We left Puerto Rico and arrived to El Salvador in August ’76; behind us was a land of American land yachts and Beetles, ahead one filled with Japanese econo sedans and utilitarian trucks and pickups. What additional surprises would this land offer to this, car obsessed kid?
Some acquaintances of father allowed us to stay a short while in a small apartment complex. After a few days of hotel stay in hectic downtown San Salvador, the temporary move to the upper class neighborhood was a welcomed change. So, what kind of Fords were these in the apartment building’s parking area? This was no Galaxie, nor Fairlane; it was something quite different.
Cortinas? What an odd name, in Spanish that is. I had, at my tender age of 5, come to realize that not all Fords were created the same; this was no imposing LTD, nor an undernourished Pinto. What kind of parallel reality had I arrived to? As the weeks passed by the occasional Taunus also appeared, as well as the Mazda derived Courier. Lacking internet and car magazines back in ’76, it would take me years to find out why these non-Detroiters existed.
(“More car in those wheels” – local newspaper advert)
I had memories riding a proper American Ford back in Puerto Rico; a Galaxie mom drove for a few days, and me sliding from side to side in the front bench. It seemed clear to me the Cortina would fail that particular kiddie test. And going back to that name; Cortina, curtains in Spanish, my kid-self failing to grasp it was probably Italian in origin. Meaning aside, it had a nice ring and flowed when uttered. Yes, a car could be a cortina, I agreed in the end.
The car seemed more sensibly sized than American Fords. Was it a looker? Kind of. It certainly was broughamy, but in a more sedate way. The usual American excesses had gone through a European diet, nothing to be too excited about for this kid in love with sports cars, but still an ok presentation. Very spirit of the times; it would have worked rather well with a polyester suit had I been a young executive.
The Cortinas carved a distinctive shape in Salvadorian traffic, that was for sure. Against the dominant Japanese sedans, the car looked more imposing and had a bit of a premium air (not hard to do against a sea of Publicas and Sunnys). The model was one of the most common European offerings in local traffic, and with the V6 option, it was a relative “scorcher” against the Japanese weaklings. Probably a factor in some purchases.
Cortinas have been covered at CC a few times, and I have been in active search of one since joining the site earlier this year. I hadn’t seen one in ages, a result of Ford pulling out of the market during the Civil War and making spare parts awfully rare. To my luck, three samples appeared one after the other in the space of two weeks; two forlorn ones, and the much cleaner one that opens this post.
So, have I missed you Mr. Cortina? To be honest, I didn’t know of my fondness until I stopped seeing you on the roads. Rarity makes for appreciation, you know? Where have you been, you old quintessential UK Ford? Well, as the photos show, time hasn’t been kind to you. Has it?
And to think of it, I do have a connection with you Mr., as I found years later my family’s Pony pickup had inherited some Cortina bits on its chassis. Who would have thought you would provide the basis for Korea’s car making ascent?
As Roger Carr’s post explains, the model was a defining one for Ford’s UK ops, offering an array of options that covered a large swath of the market. With its coke-bottle styling, and its mix of sporty and luxury themes, the car was oh-so-70’s in ways the public couldn’t get enough of. The model had a successful mix of attractive yet-not-daring styling, with luxury and comfort in a sensibly priced and sized package.
Like Camrys or Impalas, the model suffered some by becoming too ubiquitous. Ford’s known and tried winning mix of lux and suggested sportiness sounds cynically easy to deride, but if it were that easy, wouldn’t all carmakers have an endless stream of hits? Chance, work, money, talent, dealer numbers; all conflate to make or break with that inevitable variant, the public. And aren’t we an unpredictable lot? Just when a carmaker releases that over-clinicked Malibu, we’ve moved onto gas guzzling SUVs (and kept to our Camry love as well).
“Do you like shooting abandoned cars?” The man told me as I took pics of this “bumblebee” Cortina. “Sure I do! Is the Cortina yours?” He approached the edge of his home’s porch. “Nope, not at all… it’s been sitting there for about 4 years, it belongs to a lady up the street.” I looked to where he was pointing, a low-middle-class house further away. This Cortina was a long way from the upscale neighborhood where I had discovered the model in my youth, the usual fate of non-too-premium offerings.
And talking about fading premium qualities, the “bumblebee” Cortina lost its vinyl top long ago, acquiring this peculiar and unattractive paint job in compensation. The exaggerated hips, particularly on the 4-door, are an acquired taste that works better in subdued form on Ford’s own Taunus. Talking about which, and based purely on CC Cohort evidence, the Taunus appears more often than Cortinas. Does the Taunus have more love? Or better German assembly?
So, have I missed you Mr. Cortina? Yes I’ve, even in broken down and tattered state. So glad to have found you. So glad you’re still part of the neighborhood, any neighborhood.
More on the Cortina:
Carshow Classic: 1975 Ford Cortina The Swiss Army Knife Car – Roger Carr
The Hyundai Origin Myth Revealed: There’s a Ford in Your Pony – David Saunders
COAL: Hyundai Pony Pickup – A House Divided; Or How Split Partners Push Forward
These featured cars sort of remind me of a Maverick variant.
The first car is a XL. Looks like Ford used the Taunus mk3 grill.
European markets had the Taunus but Sweden had the Cortina along side the Taunus in showrooms. Portugal built Cortinas in its plant near Porto along side Capris and Escorts .
Same kind of restyle, but the centre section is still wider than the Taunus so different mouldings.
https://ga.auto-data.org/ford/ford-taunus-gbtk-1974-1600-68-hp/
I like the 4 round headlight version in the brochure photo.
Growing up in a small southeast Ohio town, I think I’ve been exposed to exactly one Cortina in my entire life. It belonged to the man who dropped off the bundles of evening newspapers for my brother’s route and the other paperboys. It was a previous Cortina series, though because the ones in this post don’t look familiar and the time period would’ve been no later than 1970.
The four headlight versions were either GXL (like the brochure example) or GT (round badge in middle of grille). The plastic grilles (as per photos) came in late 1973 with either round or rectangular headlights.
The Cortina script lettering is the same as used on the Mk.2 but little else was the same; even the suspension is completely different, front and rear.
Very rare to see one other than at a show now in the UK. Rust was a big killer.
This Mk3 version was never sold in the US. The Mk1 and especially the Mk2 that ended here soon after the Maverick was introduced, were pretty popular in some areas of the US and Canada. A 5 or 6 year old Mk2 Cortina was my sister’s first car, purchased in the DC area and migrating to California and then Toronto, under its own power but requiring several gearboxes to make the journeys. It succumbed to massive rust in Canada and was replaced with a 1st gen Civic … which also rusted pretty quickly.
Not only did the Cortina “donate” its rear axle to the Hyundai Pony, but also to countless homemade and/or kit cars. I believe the original Lotus 7 “clone” book, “Build Your Own Sports Car for as Little as £250 and Race It!” called for a Cortina rear axle. It was a fairly basic leaf-sprung axle, but it was narrow and could handle a good bit of power (for its time) making it perfect for those kinds of cars.
The Mk.3 went over to trailing arms (two parallel, two triangulated) and coil springs at the back in place of the leaf springs while at the front MacPherson struts gave way to a Short/Long Arm style wishbone set-up. This continued until the end of Cortina/Taunus production in 1982 (longer if you take into account the Hyundai Stellar).
Thanks for the clarification!
Wow; three Mk 3 Cortinas on the streets! El Salvador is turning out to be quite the Curbsidelandia.
“On the streets ” but ” ran when parked” along time ago by the looks of it. Perhaps due to lack of parts ?.
Prices picking up for a good one in the Uk. All MKs for sale in Portugal and cheaper…
I can’t look at these without thinking of Onslow pulling up with his Cortina, always with a big backfire out the tailpipe on “Keeping Up Appearances”.
Great finds, and thanks for a nice appreciation of one the UK’s best remembered cars of the period.
OOI, who knows how Ford decided if they were going to sell the Cortina or Taunus in a particular market?
These were relatively popular In Canada but it was the preceding Mk 2 that really sold well. At the time I lusted after the GT version, primarily because of the wooden dash with all the instruments. I remember occasionally spotting a Mk1 Lotus version, or maybe someone just painted the green flash on the rear fender. I can’t remember the last time I saw one on the street.
Three MkIIIs! I can’t remember the last time I saw one in New Zealand, let alone three. My parents had a 1975 MkIII wagon from when I was aged 3 in 1978 to 1974, so most of my formative car memories are MkIII-based. I can still see the seat and door trims in my mind, the green indicator light on the dashboard, the hubcaps. MkIII Cortinas were everywhere in NZ through the 70s and 80s, especially in that shade of brown – Roman Bronze I think it was called?
I always thought it was odd that Ford would go to the hassle of making and marketing LHD Cortinas when they had the twin-under-the-skin already-LHD Taunus in their catalogue. Using the same body for the MkIV/V Cortina and Taunus was a much more cost effective solution.
Cortinas are getting quite thin on the ground here now I pass a for sale version in Matamata twice a day but havent spotted a price on it, they were once everywhere and thousands were used by various govt departments usually poverty pack L models but with 2.0 engines, 1.6 cars were common and popular and there was a 1.3 which could barely move, plus quite a few came in from OZ with 6 cylinder Falcon engines which had very different bodies to the local assembly CKD cars.
This is my Canadian spec 1972 Cortina GT. My Dad bought the car in November of 1971 while stationed in England. It now resides with me in Kansas.