Running into this 1975 Ford Corcel posted at the Cohort by Alberto Simon triggered the memory of a very vivid dream I had the other night, and which I’m hoping someone will photoshop for me. When I say this is the reverse of what I dreamed, it’s because this Corcel (full story here) looks a fair bit like a Ford Cortina MK2 body (“Model C” in the US) wearing a Ford Pinto front end. Can you guess what I dreamed now?
I was standing on a street corner, when I saw a car approach. It was…a Pinto, but with a Cortina Mk2 front end! And as it drove by, I was impressed at how perfectly the two parts matched up. Well, why not? The Pinto was rather heavily based on the Cortina, using much of its suspension design and drivetrains, including engines (1600cc “Kent”), transmission, and rack and pinion steering, among others. It all made perfect sense, and I relished the significance of it at the time.
As I watched it drive down the street, I made a mental note to write it up on CC. Of course I forgot, but seeing this Corcel, whose body might resemble the Cortina’s, but is actually a re-styled Renault R12, jolted the memory back.
It probably wouldn’t be too hard to make a clean photoshop of a Pinto with a Cortina front end, at least in profile. But the real trick would be to see it from the front quarter view.
Do you ever have cars, especially mutant ones, invade your dreams?
I’m surprised Ford’s solution to “The Wagonmaster” having been beat to the punch by the Chevy Vega Kammback wasn’t putting a Pinto front clip on a Cortina wagon body (most likely Mk3), thus one-upping GM with four doors and a real back seat which were both things the eventual production Pinto wagon lacked.
As a kid I swear I saw a two-door hatchback Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon. Not a coupe and not a Rabbit or Fiat Strada – which it probably was…
That does seem like it would have been the most logical idea, doesn’t it?
It could have been a UK Chrysler Sunbeam, which was a RWD car based on the old Avenger and made basically as an excuse to keep jobs in the UK, but which was meant to look sort of like a 3-door version of the upcoming FWD Omni/Horizon/C6 despite having nothing in common. Though why on earth one would be in the USA is beyond me.
http://www.rootes-chrysler.co.uk/car-development/dev-sunbeam.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Sunbeam
The Corcel looks more like a Pinto and Cortina Mk3 (not Mk2) mashup.
Due to my lack of experience with South American cars, I think the blue car looks VAGUELY like a Maverick clip put on a 66 Falcon body.
BTW, isn’t a Pinto a few inches WIDER than a Cortina? Otherwise, an interesting idea.
Mutant cars invading my dreams, while sleeping? No. Mutants invading dreams while awake, all the time: Kaiser Manhattans and Nash Ambassadors and Statesmen with Studebaker V8s, low end Packard Clippers retrimmed as Hudson Hornet and Wasp. 1975 AMC Ambassador with a suspension scaled up from a Saab 99, with the ex-Buick V6 and transverse Borg-Warner Type 35 all looking very much like an 82 Buick Century. Packard production moved to Studebaker’s Chippewa plant in 54 and the low end Clippers retrimmed as Studebaker President and Commander while Champion becomes a stand alone brand.
All it takes to produce a fountain of mutations is living in a place where you don’t want to go out in the weather for half of the year.
I always found the Corcel II to be particularly handsome. Why didn’t Ford simply give it to us? Probably first, NIH, the dreaded Not Invented Here syndrome that infected the big three. Ford Europe would not dare introduce a car whose platform was still recognizably Renault. Ford US is no less proud. They can pinch small car technology invented by their own divisions, but not tech that a division has pinched from a predecessor.
Would be an interesting exercise to take the larger German Ford 4s, or the US Pinto 2.3, develop longitudinal front drive transmissions that can take the torque and drop them into a Corcel shell to provide the performance needed in the US. But the longitudinal layout isn’t very space efficient, so bypassing the Corcel for the transverse powertrain in the Fiesta and Escort was probably the better move, even if it took them an extra 8 years to do it.
Actually, why didn’t Ford do something like this? The Vega had 4dr and 2dr sedan models, Ford could have easily done the same with a little bit of metalworking. Would that have cut into the Maverick’s market?
Would that have cut into the Maverick’s market?
At first, the Maverick did not have a 4 door either, only the 2 door, for several years.
If Ford and GM were still trying to follow the Sloan ladder, the Pinto and Vega would not be regarded as cars people would actually want, but as stepping stones to larger, nicer, more profitable for the manufacturer, models.
Actually, I don’t recall the Vega offering a 4 door sedan, just a 2 door sedan, 2 door hatchback and 2 door wagon, so the moment a Vega owner needs to use the back seat routinely, they have to head back to the Chevy store for a Nova.
Actually about 18 months (4 door Mav intro’d in Fall 70).
Also, this photo attests that Ford did consider a 4-door Pinto wagon.
Much better proportioned.
Notice it’s a four door on the driver’s side only.
I had a dream that Nissan, given lagging sedan sales but a knack for bizarre niche vehicles, turned the Altima into something like a Subaru Baja. It featured cladding like a Baja and could be equipped with the 370Z NISMO’s VQ37VHR, AWD, a manual transmission, and it was even offered in brown! (Unfortunately, the Cummins diesel from the Titan XD wouldn’t fit.)
Interesting thoughts.
To me, the style of the Corcel (as seen on CC) also seems reminiscent of the Peugeot 304, for the initial 4 door saloon, especially the roof line, and of a mash up of Escort Mk1 or Cortina Mk3 (the Coke bottle rear quarters) and Opel Rekord D Coupe roof line. The rear panel is pure Ford though.
But look at it in profile, even the later 4 door Del Rey that Rubens showed us,clearly show the Renault 12’s profile, with a longer front overhang and rear wheels tucked well under the back window and seat. That windscreen is pretty recognizable as well.
Here is a rough Corinto rendering.
I like it!
Not bad, but the Corinto in my dreams had the full Cortina front clip, not just the grille.
I was considering doing a QOTD on this but then I thought nobody else would have had dreams like myself. I have dreamt two cars, that I recall: one was a Fiat 130 coupe with a front clip resembling a 1977 Cadillac DeVille. Curious, I walked around the car and saw an odd logo: a dainty, cursive “VW”. The other badges said “Corrado”
The other dream, I was renting a car and was excited to drive but was disappointed to find I had rented a carpool and would be a passenger. The car resembled a 2003 Infiniti M45 but with the front headlights and grille of a 2002 GMC Envoy. It was a GMC sedan!
They sound more like nightmares.
Nice one, the GMC sedan. I can see that…. 🙂
I asked the question about car dreams a few years back: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/qotd-do-you-dream-about-cars/
REcently saw an automotive mutant mashup actually on the streets- a recent (within 10 years) Chevy Suburban painted with a BMW esque front clip/grill including the BMW logos. It was also riding on absurdly sized chrome rims with the BMW emblem within their centers so it was obviously an owner inspired mashup…
I recently saw a Chrysler 300 with a fake Rolls Royce grill – then I realized it actually was a Rolls Royce.
I have seen a first-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee rebadged as a Mercedes, except they didn’t even bother to change anything but the logos…
Give me some time and maybe I can make that fusion happen !