One For Classic Car Fans.....

[Reynard]

Nicked from Wiki

The four-door Cortina 1600E, a higher trim version, was introduced at the Paris Motor Show in October 1967,[19] a year after the arrival of the Cortina Mark II. It combined the lowered suspension of the Cortina Lotus with the high-tune GT 1600 Kent engine and luxury trim featuring a burr walnut woodgrain-trimmed dashboard and door cappings, bucket seating, leather-clad aluminium sports steering wheel, and full instrumentation inside, while a black grille, tail panel, front fog lights, and plated Rostyle wheels on radial tyres featured outside.[15] According to author and Cortina expert Graham Robson, the 1600E would be the first Cortina recognized as a classic.[

The 1600 Kent engine is what also went into FF1600 cars back in the day.

 

[Salar]

Back in the early eighties I had a rare beast.

A Mk 4 Cortina S Mexico. Bought it off someone who worked for Ford. I can't find any history or info on it when I google it, only the 2.3S comes up.

Fitted with the Mexico engine, alloys, full sports pack, short range gear shift etc. yet didn't look too different from an ordinary Cortina apart from the wheels and the S on the back.

Always remember taking it to have an exhaust fitted. Told the fitter what it was, " nah, that's just a Cortina" until they opened the bonnet.

 

[Profpointy]

1600E, leather driving gloves, denim jacket....you were a cool dude, the motoring equivalent of owning a bike with centrepull brakes.

I coveted the Weinmann centre pull brakes my mates had - they actually stopped the bike !

 

[Reynard]

Back in the early eighties I had a rare beast.

A Mk 4 Cortina S Mexico. Bought it off someone who worked for Ford. I can't find any history or info on it when I google it, only the 2.3S comes up.

Fitted with the Mexico engine, alloys, full sports pack, short range gear shift etc. yet didn't look too different from an ordinary Cortina apart from the wheels and the S on the back.

Always remember taking it to have an exhaust fitted. Told the fitter what it was, " nah, that's just a Cortina" until they opened the bonnet.

Wouldn't surprise me if it was something cobbled together by the competition department at Boreham. Likely it may well have been a demonstration prototype that wasn't put into production.

 

[screenman]

Wouldn't surprise me if it was something cobbled together by the competition department at Boreham. Likely it may well have been a demonstration prototype that wasn't put into production.

Likely to be worth a couple of hundred grand now not one I have heard of and I was up an down to Daventry back then on courses.

 

[Salar]

Wouldn't surprise me if it was something cobbled together by the competition department at Boreham. Likely it may well have been a demonstration prototype that wasn't put into production.

Yes, that's what I thought, some sort of one off, it originated from Bridgend Fords plant I believe.

Maybe something they put together, can't say it was particularly high performance from what I can remember though. Certainly different, body rot set in, sold it , and got my first company car...............................................................................................................................................................................................a Maestro

 

[Reynard]

Likely to be worth a couple of hundred grand now not one I have heard of and I was up an down to Daventry back then on courses.

Some really interesting bits of machinery came out of the Boreham works, though alas all the literature I have pertains to the Escorts.

 

[Salar]

Likely to be worth a couple of hundred grand now not one I have heard of and I was up an down to Daventry back then on courses.

That's right, rub it in. I only paid a couple of grand for it. Not sure even the seller from Ford knew what it was. Still wonder today what it was, dark blue metallic, hardly a racing colour and that S on the back. I can't remember the reg, otherwise I'd try and trace it.

 

[Reynard]

Hmmm...

Most of the competition cars came out of there painted white unless otherwise specified. But if it was something where the engineers were playing around with ideas, then they'd have pulled whatever came off the production line to use as a test bed.

 

[screenman]

That's right, rub it in. I only paid a couple of grand for it. Not sure even the seller from Ford knew what it was. Still wonder today what it was, dark blue metallic, hardly a racing colour and that S on the back. I can't remember the reg, otherwise I'd try and trace it.

I bought and sold over 4,000 cars between 1978 and 1988 imagine if I had kep a few, even one we sold 12 years ago for £25,000 we could not buy back for a £100,000 now.

 

[Salar]

Hmmm...

Most of the competition cars came out of there painted white unless otherwise specified. But if it was something where the engineers were playing around with ideas, then they'd have pulled whatever came off the production line to use as a test bed.

Yes, normally white, not dark blue metallic. If it was a one off maybe there was something on the log book which I didn't notice, equivalent to todays Q plates.

Will never know.

 

[Salar]

Just realised it was a Mk 5, not 4.

 

[Reynard]

Yes, normally white, not dark blue metallic. If it was a one off maybe there was something on the log book which I didn't notice, equivalent to todays Q plates.

Will never know.

I dunno, there's always information knocking around somewhere...

 

[Salar]

Can't ask Bridgend now, it's gone with the loss of many jobs.

 

[Salar]

Talking of Fords. I can remember in the 80's the local Ford garage were selling Granada's with a "free" Fiesta for the wife, all for the price of the Granada.

No chance of getting away with that type of marketing these days.