For me, The Mk 1 is the definitive Lotus Cortina. Who can forget Jim Clark driving to the absolute limit chasing Galaxies and more in the BTC back in the day. My neighbour, David Kirsch, had one of the first (he also had a Mercedes 300SL and Chevy Comaro) and I vividly remember some exciting journeys through the local streets and roundabouts (especially) with me hanging on for dear life and enjoying every minute of it. The Chapman modified rear suspension along with that magnificent engine made an otherwise everyday car something very, very special. Memories.
When you asked ‘what’s in the boot?’ I was expecting to be shown the raised bump in the boot floor to accommodate the differential housing because the suspension was lower than the standard production models, this was usually proof of it being a genuine Lotus Ford body shell. Good video,
Great to know so many of this fleet have survived. The earlier "pre airflow" Mk1s are my personal favourite (the smaller front grille and the lack of vents on the rear pillars). I did sometimes see an ex Jim Clark car over 50 years ago on my way to school. In the late 1970s/early 1980s a few of us made a bit of a habit of V6 swapping small Fords. Sadly although a tuned V6 with a 3.09 rear axle and an overdrive gearbox was a top speed beast it lost the agility of the lighter engined cars.
Opinions on favourite cars are obviously subjective and are bound to provoke opposite views. I was fortunate to purchase a real Mark 1 in 1964, reg. 8943DP, (I wonder what happened to that car?). It came from a garage in Park Lane and had belonged to a Doctor, (I think he thrashed it). The car was one of the 500 that Ford homologated for racing and the four opening panels were aluminium. Also aluminium were the clutch housing, the gearbox tailpipe and the diff casting. It had the 'A' Frame and coil springs at the back and I believe the lower front wishbone was a little longer to give a bit of negative. The battery was in the boot and the spare wheel had lost it's home to stiffening tubes both sides, their matching counterparts were inside at the sides of the rear seats behind the panelling. I think the biggest change for the driver was the close ratio gearbox which was fantastic. If you wanted, you could do 40 mph in first gear, only if you wanted. Traffic light grand prix starts were a doddle. The first gear downside was the four up, standing start on a hill, revs and a slipped clutch was the only solution. My Lotus had front lights that were not set into the grill like your Police vehicle, I always wondered whether the rest of the first 500 were like that. Some spares parts were difficult to obtain, for instance the water-pump. The Twin-Cam engine had a fairly flat aluminium casting which, from memory, housed the timing chain and contained the water-pump. No spare was available from Ford so I purchased a standard pump, pressed out the impellers from both castings and replaced new for old. I lived and breathed that car and you had to be there to understand what a huge step forward the Lotus was in motor racing. Watching Jim Clark on two wheels through the chicane at Goodwood, never to be forgotten. Just one more personal observation, your Capri is certainly better looking than the 60s Capri and Classic but they were probably the ugliest cars Ford ever produced. In my opinion. I think motor manufacturers are obliged to sell ugly cars every so often, we are going through an ugly patch at the moment. Great video.
Mk1 will always be the one for me, as I remember the great Jim Clark racing them back in the day, usually seen with the inside front wheel well off the ground in corners! I also have an old Ford that was once a Police car too! Bit older though its a 1931 Model A Ford 4 door sedan that started life as a Chicago Cops car! It may well have once had Al Capone on board? Amusingly it still has it's very loud Police Siren on the firewall that still works!
That dash panel is like the one I had in about 1970 or so, much nicer than the early models which had a small binnacle. But that car does not have the A-frame rear suspension setup as mine did which gave super handling but was unable to withstand the stresses through it. Mine fractured around the diff housing and the oil leaked out, destroying the differential! This happened again after repairs and the only thing to do back then was to find a rear cart-spring suspension from a Cortina GT and slip that in! It was now reliable but the handling was not the same. I understand that there is a kit available to fix that major problem these days!
WOW these cars bring back so many memories as a young kid ,well 19 year old to be fair ,here in Australia these ol cortys were everywhere and damm cheap ,you could buy a 65 4 door for a couple hundred dollars and then find an ol Ford at the wreckers with a Windsor v8 and convert the Cortina in a weekend with three mates a engine crane or block and tackle 5 slabs of beer 8 BBQ sessions ,Friday 4pm start after work 9Pm Sunday youve got a lil British car with a stonking 289/302 or if your lucky a 351 Windsor v8 ,Clevelands were too tight in that engine bay ,ive done over 20 Cortinas 4Gts and one odd one with a Cosworth lil 4cyl that i kept as ive never seen one in a Cortina ,strange lil motor that i ended up selling for 150 dollars,the fella who i sold it to put it into a escort track car ,good times back then ,thankyopu for the video ,new subscriber glad to be here
Hello Peter, welcome to the channel love hearing your memories and thank you for subscribing do you have any pictures of the Cortina’s if so I love to see them ?
Yes as a student at SE London Tech in the mid 60's bare shells transported on big double decker HGV came by up Lewisham Way to Lotus to be assembled. Youngster dreaming.....
All the best police drivers “enhanced” what they’d learnt in driving school after-hours, out of sight and away from other traffic. It’s almost a tradition.
Having had both the Mk1 and the Mk2, it's a hard choice to seperate them, both had their good and bad points, though as I got the Mk2 before the Mk1 it still holds a special place with me, and I am now currently restoring a Ford Granada Ghia ex police car, and have a Mk3 Zephyr/Zodiac inline for some major TLC, Oh and as a back story, the M2 came my way in payment for a job I did, the Mk1 was saved from being scrapped when the council started to pull down the garage block it was stored in ( for 35 year) the Granada was a whim purchase not knowing the full history, but bought because it had the zipper in the headlining, indicating it was once a police car, the Zephyr/Zodiac came to me via a soldier Friend of my dad who was a Red Cap ( military police) and had driven it from new in the Army and when it was demobbed in 1976 he asked to purchase it, and used it as a daily driver, until 1989 when it seized the engine and was pushed into a lockup Purchase prices ,,, Mk1 £75, Mk2 £175, Granada Free, the Zephyr/Zodiac also free, the two cortinas were sold off to pay for the restoration of the next two cars together they reach a sales total of £18,000
Hello nemesismcc, welcome to the channel and thank you for sharing this interesting story please send me some pictures of the cars maybe we could do a future episode ? Downatthebarns@gmail.com
The Mk1 was lighter of the two cars. The rev limiter fitted was activated by centrifugal forces at its setting whereby it would make the car miss on one cyl, time to change gear, I think it was about 6.5k ish. The intake roar on the webbers was louder than the exhaust especially if you had ram tubes.😁
This is a great car and I’m pleased it was properly restored by Keith. However, whilst I know it’s now back to its original appearance, I think the Mk.1 shape is a bit dumpy and awkward. The green stripes complete the iconic Lotus look and give the car a much sleeker appearance. I also think that the Mk.2 is generally a better-styled car, especially the 1600E and Lotus variants. Of course, I would love to have either model.
I agree about the stripe - it is an optical illusion and does give it a totally different shape. Trouble is I had a choice to make during the resto & decided originality was best.
I think a Mk1 looks a lot nicer than a Mk2 (slab sided barge). I had a Mk1 Cortina in the early 1970s as a student, did thousands of miles in it, It's back end fishtailed a couple of times when pushed, did Lotus upgrade the rear suspension? When the engine blew up I couldn't afford to fix it and an though it had a perfect body a garage said the would take it off me for nothing , I made sure I chopped up all the wiring looms.
Tbh it's 64 years old and it was only a police car for a fraction of that being a lotus and as cool as they are. I would have it as a standard lotus. Amazing history, though
The replacement engine came from a Europa ? That would make it a Renault 16 engine. Only the 'racing' versions had the Ford based Lotus twin cam engine.
