Mk1 Cortina woody estate.
Discussion
When my dad purchased a MK1 estate I was disappointed with 2 things.
No CND rear lights.
Not a woody.
Not much he could have done about the 1st. He claimed the 2nd was deliberate, he'd seen rust stains coming from the screw holes. Probably just a few self tappers holding the stuff on.
The panel on the boot in the picture looks wrong, too big, but may be mistaken.
No CND rear lights.
Not a woody.
Not much he could have done about the 1st. He claimed the 2nd was deliberate, he'd seen rust stains coming from the screw holes. Probably just a few self tappers holding the stuff on.
The panel on the boot in the picture looks wrong, too big, but may be mistaken.
9xxNick said:
My Austin 1800S with road-rallying upgrades also ended up in Japan, much to my surprise. I hadn't realised there was any following there for fairly ordinary British cars.
Japan went on a massive retro/cool-Britannia fashion binge in the 1990s. It's what basically saved the Mini (or at least allowed it a final decade of profitable production) - over half of annual Mini production went to Japan in the 1990s, as did most of the ERA Turbos and the there was a thriving market in exporting older Minis out East. From almost nothing in the 1980s Japan suddenly gained one of the most thriving Mini enthusiast scenes in the world, with dozens of specialists, modifiers and firms offering upgrades. The same fashion for all things Swinging Sixties and British led to those bizarre creations like the Nissan Pike Cars (the Be-1 is obviously Mini-based in its styling, and the Pao has hints of Mini and A40 Farina mixed with 2CV), then the low-volume oddities like the Autech Rumba (a sort of modern retro Mini), the Mitsuoka Ray (a Wolseley Hornet pastiche) and the Mitsuoka Viewt (a Micra-sized Jaguar Mk2). The designers of the Nissan K11 Micra said that they adapted the car's profile from the Mini.
This craze meant that there was a healthy export market of anything British and Mini-ish to Japan, and that included the ADO16 and the ADO17 Landcrab ('like a Mini, but bigger'). Japan took virtually the UK's entire surviving stock of Vanden Plas Princess 1100/1300s, which were the height of fashion and some of the most desirable classic cars in Japan in the mid-1990s. They were imported from the UK and restored at vast and improbable expense. Quite why the Japanese loved the VdP so much I don't know - I suspect that it's because virtually all the Princesses are automatic and they're well-appointed and luxurious, which is what the Japanese market likes in a small car. Plus they look like a tiny Silver Shadow and a very, very British. Of course if you couldn't afford the real thing you could buy a doppleganger based on the inevitable K11 Micra - the Lotas Princess March or the Copel Ministar.
I can see a collector sourcing a woody Cortina for the same sort of reasons - it's a certified British classic but it also has a lot of Americana in it, but at a scale that works in Japan in the way a Chrysler Town & Country on a 124-inch wheelbase doesn't.
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