RE: PH Heroes: Lotus Cortina

[duggan]

At last - a true PH Hero - I've owned two - both Mk1 pre-airflows; First one was a S/E (Special Equipment) that came with a number of extra features (aircraft style seat-belts / Leather rimmed steering wheel etc). The car sadly sat in a suburban garden for a good 10 years with its only use being to act as a platform for the owner to cut his hedge (the shame of it) and subsequently restored from there; the Second was an ex-Alan Mann Racing car - now taking part in the HSCC - why oh why did I sell them

PS: - If you're interesting in LC's - go to http://www.lotuscortina.net/ - the club is going through a bit of a tough time at the moment with dwindling membership numbers - reading the latest Quarter Bumper (...and I don't even own one now) nearly had me in tears with the report of 5 people at the AGM.....

[aeropilot]

graeme36s said:

Ford registered quite a few MK1 escorts as twin cams to obtain the homolagation numbers needed but they where fitted with the 1600 crossflow engines. A mate up until recently owned such a beast.

Ford pulled a number of 'interesting' homologation tricks in their time, but they didn't do that....Ford were interesting in cutting time, not wasting time swapping engines around in cars, when they could just build the real thing.

Ford didn't fit any Escort with a 1600 X-Flow until the production Mexico, or before that of course, the World Cup Rally cars.

Homologation of the Twink was actually achieved after the first 25 cars had been hand built built at Boreham by the rally team mechanics, with full production of the road cars starting at Halewood in the spring of '68.

[oldsilverback]

As far as i now the gearbox 2000e was the model number given by ford for the gearbox not the model of car.Still one of the all time greats wish i had bought one they were cheap

[dinkel]

I've a handfull snaps of racers, coming up this eve.

[s.m.h.]

Mk1 must be the most "my dad had one of those" cars ever.
I had a MK2 that I restored - OWO650F IIRC- and was forever getting that remark.
Sure you may have had a 1500GT, of a 1600E but the Lotus....?

Ive had a few MK2 cortinas, and had a MK1 1500GT to run around in, off an old employer of mine - who still has an alloy paneled MK1. Mates hated it but I thought it was great.

[LuS1fer]

I never thought it had much impacton the average enthusiast, classic though it undoubtedly was. For most, the GT and in Mk II guise, 1600E were the attainable Cortinas that everyone wanted. Lotus Cortinas were rae and deemed to be fairly exotic. I once saw a Mk II for sale for £400 but the insurance on it would have crippled me twice over so I had to leave it and buy something more insurance friendly.

Edited by LuS1fer on Thursday 8th January 12:32

[S3 Alex]

Awfully pretty.

[dinkel]

[V8 Vette]

I would have loved one of these , was my dream car back in 60,s It is one of those cars which just looks right at every angle and proves the old adage
" if it looks right it probably IS RIGHT " !!
Had a mate who shoe horned the Lotus twin cam from a wreaked Cortina into a 105E Anglia. which was slightly lowered and fitted with 4.5J steel wheels ( the only give away externally) . The fun we had with that was priceless...

example of looking right being right : Lotus Cortina, origional Mini Cooper 1275, Mk 2 Jaguar, Douglas Dakota, Concorde, Hawker Hunter. Ahhhhhh .

Wish I had one.....

[McReis]

Please give us hi-res wallpapers of this beauty!!!

[crofty1984]

Morningside said:

Back in 1987 I was offered one for £1000...And I said no

Don't want to rub it in, but "no" was the incorrect thing to say.

[I WISH]

I passed my test in my dad's 1966 Ermine White Cortina 1500 Estate (with a sticking throttle cable!).

A little earlier when I was about age 12 or 13 I used to lust after a Lotus Cortina. There used to be a really tidy well-prepared 1965 'Airflow' car near where I lived in classic white/green with a matt black bonnet (uber cool in those days!) and a set of black Minilites with polished outer rims.

It looked bloody gorgeous. Come to think of it ..... I think I might swap my 1966 Cooper S for one (if I can find one!).

Wonderful car .... and the forerunner of so many performance saloons that followed.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

[mikial]

I had a Mk11 Cortina Lotus sometime in the early seventies , one morning driving to work in South London from Salfords ( Surrey ) I spied a Mk 1 Lotus Cortina for sale at roadside petrol station, I recognized the regristration number ( NAR 636 D )as belonging to a car I`d recently read an article about in "Car and Car conversions " , (Life with the Bolide, or similar , the article was named. It had been heavily modified ( suspension and engine ) with a plaque on the consul stating a class win at Santa Pod , I cannot recall the details . The trademark green side flashes had been repainted a shade of orange.

Stopped at the trader, asked for a test drive which was answered in the affirmative.

I bought NAR636 D that same day ,it was an absolute hoot to drive and extremely quick,I owned NAR for a few years and drove it heartily .....halcyon days !!

[The Donster]

My old man bought a MkII Lotus Cortina new in 1970, but chopped it in before I was born in '72 for a Vauxhall Viva Estate to tow me around in :-( (How could he?????) Even though I never saw the car in the tin, it must have had a profund effect on me as I've had petrol coarsing through my veins ever since....thanks Dad!

According to 'Dad' legend, he frightened my Mum so much one night (shortly before I was born), she never wanted to learn to drive again! I think that's also why I've loved fast Fords ever since.

And if anyone knows of the car in question (PAR 942H), please let me know as I've been trying to find the car for years with no joy. I'd love to buy it for posterity.

[infradig]

I'm sure someone with more expertise can confirm, but the Mk1 was never known by Ford as 'Cortina Lotus' that was the title of the Mk2 not as stated in the article 'Cortina Twin Cam ' the Twin Cam name only being used for the Escort with the same engine later. Also the '2000e' box was never officially known as such, it was I think the'Rocket' box and the ratios used in V4 200E Corsairs were closer than in other Fords of the day- It must have convinced me because I broke an immaculate Corsair when I was 17 just for the gearbox to put in my Mk2 Cortina!

[Xaero]

Gorgeous thing

[stuttgartmetal]

Big Rumbly said:

"For 1965, gear ratios from the Cortina 2000E were substituted"

Dont know where this info came from, no such car as Cortina 2000E in 1965.
In 1966 there was a Corsair 2000E V4

The gearbox used was the 2000E box, it went in the Cortina GT and 1600E.

My first car was a 68 Cortina GT 2 door.
I followed this up with an Escort Twin Cam LTW4J, and at the same time had a Cortina Lotus RBM279J in Ford Red.
If you were into Fords at that time, nothing was better than having a Twin Cam.

They used to fly.
In those halcyon days in the early 80's it was very common to have a burn up at the lights.
E's, GT's, Holbay Hunters, Three Litre Capris, Cortina Savages, and the odd RS2000. Great great memories.

No cameras, plod in Austin Allegroes, or Zircon Blue P5 3500 Rovers, and plenty of space on the roads.
Brilliant brilliant days.

[PAB1099]

I had one of these - brilliant!! If anyone knows of one with the letters GLO in the registration, that was it. I'd love to know if it still survives

[mikebrownhill]

The gearbox being referred to was from the Corsair 2 ltr V4 of those days - close ratio and straight cut gears - fitted to the 2000E and the now largely forgotten Corsair GT. I had a GT and the interior was a gem, lovely gauges, quality trim and the original small leather steering wheel...ahh, but the engine was a dog - I changed that many head gaskets I could do it by the side of the road in the end and then continue the journey - was it the same engine as in the Transit Van? They must have improved its cooling later if it was.

[Tazfan]

My Father had one (not a Lotus sadly). It replaced a 6 cylinder Cresta, in which he took down 40 feet of dry stone wall in Derbyshire somewhere lol!
EBC 259C (Emus Broadcasting Company is how I remembered it.)