Ford Cortina Mk1

Launched 20 September 1962 as the Consul Cortina 113E, two-door, on the 1198cc pre-crossflow Kent, with the four-door following. In 1963 came the 1498cc five-bearing engine — standard on the Super, optional on the de Luxe — the five-door estate, and the GT with 78bhp, lowered suspension and front disc brakes. MacPherson struts at the front, semi-elliptic leaves at the back. Over its twenty-year life across five marks the Cortina accounted for more than 4.3 million cars in the UK alone.

The autumn 1964 facelift is the parts divide on this car, and it is usually called the Mk1a. It brought a full-width grille, front disc brakes standard across the whole range, Aeroflow through-flow ventilation with extractor vents in the rear pillars, and a change of instruments from the oblong strip speedometer to round dials in a binnacle. Pre- and post-Aeroflow dashboards and rear pillars are not interchangeable. The Lotus Cortina, 1963–66 and 3,306 built, is its own problem: 1,557cc twin-cam (usually quoted 1558cc), 105bhp, close-ratio Elan gearbox, 8in diaphragm clutch, 9.5in front discs with servo and rear drums that became self-adjusting in 1965. Its rear suspension changed mid-1965 from coil springs with an A-bracket to the leaf springs and radius arms of the Cortina GT — the single most important Lotus Cortina parts split — and the alloy doors, bonnet and boot lid of the early cars became steel from 1964. In New Zealand the Cortina was assembled at Seaview from 1962; 4,898 of them in 1966, 7.7 per cent of the whole market.