I admit to being a bit of of a '70s Ford lover, so this tickled me a bit.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLwu38Tl3vU
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Mum and dad belted up and the kids rolling around just like the car and the ball on the rear parcel shelf.
Never liked the Mk3. I owned a 1600E, Mk4 x 2 and a Sierra Sapphire.
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I thought the Mk 3 was the worst Cortina by far. Unlike its predecessors it was dark inside and you sat low in it, with its extremities far away and hard to locate. Even the Mk 1V was a vast improvement, you could tell at a glance.
I learned to hate it driving a friend's example, a 1600 cc auto so pretty sluggish too. I think she'd paid top dollar for it secondhand but it developed a large rust hole on top of the front wing beside the bonnet lid... didn't inspire confidence that in a car that felt as floppy as it looked. There are quite a lot of nice Fords but that particular example wasn't one of them.
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I love the Mk3. The coke bottle Cortina aping the Dodge Charger.
I remember a school mate's dad taking us to Blackpool Pleasure Beach in one of those. It felt huge and the seats were covered in shaggy wool. He must have been a hippy.
I'd like to try one out to see why AC finds it a rotten apple. I'd probably go for Sweeney's Granada though.
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I had a dark blue 2.0 MKIII Cortina. I loved it and have very fond memories.
The only thing that stops me going near one today is fear that I might be disappointed. I quite like rose coloured spectacles.
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There is a very well preserved beige mk4 1.6L kicking around here. Must have been stored or restored looking at it. Seems a lot smaller than I'd have wanted to remember.
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>Seems a lot smaller than I'd have wanted to remember.
Absolutely. Like my huge Maxi, my neighbours gargantuan Zephyr, my own massive Hunter, my spacious Chrylser 2litre, my Father's enormous Granada MK1 etc. etc.
They all turn out to be kind of small and pokey which is not how I wish or choose to remember them.
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Some of the older parking garages, particularly in London, have bays which are much smaller than is comfortable for a lot of modern cars. Ok mine is fairly big, but even so, they were clearly designed for an earlier era of cars.
Edit - I parked next to a frogeye Sprite recently. They of course were never seen as big but it actually looked like a toy.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 20 Jan 14 at 18:34
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The original mini on todays roads looks like a tiny (and tinny) scary thing to be in
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>> a tiny (and tinny) scary thing to be in
Unless it's a properly driven Cooper, zipping past all the modern mimsers and showing them what's what. Headlights, airhorns, go for it!
To tell the truth there never were many of those. One or two however.
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>>The original mini on todays roads ...
There's quite a few of them here. With this climate rust is not a consideration, so unless you break a car it tends to go on for ever.
They seem really vulnerable in heavy traffic and no fun at all to be in.
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>> >>The original mini on todays roads ...
There's one which shares my plod round Reading's IDR and the Caversham Road every evening. The children can't believe anyone drives something so small. Even a Smart seems large in comparison.
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Subliminal doff to the BMW 2002 in the advert as well.
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LHD, so should it not be a Taunus? I see that the grille badge shows a "C", but the only other evidence of it being a Cortina is the number plates. Advertising economy, using only the one car?
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I never had a mk3 but I had four mk4s. Good cars in their day. Did many overnight runs to and from London to Florence or back for work in those. Comfortable and the 2.0s were quick enough by the standards of the day. Handling was a bit soft.
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An older woman that I admired greatly had one of these. I was about 14 she was all of 20 and used to give me an occasional lift, The clutch had a springy, squeaky sound, which drew my attention to her well turned ankle. She changed it for an Austin Maxi sadly with a silent clutch. Funny things trigger your memories.
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Apparently you could turn the back of a Maxi into a double bed.
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I had my secret fantasy...
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Funny that advert tool me right back Thick seat squabs, instruments at the bottom of dark wells, smell of vinyl, squeaky clutch etc...
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Quite upmarket losing your cherry in a Maxi. I had to make do with a bus shelter.
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Did you live anywhere near Avant in 1973?
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>> Apparently you could turn the back of a Maxi into a double bed.
Yes, it broke down so often somewhere to sleep while waiting for the tow truck was a requirement.
A cuz of mine bought one brand new. Gearbox failed at 350 miles. And 1500 miles and 18k miles and 27k miles and he got rid.
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I had a 1980 Maxi - 1750 4-spd auto.
Was actually one of my better bangers - other than a wheel bearing and front pads it gave me no problems over 25,000 miles.
Not ridiculously slow either, but I changed the oil every 3,000 miles (engine and box shared the same treacle) and there was always a wee silver hedgehog on the drainplug magnet.
25-ish MPG wasn't great, but the engine-gearbox combo alongside the radiator being next to the nearside wheelarch meant hot air was available from the heater within 400 yards on a winter morning.
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I went from the MK3 Cortina to a Maxi too (1750 manual). It got me several awards on trials, autotests and economy runs. Did a fast run from Germany to Dunkirk when I was late for a ferry, cruising at an indicated 90MPH. Generally achieved 40MPG.
Got used to going round corners in neutral and finding 2nd after!
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>> The clutch
>> had a springy, squeaky sound, which drew my attention to her well turned ankle. Funny things trigger your
>> memories.
>>
That's exactly the same memory i have of the Mk3 Cortina, except in my case the car belonged to a school friends Mum (who i definitely did NOT lust after!) :-/
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Taunus was LHD but the Cortina was available in both LHD and RHD-some countries would not buy German cars.The front ends of the Taunus and MkIII Cortina were completely different.I owned a late Mk III(2000E estate) for many years(from 25,000ml. to 127,000ml.)-no problems at all and it was far superior to anything else on the road,available at a similar price.
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I was about 14 when the Mk3 was introduced. I remember we cycled 50mls to Birmingham to see a stage of the Milk Race (70/71?) where the support cars were Mk3 Cortinas. All in white and mostly estates I think. Seemed a very modern looking car at the time and the twin headlamp GXLs looked half decent in a sort of trashy way.
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"Apparently you could turn the back of a Maxi into a double bed." (As fine an example of thread drift as one could hope for....)
You could indeed, and it was more comfortable than you'd think, especially if you had the cloth-upholstered HL model as I did. Front seats forward, backs down, back seat backrest then folded backwards into the boot.
I never actually slept in mine, let alone what you suggest in your second post, Runfer.... But I'd just got it new in 1973 when I met the future SWMBO, and she suspected that the double bed facility was why I'd chosen a Maxi (I hadn't actually: the twin-carburetter HL was just as fast as an MGB and cost half as much to insure).
We'll have been married 40 years on 1 June and still haven't slept in a car.
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I've slept in the car many a time when I first started my business. Couldn't afford hotels. Cleaned up and shaved in public swimming pools. Cold sleeping in a car sometimes.
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I had a Cortina 2000GT in purple velvet with a black vinyl roof!
Lovely car for its era.
Changed it for a Citroen Dyane when I closed my finance agency (sunk by HP credit controls).
From the sublime to the ridiculous in one fell swoop.
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I had a stopgap 1.6L for a while in that metallic powder blue.
It went OK and I liked it. It had a lot of miles, probably without much servicing, and it suffered the blocked oil spray bar/knackered camshaft problem.
The gear lever came out of the box one time while I was changing gear. I poked it back in. The threads had gone on on the nylon bush that held it in. They were OK once Araldited.
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Had a 1600GT, 2-door, yellow with vinyl roof and obligatory rust holes in the top of the front wings.
I recall it having very high overall gearing and a close ratio gearbox (beautiful gearchange), not a good combination as I was towing a dinghy at the time.
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I liked the MkIIIs, I had two of them. A 2000GT in Le Mans (dayglo) green and a Big Six 3000GT in white.
A brief dalliance with a Granada 3000GXL was then followed by a MkIV 3.0S and a MkIV 3.0 Interceptor, both in a light blue that I cannot remember the official name of. The 3.0S was probably the best of them all.
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>> Big Six 3000GT in white.
I have a vague memory that the first V6 Mk III Cortinas were specials by some tuning outfit, that Ford later decided to make itself.
I wouldn't doubt that such a car would waft around pleasantly. But it couldn't begin to be properly sporting. The Mk III just didn't have the chassis.
Around 1970 some Notting Hill mechanic yobbos gave me a lift in one of those Mk II Granadas (I think) with a huge aircraft carrier bonnet and a little short bobtail enclosing slightly dodgy swing-axle rear suspension. It was faster and quieter in their London wideboy hands than my R Type Bentley was... but then it wasn't going to be running at all in 18 years' time, barring miracles.
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"Around 1970 some Notting Hill mechanic yobbos gave me a lift in one of those Mk II Granadas (I think) with a huge aircraft carrier bonnet and a little short bobtail enclosing slightly dodgy swing-axle rear suspension."
That sounds like a Zephyr or Zodiac. If it was faster than your Bentley it won't have been a Zephyr 4, which had a rather puny V4 engine in that huge body. I think the V6 was 3 litres, but I'm not sure.
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Yes it was, a Zephyr 6 or Zodiac. Please don't imagine I could ever mistake one for a Zephyr 4!
A fellow minicabber, nice young chap, had a V4 in Clapham a year or two later. You never saw such a huge empty engine compartment in your life.
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>> fellow minicabber, nice young chap, had a V4 in Clapham a year or two later.
He crashed it and was never seen again. He wasn't hurt of course - the whole front half of the car was crumple zone - but had his foot so hard on the pedal when the impact happened that the brakes were permanently locked on all four wheels and the car had to be lifted to move it.
The cause of the crash was bizarre too, something to do with a dog leaping either out or in, from another car, through his open driver's window. Charming harmless young cat he was, I felt very sorry for him.
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>I have a vague memory that the first V6 Mk III Cortinas were specials by some tuning outfit,
The old grey matter is still working well Lud.
Basil Green in Jo'burg modified Cortinas, Capris and Granadas and sold them as 'Perana' variants. Cortinas got the Essex 3.0L V6, Capris and Granadas got the 5.0L Windsor V8.
They were so well-built that they came with a Ford warranty and eventually became production models, with the exception of the Capri IIRC (which was a pig).
>But it couldn't begin to be properly sporting. The Mk III just didn't have the chassis.
The chassis and suspension of all South African built models were uprated to cope with dirt roads. It handled very well for it's time.
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>> I liked the MkIIIs, I had two of them. A 2000GT in Le Mans (dayglo)
>> green and a Big Six 3000GT in white.
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>> A brief dalliance with a Granada 3000GXL was then followed by a MkIV 3.0S and
>> a MkIV 3.0 Interceptor, both in a light blue that I cannot remember the official
>> name of. The 3.0S was probably the best of them all.
I'd sell the wife and kids for a mint '74 Ford Consul GT
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I very nearly bought one back in 83 - a 2 door coupe, £600.00. I rue the day I was late from work that afternoon.
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Then you want to avoid the You Tube video of a Granada-only banger race just last year, in which there was t least one Coupe. Criminal!
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We had a couple of Mk 111s on the force driving school around 1970. They were used for the class 3 courses......vans/detective cars/dog vans and the like. I remember doing a night run in one. It was like lying down to drive compared with the Hunters and other stuff. Always been a sit up and beg man meself ! I recall having lunch...sandwiches and tea from a flask, on the seafront at Conway at 2 in the morning.
I had friends with one in the 80s. I used to look after it for them. One MOT needed some welding. When I took the carpet out of the passenger footwell, I found a packet of mouldering, well trodden sandwiches ! Better than the ant's nest I found in the boot of a customer's Fiesta !
HO
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I still, even today yearn for a mint Escort RS1800 or a Mk1 RS2000, There's something so desirable about those 70s fast Fords that for me has never been captured since. I don't know what it is- perhaps a combination of value/in your face hooliganism/genuinely quick/rebellious/easy DIY/cool (at the time!) Something like that.
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My dad had a Zephyr 6 when I was very young. Column change I think. I used to perch on the centre armrest of the bench style front seat between my parents to see out and the dog would squeeze in next to us. No seat belts of course. Many a trip up and down the UK was spent like that .
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sun 19 Jan 14 at 09:12
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>> My dad had a Zephyr 6 when I was very young. Column change I think.
>> I used to perch on the centre armrest of the bench style front seat between
>> my parents to see out and the dog would squeeze in next to us. No
>> seat belts of course. Many a trip up and down the UK was spent like
>> that .
>>
I used to travel the same way in our pre hunter shape Humber Sceptre, under the open Webasto sunroof. Can you imagine the happening today ?
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>> My dad had a Zephyr 6 when I was very young.
My Dad had a Zodiac Executive Mark IV, silver when purchased and resprayed black for some bizarre reason. 3.0 V6, automatic, gear selector on the floor. Sunroof, with my head usually sticking out of it. Leather and that. All 4 of us slept in it once, in a car park in Saxmundham, when on a touring holiday of East Anglia. Couldn't find a B&B with a vacancy that night. I was about 8 or 9 I suppose, and small enough to spent the night on the rear parcel shelf.
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Let's have a few facts in place of rosy(& sometimes inaccurate)memories.The Mk.III Cortina was never built in European production with a V6 engine.South Africa built the Cortina with the Essex V6 as an option.Various outside firms fitted all sorts of engines upto and including V8's.The Taunus was offered with 2.0/2.3 V6 as standard production-the FoB V6(Essex) and the FoG V6 had no parts in common.
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>>>I have a vague memory that the first V6 Mk III Cortinas were specials by some tuning outfit, that Ford later decided to make itself.
In the UK the best known and most respected were the Jeff Uren Savage Cortina Mk.3s. He was a racing driver and tuner who put the V6 into many Fords. They were done well enough to be tested and reported on in Autocar & Motor as near mainstream cars.
The engines were sometimes Weslake tuned.
I had a fair bit to do with Mk.1 & Mk.2 V6 Granadas but the only Cortina V6 I've driven was a 2.3l Mk.4 that I maintained for a friend. Hardly any better/quicker than a 2l 4cyl and used far more fuel.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sun 19 Jan 14 at 10:54
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Cortina Mk4 2.3S badged cars were used as police patrol cars.
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The Mk. IV Cortina(there was never a Mk.V-only a facelift IV) was a common body with the Taunus and some 2.3 V6 were sold in the UK as Cortinas but as already said there was little increase in performance over the 2.0 OHC-it did improve the NVH. Suffolk Police had some 3.0 V6 engine cars as pursuit cars but they ended their life as local patrol vehicles.
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A friend of mine (at the time) was after a 2 litre Mk4 estate - like hen's teeth they were.
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A work colleague of mine had a Mk 111. My residing memory is of it being the first time I'd heard of a cambelt breaking, which it did as he drove to work one morning. I can still see him standing by the bench and saying, "If one more person gives a low whistle and shakes their head I'm going to swing for them".
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youtu.be/5shcLdKkFe4
I love this advert. The fact that Jackie Stewart can tank about with his fit Mrs and their toddler sat in the front on her lap means it must surely be OK?
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That advert clearly shows the difference in body styling between the Cortina III and the equivalent Taunus! My personal preferences were the Cortina front end and the Taunus back end.
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>> A work colleague of mine had a Mk 111. My residing memory is of it
>> being the first time I'd heard of a cambelt breaking, which it did as he
>> drove to work one morning. I can still see him standing by the bench and
>> saying, "If one more person gives a low whistle and shakes their head I'm going
>> to swing for them".
>>
As long as it was a two-litre,you were safe and a belt could be fitted in well under an hour-on a 1.6,you might be lucky and not have damaged valves.The Taunus had a 1.3 OHC(Cortina was 1.3 OHV)and the valves were always bent if the belt went.
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Always irritated me that car was a bodge up being a later 2000E with exterior changes and fake reg plates to make it look like an earlier GXL.
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And if you didn't know the Mk.3 and think the differences were small here is a proper GXL interior they should have been getting in and out of...
www.flickr.com/photos/8165854@N08/2587224700
And here is the 2000E interior of their later car...
www.flickr.com/photos/31747041@N00/174748627/
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A-mazing howl narrow those door/windscreen pillars are, the ones in my Sub are twice as wide
(which possibly explains why I fail to notice cyclists)
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>>As long as it was a two-litre,you were safe and a belt could be fitted in well under an hour-on a 1.6,you might be lucky and not have damaged valves.
The belt went on my 1.6 at start-up. No valve damage.
I recall it was an easy job to change, as was my old Panda. The Perkins Prima in the Maestro however................................
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if you changed the cam belt when you replaced the camshaft it never went long enough to break.
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>> if you changed the cam belt when you replaced the camshaft it never went long
>> enough to break.
I was led to believe the camshaft failures were due to the pinhole outlets in the camshaft oil spray bar getting blocked, from leaving oil changes too long and ignoring failing t/stats, allowing them to run cool. I kept on top of mine and certainly changed the t/stat at least once.
I also believe a modified camshaft oil spray bar was developed.
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and the early ones were made of cheese
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>>
>> I also believe a modified camshaft oil spray bar was developed.
>>
It was, but I seem to recall you had to fit an uprated oil pump too as the larger holes in the spray bar would squirt the oil out at reduced pressure.
A fair sized cottage industry grew up around replacement camshaft kits for the Pinto engine.
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Y'know, I think I've decided that ignorance really is bliss. I read here and elsewhere about all these allegedly common problems which evidently were on cars I've had. Many of which I took to high mileages without issues blissfully unaware that I was driving ticking time bombs.
I never had a Cortina, Sierra or Mondeo let me down. In fact very few cars of any make have. There have of course been notable exceptions to that but by and large they have come and gone over the years without too many horror stories.
Is it maybe a case do you think that bad news travels faster than good and that those with a grievance are more vocal than those who haven't ?
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sun 19 Jan 14 at 21:05
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I'd echo that, Runfer. In 48 years of driving and 45 of owing cars I've hardly ever been let down. I even had seven virtually trouble-free Renaults - but these were before 2000 when quality slipped for a time. I think that when my F-registered Espace blew a head gasket at over 100,000 miles (forgivable) in about 1992, that was the last time I called out the AA. (Furiously touching wood....)
I've been lucky - I've had my cars from new: but I've tried to drive them with reasonable 'car sympathy'. A lot of the woes on here and HJ are from people whose cars have very probably been neglected or abused by previous owners. And as you say, people with bad news are understandably more likely to be vocal about it.
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>> them with reasonable 'car sympathy'. A lot of the woes on here and HJ are
>> from people whose cars have very probably been neglected or abused by previous owners.
There you go humph, your Renault espace woes were your fault.
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I can't talk about that. To this day I can't talk about that vile steaming pile of automotive excrement of an excuse for motor vehicle...
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I'm guessing the Espace was a diesel, and built between 2000 and 2005.
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Camshafts are a weak point in a lot of engines. But their functioning, positioning, the profiles of their lobes and so on have been the obsession of many an engine designer or builder to maximize breathing in exactly the right way...
Never seen one that wasn't visibly scuffed from the word go. I once had the pleasure of rebuilding a Lada 1200 engine including the top end with new camshaft and followers. It was a miracle the thing worked at all. The followers were made of cast iron and very heavy. They were supported at one end on ball posts whose adjustment was the way to adjust the valve clearances, but floated freely at the other being held on by wire clips.
When I got the car its black, filthy oil had never been changed and the balls on the ball posts were worn almost flat. Nevertheless it still ran, gave 24mpg and would do about 75 rather noisily. Renewing everything including the pistons didn't make all that much difference to the way the damn thing went.
Designed by rat-a rsed Ivans to be driven by rat-a rsed Ivans and maintained by rat-a rsed Ivans with a big hammer and a cold chisel. Unlike the much better Fiat 124 it superficially resembled.
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>> Hardly any better/quicker than a 2l 4cyl and used far more fuel.
The 2.3 V6 was a notorious dud. Oddly enough so was the BMW 2.3 litre straight six: the 323 was a disaster.
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>Let's have a few facts in place of rosy(& sometimes inaccurate)memories.The Mk.III Cortina was never
>built in European production with a V6 engine.
Since the original post mentioning V6 Cortinas was mine I'll assume you are referring to my "rosy(& sometimes inaccurate)memories".
>South Africa built the Cortina with the Essex V6 as an option.
If you read my post from last evening at 21:19 I think it will be pretty obvious where my V6 Cortinas were built.
Here's the only pic of my 3000GT that I can find at the moment. I must see if I've got others stashed in the loft somewhere.
tinyurl.com/oz5wmat
I also drove (but didn't own) the V8 Capri and Granada Coupe. The Capri Perana was a pig to drive on anything but dry tarmac so it was never a practical proposition for dirt roads. The Granada was an excellent long distance cruiser but I had the 3000GXL at the time and fancied a change so I bought the 3.0S
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Wiki reckons these were fitted with 4 litre engines in Australia.
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>> The Capri Perana was a pig to drive on anything but dry tarmac so it was never a practical proposition for dirt roads.
Factory hot rods, especially American ones, need fettling to unleash their true potential.
In Two-Lane Blacktop, the definitive American car movie, the two oily-fingered teenage enthusiasts making a living by drag racing their lightweight, almost silhouette, 56 Chevy-based road tractable dragster, meet up with an idiot* with a new Pontiac GTO, factory top model, 7 litres or something. The boys long to get their hands on the 'Detroit iron' and improve it a bit.
'Get some lowered springs and beefed up shocks on there, yee-HAH!'
*It's torturing me not remembering the actor's name. Very good performance, like most of his (whoever he is).
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>> 'Get some lowered springs and beefed up shocks on there, yee-HAH!'
Actually they are much cooler than that, and they probably aren't teenagers any more either. Of course they would do what they could for suspension and brakes, but they would be very keen on stripping out all trim and trying to get rid of a few body panels too, before lavishing tubular manifolds, straight-through exhausts, huge four-barrel Holley carburettors, 11 to 1 compression ratios, balanced steel crankshafts and all that carp on the engine, with straight cut indestructible screaming crash gears and a brutal lsd to match.
They don't say any of that in the movie though. It's awfully good if anyone hasn't seen it.
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Gurgle is your constant companion, M' Lud......
www.imdb.com/title/tt0067893/
HO
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>> Gurgle is your constant companion
>>> www.imdb.com/title/tt0067893/
Thank you Horatio... of course Warren Oates played GTO, the name I couldn't remember.
Even largely obscured by the film title, that Chevy (55 not 56) just looks so beautiful...
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>> Thank you Horatio... of course Warren Oates played GTO, the name I couldn't remember.
.....and Wallace Oakes was the train driver who received a posthumous George Cross at Winsford in 1965 !
HO
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Ford - Mk3 Cortina advert - henry k
