Ford Cortina Lotus Mk1

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Launched in 1963, the Lotus Cortina quickly established an awesome competition record in the hands of drivers like Jim Clark, Jack Sears and Jackie Ickx, winning everything in sight and remaining to this day one of the most competitive historic saloons that money can buy – hence the recent very high prices.

It is little wonder that in 1964 Ford decided to capitalise on the success that they had experienced on the track with the Cortina GT. Always a car with predictable and benign handling, even on a standard model, the Cortina was the perfect basis for Ford to go racing and they certainly made the most of it. Thus the GT made way for the Lotus Cortina, a more powerful twin-cam version of the GT with modified rear suspension.

Testing the new car in 1963, John Bolster was clearly impressed and compared it very favourably to the outgoing GT: “For really going places on the open road the Lotus model, with its fierce acceleration and its speed of well over 100mph, is incomparably the better car and is made to be exploited by the press-on driver”. Prophetic words, as the Lotus Cortina went on to dominate touring car racing and rallying all over the world.

It was fitted with a 1,588cc twin-cam engine producing 105bhp at 5,500rpm breathing through a pair of twin-choke Weber DCOE 45 carburettors. The engine was red-lined at 6,500rpm which, with standard gearing, gave a maximum speed of 107mph.

Based around a standard two-door saloon body, strengthened at the rear, it was fitted with aluminium doors, bonnet and boot lid to counteract the extra weight of the new engine. The clutch and diff housings were also in light alloy for the same reason. At the time of launch, a new one was yours for £1,100 including purchase tax and, of course, it was an instant hit with some 3,306 made in total before it was replaced by the Mk2 in October 1966. Today though, only 207 Mk1s are still UK registered and all are increasingly sought after.

This particular Mk1, BA74FS59292, was built in the Lotus factory in Delamare Road, Cheshunt, Herts, along with 3,300 other identical cars in November 1965. One of approximately 170 cars built in left-hand drive for export to the USA, it crossed the Atlantic for the first time in early 1966 and was first registered in America on 27th March 1966.

Little is known of its early life in the States, however after several decades of storage in rather poor conditions, it was purchased by a Boeing aircraft engineer in Seattle who intended to restore it to its former glory. The car was complete with all the correct factory fitted Lotus special parts, which included the steering wheel, hand brake lever, centre console badge, anti-roll bar, ball joints, twin cam engine, 5½J steel wheels, shock absorbers, rear springs gearbox etc.

As you would expect of an aircraft engineer, he set about the restoration in a most meticulous manner, carefully dismantling it over many months, diligently recording and examining each component as he went along. When every nut and bolt had been assessed, the task of reconstruction began.

Each component was either acid cleaned or media blasted to remove years of dirt rust and grime and then either painted, powder coated or zinc plated before being reassembled with all new gaskets, seals bearings etc, the over-riding aim being to preserve as much originality as possible and stick faithfully to the factory correct specification. Every moving part was subjected to this rebuild process including the engine; gearbox; differential; axle; suspension; steering; servo; water pump; fuel pump; radiator; all the instrumentation and electrical components etc.

The body shell itself was badly corroded in places and was carefully dismantled to save as much metalwork as was feasible. It was then rebuilt using the original panels wherever possible, including many of the parts unique to the Lotus Cortina such as the trademark hump over the rear axle in the boot floor, designed by Lotus engineers to allow the car to be lowered sufficiently for competition use. Wherever possible, good second hand Ford panels were sourced to replace the ones which were too rotten to be restored, while brand new panels were also fitted where necessary including the inner wings and the inner and outer sills, using parts manufactured by Cortina experts, Express Steel Panels in Yorkshire.

Unfortunately the Boeing engineer died half way through the restoration and the car sat around unfinished for a year or so before it was acquired in December 2011 by the vendor, a serial Lotus Cortina restorer of some repute, with a promise to the owner’s sister that the restoration would be completed to the same rigorous standard as it had begun. By March 2012 the car was back at Chatham docks in Kent with all the UK importation fees and documentation successfully concluded.

Restoration work soon resumed and was to continue on-and-off over the next two years, retaining most of the Lotus factory American spec features, including the foot-operated floor switch for the headlight main beam and the hazard light switch. US regulations insisted on having collision over-riders on the rear bumper and a full-length bumper with over-riders at the front, however as the rear bumper was missing and the front one was damaged, these have been replaced with a new rear bumper without the over-riders and traditional UK spec quarter bumpers at the front to give it that special Lotus look.

The correct US rectangular 'Ford Product' badge is fitted to the wing (as opposed to the UK badge which just says 'Ford'), the headlight offset changed to right-hand drive and the rear red indicator lenses changed to orange. Although the car did not originally require seat belts in 1965 (either in the USA or the UK), full UK compliant belts have now been fitted.

The engine has been remanufactured by one of the UK’s leading twin cam specialist, Throbnozzle Engineering, using the original US spec SE camshafts. The bodywork has been repainted in the correct Ermine White and Sherwood Green and the car looks every bit as good underneath as it does up top. In common with any 50-year-old car that has had a total nut-and-bolt restoration, while it cannot be claimed that the entire shell is the original, some of the panels are certainly original and the entire car is now in the same specification as when it left the factory all those years ago.

Flying through its first ever MOT in June 2015 with no advisories recorded, the car has now been gently run in for about 250 miles but will require a further 200 - 300 miles of running in after which the oil and filter should be changed, every nut and bolt checked and tightened (including the head bolts), the timing checked and the carbs set up and tuned as required.

It comes with many invoices for the work carried out to date (both here and in America), a copy of the US Certificate of Title (showing the correct Lotus VIN number), a V5C which correctly records it as a Ford Cortina Lotus (not Lotus Cortina which is commonly used but incorrect), a current MOT certificate and the aforementioned import documentation.

Outstanding in all departments, it now just needs an enthusiastic new owner who can use it as its makers intended, either on road or track, either here in the UK or perhaps back across the Atlantic from where it so recently came. With so few Mk1s remaining, this is an opportunity not to be missed.