willment cortina
Discussion
Im trying to trace the history of a gt cortina my dad is restoring. We have been told the car is a willment sprint. A member of the forum mr scotsman mentioned his dad had a lotus and a willment cortina back in the day. As his name is mr scotsman and the cortina has spent most of its days in scotland I've put two and two together.... I've tried to mail the member direct but he's not accepting emails. Hopefully he'll see this and contact me direct or if any other members know him they could point him in this direction. Thanks
sausages76 said:
Im trying to trace the history of a gt cortina my dad is restoring. We have been told the car is a willment sprint. A member of the forum mr scotsman mentioned his dad had a lotus and a willment cortina back in the day. As his name is mr scotsman and the cortina has spent most of its days in scotland I've put two and two together.... I've tried to mail the member direct but he's not accepting emails. Hopefully he'll see this and contact me direct or if any other members know him they could point him in this direction. Thanks
I'm pressuming this is a Mk2...?There were a few companies that were doing 'specials' of GT's in the Mk2 days.
Willmet wee one of them, as were Raymond Mays and Broadspeed IIRC.
There is a photo of one of them in the one of the Fast Ford books on the Cortina, Can't remember if it's a Sprint or a Mays conversion. Will look it up this evening for you.
Willmet's were in South London IIRC.
sausages76 said:
Im trying to trace the history of a gt cortina my dad is restoring. We have been told the car is a willment sprint. A member of the forum mr scotsman mentioned his dad had a lotus and a willment cortina back in the day. As his name is mr scotsman and the cortina has spent most of its days in scotland I've put two and two together.... I've tried to mail the member direct but he's not accepting emails. Hopefully he'll see this and contact me direct or if any other members know him they could point him in this direction. Thanks
This post showed up on a Google search I've just done... I know it's three years late but I've sent you an email anyway!! I realise I'm 10 years out of date on this one.
Back in the day my father had a special MK2 Willment sprint that was white with a mustard colour stripe along the sides and back exactly like the Lotus but with black round Willment badges on the rear wings.
At the time he was also working with Willment in Mitcham S. London on their advertising and had a lot to do with their racing program, the mk1 1600 Escort driven by Mike Crabtree in the then BTCC.
I remember it fairly well as at the time dad was basically the graphic designer for Wiggins Teape and their 3 years sponsorship of the BTCC and we were taken to all the races of the period
Obviously I've not seen your car but the vehicle my father had was one of only two specials, basically an uprated Willment Sprint that for its day was outrageously quick.
According to my brother the car was sold to someone in the rally scene in Scotland and the last we heard, it had been bent very badly beyond repair.,which is a real shame as it really was a one off piece of work that apparently could quite happily see off the Lotus mk2 of the period.
Back in the day my father had a special MK2 Willment sprint that was white with a mustard colour stripe along the sides and back exactly like the Lotus but with black round Willment badges on the rear wings.
At the time he was also working with Willment in Mitcham S. London on their advertising and had a lot to do with their racing program, the mk1 1600 Escort driven by Mike Crabtree in the then BTCC.
I remember it fairly well as at the time dad was basically the graphic designer for Wiggins Teape and their 3 years sponsorship of the BTCC and we were taken to all the races of the period
Obviously I've not seen your car but the vehicle my father had was one of only two specials, basically an uprated Willment Sprint that for its day was outrageously quick.
According to my brother the car was sold to someone in the rally scene in Scotland and the last we heard, it had been bent very badly beyond repair.,which is a real shame as it really was a one off piece of work that apparently could quite happily see off the Lotus mk2 of the period.
rocco1504 said:
I realise I'm 10 years out of date on this one.
Back in the day my father had a special MK2 Willment sprint that was white with a mustard colour stripe along the sides and back exactly like the Lotus but with black round Willment badges on the rear wings.
At the time he was also working with Willment in Mitcham S. London on their advertising and had a lot to do with their racing program, the mk1 1600 Escort driven by Mike Crabtree in the then BTCC.
I remember it fairly well as at the time dad was basically the graphic designer for Wiggins Teape and their 3 years sponsorship of the BTCC and we were taken to all the races of the period
Obviously I've not seen your car but the vehicle my father had was one of only two specials, basically an uprated Willment Sprint that for its day was outrageously quick.
According to my brother the car was sold to someone in the rally scene in Scotland and the last we heard, it had been bent very badly beyond repair.,which is a real shame as it really was a one off piece of work that apparently could quite happily see off the Lotus mk2 of the period.
Good first post. A bit weird mind that you joined PH a year before the thread started but waited until now... Back in the day my father had a special MK2 Willment sprint that was white with a mustard colour stripe along the sides and back exactly like the Lotus but with black round Willment badges on the rear wings.
At the time he was also working with Willment in Mitcham S. London on their advertising and had a lot to do with their racing program, the mk1 1600 Escort driven by Mike Crabtree in the then BTCC.
I remember it fairly well as at the time dad was basically the graphic designer for Wiggins Teape and their 3 years sponsorship of the BTCC and we were taken to all the races of the period
Obviously I've not seen your car but the vehicle my father had was one of only two specials, basically an uprated Willment Sprint that for its day was outrageously quick.
According to my brother the car was sold to someone in the rally scene in Scotland and the last we heard, it had been bent very badly beyond repair.,which is a real shame as it really was a one off piece of work that apparently could quite happily see off the Lotus mk2 of the period.
I've only just seen the reply to my comment.
Yes , I am guilty of lurking but it's probably got more to do with bad memory.... I can remember s
t that happened 50 years ago but not half an hour ago.
Anyway, I've been looking for stuff about Willment mk2 cortinas for ages but I've only ever seen one picture that was in an early 70's car magazine where they put it up against a Lotus Cortina and surprisingly, it was only just a little slower with a standard tuned 1600 cross flow, which I find amazing but I suppose that was the skill of the people who built it.
I'd just be very interested to know if there's any Willment MK2's around.
Yes , I am guilty of lurking but it's probably got more to do with bad memory.... I can remember s
t that happened 50 years ago but not half an hour ago.Anyway, I've been looking for stuff about Willment mk2 cortinas for ages but I've only ever seen one picture that was in an early 70's car magazine where they put it up against a Lotus Cortina and surprisingly, it was only just a little slower with a standard tuned 1600 cross flow, which I find amazing but I suppose that was the skill of the people who built it.
I'd just be very interested to know if there's any Willment MK2's around.
There's a period photograph in the book by Graham Robson, 'Sporting Fords - Vol 1' and its of Ford tuning legend Raymond Mays posing next to his Cortina Mk.2 Sprint GT, possibly outside his London mews home, looking at the background.
The car reg is JVX 433G, and its got a pair of Cibie Oscars mounted on the front bumper, and is wearing some magnesium Minilites.
The car reg is JVX 433G, and its got a pair of Cibie Oscars mounted on the front bumper, and is wearing some magnesium Minilites.
rocco1504 said:
I realise I'm 10 years out of date on this one.
Back in the day my father had a special MK2 Willment sprint that was white with a mustard colour stripe along the sides and back exactly like the Lotus but with black round Willment badges on the rear wings.
At the time he was also working with Willment in Mitcham S. London on their advertising and had a lot to do with their racing program, the mk1 1600 Escort driven by Mike Crabtree in the then BTCC.
I remember it fairly well as at the time dad was basically the graphic designer for Wiggins Teape and their 3 years sponsorship of the BTCC and we were taken to all the races of the period
Obviously I've not seen your car but the vehicle my father had was one of only two specials, basically an uprated Willment Sprint that for its day was outrageously quick.
According to my brother the car was sold to someone in the rally scene in Scotland and the last we heard, it had been bent very badly beyond repair.,which is a real shame as it really was a one off piece of work that apparently could quite happily see off the Lotus mk2 of the period.
I know I’m late in replying but I hope you see this. I this this could be the same car. A willment sprint but with a blue printed all steel pre cross flow and several other mods that make it quite different.Back in the day my father had a special MK2 Willment sprint that was white with a mustard colour stripe along the sides and back exactly like the Lotus but with black round Willment badges on the rear wings.
At the time he was also working with Willment in Mitcham S. London on their advertising and had a lot to do with their racing program, the mk1 1600 Escort driven by Mike Crabtree in the then BTCC.
I remember it fairly well as at the time dad was basically the graphic designer for Wiggins Teape and their 3 years sponsorship of the BTCC and we were taken to all the races of the period
Obviously I've not seen your car but the vehicle my father had was one of only two specials, basically an uprated Willment Sprint that for its day was outrageously quick.
According to my brother the car was sold to someone in the rally scene in Scotland and the last we heard, it had been bent very badly beyond repair.,which is a real shame as it really was a one off piece of work that apparently could quite happily see off the Lotus mk2 of the period.
Found this................
All in all we rate the Willment mods to the Cortina GT to be a real transformation, turning a rather dull car into a responsive and accelerative car which should give tremendous results in competition as Willments have proved this season already.
In this Motorsport article from 1963..................
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article...
All in all we rate the Willment mods to the Cortina GT to be a real transformation, turning a rather dull car into a responsive and accelerative car which should give tremendous results in competition as Willments have proved this season already.
In this Motorsport article from 1963..................
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article...
A993LAD said:
Found this................
All in all we rate the Willment mods to the Cortina GT to be a real transformation, turning a rather dull car into a responsive and accelerative car which should give tremendous results in competition as Willments have proved this season already.
In this Motorsport article from 1963..................
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article...
Good read, thanks for sharing. My father has a 2 door Mk 1 GT which he restored, uprating the engine to a 1560 with a Cosworth cam, twin Webers and a few other bits - having driven the car, it was surprising from the article that "The engine will rev quite happily to 7,000 r.p.m. in the three lower speeds giving speeds of 33, 49 and 80 m.p.h." - given the drop between 1/2nd gears and then 3rd this seems a big gap compared to the ratios my father's car has with the 'bullet gearbox'. As this box was available in the early Lotus Cortinas in 1963, was it not allowable for Willment to run these gear ratios in the GT? It makes the car so much nicer to drive having suitable, equally-spaced ratios that keep the car in the powerband far better.All in all we rate the Willment mods to the Cortina GT to be a real transformation, turning a rather dull car into a responsive and accelerative car which should give tremendous results in competition as Willments have proved this season already.
In this Motorsport article from 1963..................
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article...
Chunkychucky said:
A993LAD said:
Found this................
All in all we rate the Willment mods to the Cortina GT to be a real transformation, turning a rather dull car into a responsive and accelerative car which should give tremendous results in competition as Willments have proved this season already.
In this Motorsport article from 1963..................
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article...
Good read, thanks for sharing. My father has a 2 door Mk 1 GT which he restored, uprating the engine to a 1560 with a Cosworth cam, twin Webers and a few other bits - having driven the car, it was surprising from the article that "The engine will rev quite happily to 7,000 r.p.m. in the three lower speeds giving speeds of 33, 49 and 80 m.p.h." - given the drop between 1/2nd gears and then 3rd this seems a big gap compared to the ratios my father's car has with the 'bullet gearbox'. As this box was available in the early Lotus Cortinas in 1963, was it not allowable for Willment to run these gear ratios in the GT? It makes the car so much nicer to drive having suitable, equally-spaced ratios that keep the car in the powerband far better.All in all we rate the Willment mods to the Cortina GT to be a real transformation, turning a rather dull car into a responsive and accelerative car which should give tremendous results in competition as Willments have proved this season already.
In this Motorsport article from 1963..................
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article...
The Bullet gearbox was a competition set of ratio's available from Ford Motorsport for the later 3-rail low shift gearbox, often known as the 2000E gearbox as fitted to the Mk.2 GT's and Lotus-Cortina's as well as the Twin-Cam, RS1600 & Mexico Escorts.
The Bullet ratios and the optional 'uprated 2nd gear' LC ratios were not the same.
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