Nostalgia is a powerful drug. It’s one that drives us all to buy cars where our hearts rule our heads and this Cortina is very much a case in point.
Driven by a desire to own the same car that his father had in his youth, the vendor of this Mk 2 bought it for entirely nostalgic reasons. But he’s a total petrolhead, so no sooner had the ink dried on the V5 that he set about personalising it to his own tastes. That was seven years ago.
Out went the original 1,600cc engine, in went a 3.0-litre Essex V6, a Ford stalwart. But not just any V6. One that he had professionally built up at a cost of almost £8,000. That’s just a fraction of the expenditure this car has seen to being it to the standard in which you see it today – a near-200bhp resto-mod that evokes all of those powerful Cortina memories, but in a rather feisty manner. It’s a very, very cool thing indeed and is guaranteed to turn its fair share of heads. It has covered less than 1,000 miles since it was rebuilt. MINiTfLgeEURcMKYtbkDo7KChkZ3j8jXmVrRYNt9.jpeg1.69 MB
Black leather seats modified to fit from Mercedes E-Class
Retrimmed dash, dials and carpets
Electrically adjustable seating
Immaculately presented
The interior of the Cortina is something completely different – the seats are all taken from a Mercedes-Benz E-Class and were almost new when fitted, with fully adjustable seating and immaculate overall finish. It even smells like a new Mercedes inside.
Yet the overall finish still screams retro – the original dials are there, along with an extra pod of gauges that are completely in keeping with the resto-mod theme. The original three-spoke 1600E steering wheel is present and the door cards and carpets are in excellent order.
As part of a full restoration, the Cortina was stripped back to bare metal and all rust was cut out, with new sills fitted on both sides. It was then rustproofed and painted in two-stage Old English White to an exceptional standard, so it wants for nothing. Underneath, it’s as good as on top.
The chassis was also treated to a three-stage rustproofing and underseal process, so there should be no horrors awaiting the next owner.
Here’s where things get really interesting, as this car has been built for a purpose, and by professionals. The tuned Essex 3.0-litre engine was built from a crate engine by Trevor Godwin (Rally ace Tony Pond’s mechanic) with ported and polished Stage 2 heads. The crankshaft was re-polished and fully balanced at the flywheel with a fast road camshaft upgrade. It also has +.60 Mahle pistons and rods.
All core plugs replaced, a new water pump was fitted, a high output alternator and lightweight aluminium timing gears. It also got Jenvey triple throttle bodies with fully mapped ignition and combined fuel system, a custom-built inlet manifold and a custom-built stainless-steel exhaust system. All fuel lines were replaced and braided type 1 hoses fitted. It also has a supercar-spec electric dual fuel pump set-up with swirl pot, engineered for the vendor by a supercar mechanic.
In addition, it has an electronic ignition system with 10mm HT leads, an aluminium high cooling radiator, electric cooling fan and a rebuilt steering box.
The transmission consists of a brand-new clutch and a five-speed Sierra gearbox, stripped and cleaned with a hydraulic throwout bearing and slave conversion kit.
It has an independent front suspension upgrade and independent adjustable shocks all-round, plus front brake discs and four-pot callipers, rear axle sway bars and all-new bushes. oaaCbtemJU0ME148wd9cpcqMX859iJ39hwC3xKHP.jpeg995.77 KB
SUMMARY
If you want a very special classic Ford then you’ve just found one. The diligence applied to this resto-mod build is incredible. It’s a very special thing, with amazing performance and great looks and in fabulous overall condition. You won’t find another like it – it’s brilliant.
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