Few manufacturers can boast the breadth of motorsport success that Ford has enjoyed down the years. There were the GT40s at Le Mans, the Mondeo Super Tourers in the BTCC, the drag racing glories in the States and all manner of NASCAR, IMSA and V8 Supercar wins to boot; no matter the format, if it uses four wheels then the Blue Oval has fought its way to the top step of the podium at some point in time.
For Ford fans in the UK, though, it'll be the brand's rally victories which likely stand head and shoulders above the rest. From the rear-drive Escorts of the 60s and 70s, to the Focus WRCs of the new millennium, via names like Waldegard, Vatanen and Blomqvist, Sainz, Gronholm, and McRae, there are seemingly as many instances of team and individual triumph to be found on the stages of Finland, New Zealand, Monte Carlo and Wales as on all the paved circuits of the world combined.
And yet, when contemplating those triumphs, the name 'Cortina' rarely springs to mind. That's exactly what he have here, though, a race-ready, rally-prepped Mk II Cortina, a car created by Unipart for entry into the London to Sydney Rally - also known as the London to Sydney Marathon - a race which does exactly what it says on the tin.
The concept was devised by Daily Express owner Sir Max Aitken, with the idea behind the event to lift the flagging spirits of a beleaguered Britain. To do this Aitken's paper (along with the Daily Telegraph) would sponsor a rally which would not only boost morale at home, but showcase the British engineering of the machines which participated, resulting in an increase in exports to countries through which the rally passed.
Despite sounding like the closest thing to a post-Brexit trade plan we've got so far, then, the first running of the event occurred in 1968, with today's Spotted having been created to take part in the 1993 25th anniversary repeat. Along with 105 other teams from 17 nations, Neville Marriner and John Griffiths successfully piloted it all the way down under, navigating all sorts of treacherous terrain whilst presumably having to incrementally rotate the car so as to arrive in Oz the right way up.
Extensive modifications were obviously necessary to complete the journey, including the addition of an overhead-cam to the 2.0-litre Pinto engine, strengthening of the body and chassis, uprating of the dampers and fitment of "a custom-made gearbox, additional lighting, rally instrumentation, Minilite-type wheels, extensive roll-over protection, and a long-range boot-mounted fuel tank." All the intrepid rally explorer could ever need. Plus it's got a roof-mounted exhaust. Which looks awesome.
According to the ad, a recent service has seen no expense spared in returning the car to its former glory, with refurbished wheels, new tyres, new brake callipers, a new master cylinder and a restored coolant system all on the agenda. With that under its belt and a shiny new MOT to its name, it sound likes its ready and raring to point its nose at the horizon once more. The only question is, where would you go?
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