Seeing this shot of a Mk1 Cortina posted at the Cohort by Bowen/flat black 66, I would love to do it justice with a proper CC, and I’m still kicking myself for letting one get away last time we were in Palo Alto. But I’ll have to invoke the expression “Not tonight, dear(s)”. So it’s going to be a quickie, or a little foreplay, for the most important car Ford of Europe built in its long history. Where’s the justice in that?
The Mk1 Cortina kicked off a formula that would propel Ford to dominance in this class. And during the seventies and through 1981, it was the number one selling car in the UK. It was finally replaced by the rather radical Sierra in 1983, and folks had a hard time adjusting after so many years of the good old boxy Cortina. And the Cortina enjoyed a decent sales success in the US too, until it was pushed aside by the Pinto, which borrowed heavily from it (except the boxy body, of course). This Mk1 started the Cortina wave, back in 1962. So I guess its life was only two decades; it just seems like it was much longer.
So we get to the Cortina’s end way too soon, but at least it’s in living color now.
Classic case of Ford’s staid and reliable designs trumping Austin/Morris’ advanced designs but quirky mechanicals. Its as if the British car-buying public did not want any greater space efficiency. They just wanted American-looking cars, only smaller. Ah, the incomprehensible lure of the three-box car, even if very small. Sir Alec was rightly more proud of the Morris Minor than the Mini. Looked like a small ’49 Chevy.
“Its as if the British car-buying public did not want any greater space efficiency”
Simply having space, even if it was slightly less efficient, was enough I think. The driving point of the Cortina was cheap-to-build which would make up for using slightly more sheet metal.
I think it also had to do with the growth of the British middle class during this period. Between postwar rebuilding and Suez, the British economy took a lot of poundings in the late forties and throughout the fifties, so for a lot of people, unless you were really rich, your choices had been a tiny car or no car. By the early sixties, after the 1960-61 slump, there were more people with money to spend on cars, and suddenly you got stuff like the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000.
Cars like the Cortina were aimed at buyers who weren’t yet able to stretch to a Rover, but wanted to demonstrate that they didn’t have to buy a bubblecar or an Anglia. If that bigger car was more space efficient or modern, splendid, but it wasn’t the overriding concern any more than it was in the States.
No side rear view mirrors?
Such frills as that were optional equipment back in the day…I remember installing outside rear view mirrors on more than one car I bought.
The passenger side mirror was optional for a long time. But the driver side mirror should have been more widespread …
Friend of mine when stationed in Newfoundland had one of these. He poked fun at my new 66 vw because of his new (I think) cortina. Laugh was on him though because his repair bills were higher (I had none) and he really couldn’t outrun me.
He was transferred before I could really rub it in for the long term.
Always thought the rear of these looked like a shrunken 1960 Buick.
I remember seeing these occasionally here in the midwestern U.S back in the 70s. My scoutmaster was driving a 69 Cortina wagon, so I knew what it was and, frankly, really liked them. Unfortunately, they did not seem to withstand U.S. conditions (or U.S. drivers) very well.
In the “what if” department, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the Cortina had been as robust as the Toyotas and Datsuns that started coming here at about the same time. Imagine if Ford had invested in the Cortina as its North American subcompact instead of the Pinto.
Everyone in the UK has a Cortina story, they were just part of the background to everyday life. Not too many Mk I’s were around when I was growing up, but a friend had a super-cute one, with a significantly warmed-up engine, 5 point harness and cool 2 tone paint job. His dad had a Mk II with a transplanted diesel, which didn’t quite have the same cool factor…
In our family, we had a Mk III and a Mk IV, which were great workhorses. When I first came to NZ I bought a 2.0 station wagon from a friend of a friend for $100. It had an enormous dent, and had been attacked with a can of green paint. I chugged around in it happily for 6 months before it failed a warrant on serious structural rust.
A Cortina was always a nice drive, with a sweet gearbox and well-mannered engine. I’d definitely have another, if I had any garage space. A really practical classic.
Nice MK1 I shot one for the cohort ages ago but noone noticed there are several mint Cortinas still roaming in Hawkes Bay these were the cars that became racing saloon car of choice in NZ and ushered the Humber 80s off the tracks the cortina is lighter than the Hillman/Humber 80 and tincan like in a crash
Where in Palo Alto, and was it the sort of location where it might be found again? I do jobs there all the time.
It was parked in front of a storefront or restaurant, and drove off before I had time to turn around and catch it. it was fixed up nicely; someone’s toy. It’s the only Cortina I’ve seen in the US in quite a long while. They were reasonably popular in the late sixties, but have seemingly vanished.
Love Cortinas, they were everywhere in New Zealand while I was growing up. My parents replaced their Mk II Consul (the Zephyr-body one) with a Mk II Cortina 1300, then a Mk II 1600, followed by a ’75 Mk III 2.0, a ’80 Mk IV 2.0, and finally a ’83 Mk V 2.0 (then a Sierra, a Telstar, and a series of Subaru Legacy wagons). We never had a Mk I Cortina though! But they were still quite common, and even today there are quite a few still driving around. My favourites? For prettiness the Mk V Cortina fastback that we never got; for weirdness the South American Mk VII sedan of 1994.