3 to have a convertible in the range but the bean counters said nope. So he asked to have one of the last Mk2 Zodiacs built especially for him, actually it may well be the last one. Why? Because it has all Mk3 running gear, even the steering wheel is Mk3 Zodiac. If you took it to a show you'd get everyone saying it ain't correct but it is. It is unrestored too but is never seen as the owner is a private kind of chap. I remember that the colour scheme is a bit pants though, dark green over a kind of mid khaki. I think I have some photos of it but no idea where they are.

[mercrocker]

Yes, thinking about it I have seen reference to 4 dr Plod Loti. My Dad's mate was Hants Constabulary, started off on rough housing estates sorting out gypsy feuds and although staying a Constable his entire career he did end up on Motorway Patrol and was part of the team that assessed and advised on suitable Cozzer motors. Hampshire had Mk2 Cortina Lotuses but only the 2 doors which he preferred as it was far easier getting in and out in a hurry.

I remember the helicopter Cortina but hadn't recalled it was a 1600E 2 door!

Interesting about the Zody ragtop, I have an idea I might just have been shown that car but I won't say any more.

I think it is a little foolhardy to say that "no such Ford existed" as we all know of those exceptions that will always occur with such huge outputs. Even if Dagenham or Halewood didn't turn something out it very often got done straight off the transporter at a dealership....

[Yellowperil]

I dont know if I have told this story before, but don't really care...

The year is 1977, flares were in fashion and the Raleigh Chopper was the machine the kids with rich parents rode.


Most kids parents had Fords or BL cars, Japanese cars were starting to get prevalent and AUDI's were so uncommon that us kids who had never heard the name being said and had only read it mispronounced them as Ordy, audio was pronounced that way so we assumed we had it correct.

The latest film out was The Spy Who Loved Me and James Bond had a new car, a white Lotus Esprit.
All us boys had Matchbox Esprits, we all dreamed of the real thing.
We were all proud of the fact that Lotus was built in Norfolk, because we lived in Norfolk.
One boy who had only lived in the village a few months tried to gain bragging rights by telling us his Dad had a Lotus, nobody believed him, but he kept telling us that it was true.
We asked where it was and he said it was outside his house, so a whole gaggle of us nine and ten year olds made our way through the village to his place.
There was no Lotus there, just a nice looking Cortina mk2, with Lotus badges on there that we insisted his Dad must have stuck on, he wasn't fooling anyone.

We all laughed at him...
So much we made him cry.

He moved away and a year later and we all moved up to big school, where one day the metalwork teacher told us all about his Lotus Cortina.
Never got a chance to apologise.

[Hooli]

That 1600E under a helicopter rings a bell. There might even be a pic in the B/W thread. I'll let Eddie find it though

[mercrocker]

That 1600E under a helicopter rings a bell.

Sioux or Iroquois?

[Hooli]

That 1600E under a helicopter rings a bell.

Sioux or Iroquois?

I'm not saying for whom the bell tolls