Quote:
Originally Posted by srvy
Cooper look at some 58-63 Fiat 1100d sedans and English Fords of the same vintage. I was 7 or 8 when Dad had this car I remember something about Fiat. Could be they were sold or imported in Europe thru Fiat I dunno what the connection was.
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OK I knew this car existed, I knew it was at one time a big seller but knew nothing about the car. When you posted the 1963 Ad I get a little stoked about this Fiat I knew nothing about. I got carried away, a little.
Take a look, the rear windows through me a curve on both the Fiats and the Cortina. the Cortina 4 door has a roll down window that needs a filler glass to operate. That and the hood/ grill didn't fit the Fiat snub nose.
This is what I learned so far, I am going to be doing some homework as this car was special back in the day. Especially the Lotus Cortina. Yes I said Lotus. Inthe early 60's they built these.
OK I looked and I see Lotus as the only partner company with Ford on the Cordina. Ford built most of the car with German drivetrains or at least the GT and Super models. More later on that.
"Cortina, Developed by Lotus" later called the " Lotus Cortina" (2 door only) were built using only Ford's body shells and built by Lotus using non Ford parts. They also developed but did not build other cars such as the Corsair GT V-4 and the "Cortina GT" for Ford . The GT had a Ford driveline package of choice ( see below) , with Lotus's collaboration, on steering suspension, brakes, interior fitments etc. Like ordering an IROC handling package for an 80's Camaro with a V6 or V8 engine.... you got all the good stuff, (seats dut not dashes, no aluminum doors or the super good stuff of the flagship Lotus Cortina. You could get the drivetrain options from Ford's 3 choices. The Corsair GT 4V was a bigger car with a German made V-4 engine with the Lotus tuning package option. The Cortina and the Corsair may have been Fords first "Tuner" cars
Ford shells and Lotus guts. That's the "Lotus Cortina" which was first sold in Ford dealers and later by Lotus. They were custom painted shells fitted with Ford made aluminum doors, hood, and trunk lids. Everything else was engineered, sourced or built for the car
Lotus spec'ed close ratio tranny's with alloy housings, front disc brakes, handling packages and the Lotus 1.6 engine with twin cams alloy hemi heads, dual Weber carbs and Full flow exhaust systems with Lotus tuned headers. Instrument clusters, special seats and trim. I guess they were hot and that's an understatement as the awards list is impressive. I have not read up on the Corsair GT or the "Cortina GT models but it looks like they were Lotus engineered option packages with performance packages spec'ed by Lotus vs just having the car lowered as part of the an engine upgrade utilizing Ford's German "Kent" Engines. Like upgrading to a IROC but not getting what was literally a race car in an ugly shell. Lotus even made a run of 30 total race prepped cars at almost twice the price, they sold 51.
left Cortina GT, Center is the Corsair GT V-4 and right the Lotus Cortina.
Ford "Cortina" included the "Consul Cortina" named after the previous car, the "Consul Classic" this model quickly became just "Cortina" it was powered by a 1.0 and later a 1.2l engines, then a lowered, more powerful tuned 1200cc Cortina GT, not a Lotus tuner package, but lowering it helped the looks and handling for a budget hot rod. The Cortina Super 1500 1.5 was the same car as the GT but with a bigger engine. There were also weird trims that popped up for limited runs.
There were all kinds of variations as you could get a Lotus package on cars such as a 2 dr, 4 dr, or wagon or you could just get the lowered GT trim on the tuned 1200 or 1500 super engines in all three with or without the Lotus packages,
The 5 dr wagon could be had with not only a woody trim option but with a "Cortina Super 1500" engine and the Lotus package too. Marking it the first "Shooting brake. It must have been what every British June Cleaver was using for grocery getter. in the early 60's.
Srvy: If your Mom's car was a 4 door Ford it was a Cortina or a Cortina GT and defiantly NOT a Fiat.
The true Lotus Cortina was a 2 door only even though some painted the green stripes on the GT and lowered models.
It could have had 3 engine options and 3 suspension options. If it had either the Ford lowering parts or Lotus packages on it, the reason you dad was bitching was because Lotus and Ford were changing specs and vendors every few weeks, or it seemed like it, so that may have been the issue...Needless to say if she had one of the 4 doors with the Lotus GT package it would be worth maybe $20-25K ($40-50 if it were the Lotus Cortina.)
I put a few labels on the pics, Enjoy.
63 Cortina 1500 Super 5 door Wagon with Woody option.
63 Consul Cortina 4 door followed by the 2 door Voted car of the year 1963 notice the ride height.
To muddy the water a bit more, the 1st gen got a facelift:
This is the 4 door 1500 Super in the GT Lotus trim. Not a true Lotus car but has the stripe mentioned earlier.
https://www.autoclassics.com/advert/31066
Ad for Lotus speed demon specs.0 - 100 MPH? 30 seconds? huh?
Lotus Factory (All "Lotus Cortinas" were 2 door, white, with green stripes)
lots of links to follow.
http://www.lotuscortinainfo.com
Photo albums '64 4 dr Standard Cortina and '66 Cortrina GT 1500 Super w/ Lotus package
http://www.classicwise.co.uk/cars/19...ted-miles-new/
If you are still awake...
I think the History on this car, it's tuning history is interesting to say the least, Are there pictures of the car or did your Dad burn them?