Zetec-engined Ford Cortina restomod for sale
Maybe not the best week for new Fords - time to indulge in some retro goodness
So it’s probably not been the best launch for the new Ford Capri. Not only does the name and the heritage sit rather awkwardly with an electric coupe SUV - the suggestion of Explorer Sport as a name looks especially sage now - the obsession with it meant attention was diverted away from Ford’s biggest draw of its Festival of Speed line up. That being the Mustang GTD, of course, which really does promise to be something truly spectacular. Not that many people seem to have noticed.
Time to retreat, then, to the warm embrace of nostalgia, to old Fords that we know and love. Chances are we’re all feeling a bit delicate this Monday in particular, whichever way the football has gone, so we’ll ease you into the week with a Blue Oval classic that only brings welcome surprises. It should be a Capri, of course, and there are a pair of glorious Turbo Technics V6s available on PH - perhaps those can wait for another day, at £25k and £30k respectively. Because the more this Cortina is looked at, for half the money of the latter, the better it seems.
A late Mk5 - 1982 was the final year of production - the Cortina might not make the obvious choice for the restomod treatment, or whatever the best phrase is now for injecting some modernity into an old car. The properly sporty ones had happened earlier in the ‘tina’s lifetime, with the smaller, lighter Escort and Fiesta perhaps making the more obvious choices for a retro hot rod. Without even thinking about the Sierra that followed the Cortina the year after the car was made. Still, that’s the joy of modifying - you do exactly what you want to whatever car takes your fancy. And so we have a Mk5 Cortina Ghia, a very nicely presented one in fact, that’s powered by a 2.0-litre Zetec. Which means a smidge over 150hp, complete with a snort from individual throttle bodies, a good chunk more power than any standard Cortina engine from back in the day. As well as more usable in a modern context, surely. It’s mated to a five-speed Ford MT75 gearbox.
This is far more than just a cool engine swap, though. A hub upgrade to a five-stud set up means Granada wheels can now fit (and look great), with bigger brakes and ABS behind them. There’s power steering and a very smartly redone interior, with an RS four-spoke wheel and a pair of delectable Recaros. There’s no mention of any suspension work in the advert, though given the modifications undertaken elsewhere and the way it sits on those Granny wheels, it’d be a surprise to find it still on standard springs and dampers.
Add all that to a properly lovely exterior, with perfect paint, the blackest of black bumpers and the Ghia badges still in place, and it’s easy to see why this might be of interest. It’s hard enough to find a late Cortina of any stripe these days, given how many have succumbed to rust, scrappage or, uh, banger racing, let alone one with a well thought out package of upgrades. So this one is very intriguing indeed.
Said to have been overhauled the best part of 20 years ago, back when the modern restomod wasn’t really a thing and classics could be modified because they were plentiful and cheap, the Cortina was magazine featured as long ago as 2009. This isn’t some freshly completed build that’ll have teething troubles to sort and any new owner will be concerned about using. This Zetec conversion has been loved and enjoyed, surely, or it wouldn’t look this good for a 42-year-old car. Thanks to the effort invested by previous keepers, it looks fit for many more happy miles yet, offering up that dream combination of retro style with modern performance that nobody can quite get enough of right now. All for £15k, too. Enough to forget all about that new Capri, surely.
I'm not really a fan of Cortinas: I'm old enough to remember them being just "there", such was their ubiquity. But that looks a neat, well considered and brilliantly executed piece of kit which, in the context of today's market, I expected to be more expensive.
k opportunity that was. Not sure what you was expecting but this render I came across was in my minds eye and it looks great. What could of been eh?Turning to the Cortina I had a 12 month encounter with a 1.6 GL back in my early youth, same colour as this if I recall and thought at the time I'd arrived at the zenith of motoring. I probably had to be fair having just come from canvas covered mini pickup with a mattress chucked in the back for lucky weekends that never happened. The cortina got my courting activities off to a better start and I remember for the day it was both reliable and generally a good car in equal measures . This Zetec offering moves the game on and whilst not for the Ford purist its winking at me at that price which probably won't even cover all the up grade costs... Power steering as well. Oooo la la.
Anyone know where the (slightly amended) quote is from ?
This is quite nice to be fair, used to get a lift to school in a "Crusader" which was brand new then, that makes me feel very old, felt quite a posh car back then, there was always a Cortina on our path, we never owned one but my dad used to buy and sell cars and do servicing and repair work, our holidays were largely paid for by Saturday morning camshaft changes on Cortinas, a weak spor in the lubrication caused them to eat the cam lobes in short order.
Saw so many of these end their days on the banger tracks, surprised there are any left at all.
Anyone know where the (slightly amended) quote is from ?
This is quite nice to be fair, used to get a lift to school in a "Crusader" which was brand new then, that makes me feel very old, felt quite a posh car back then, there was always a Cortina on our path, we never owned one but my dad used to buy and sell cars and do servicing and repair work, our holidays were largely paid for by Saturday morning camshaft changes on Cortinas, a weak spor in the lubrication caused them to eat the cam lobes in short order.
Saw so many of these end their days on the banger tracks, surprised there are any left at all.
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