My Dad had one for years, sold it to a neighbor, and he drove it for years. It was a two door, 4 speed standard stick shift. First car I ever drove on the road. Gravel, but none the less , a road. I would buy one in a flash given the opportunity. Reliable, and tough.
I had one also, very exciting to drive, steering was perfect, gear box perfect and nice little engine never missed a beat. The body was solid too. Great car, I still miss it.
My family bought one of the very earliest Cortinas brought into New Zealand in CKD form in early 1963. It was a Cortina Deluxe 1200 in French blue with light tan interior. That was a FANTASTIC car for the time. It had tons of pick up due to it's light weight and the ultra responsive free turning three bearing crank engine. The later five bearing crank models (1300 and 1500) were higher internal friction engines and they just didn't feel as 'sporty' and lively as did the 1200. They tested a Mk2 Cortina Super 1500 to see if they wanted to upgrade to it, but it was so sluggish by comparison with the 1200, that the 1200 remained with us until it was finally replaced in 1967 with a Mk1 Triumph 2000. I still remember the 1200's number plate BJ3341 and it was the car I learned to drive in mid 1966. In those days the correct maintenance called for a recurring 500 mile valve grind due to the terrible sulphurous high lead petrols used in NZ at that time. You knew it was time when the engine began to 'pink' due to carbon build up in the combustion chambers and piston crowns. Each time the car came back from the local workshop it felt like a sportscar again. It had so much power that it could keep up neck in neck at the traffic lights from a standing start with the 2.6 litre 6 cylinder Vauxhall PAX Velox. An AMAZING little fun car.
I remember my parents owning one of these till a lady came around a corner over a brow of a hill on the wrong side of the road.......smash !!!! that was the sad end to that car which my parents both loved. Think they had only recently had a new engine put in as well. No seat belts back then as I recall as we were flung around a bit in the back during the accident.
Cortinas and Capris best cars ever made .. the only people that diss Fords are usually devout Vauxhall owners ..Not many will be rushing out to buy a Chevette , Astra or Cavalier .. maybe the SRI's and the GTE's get a slight nod but they will never be a Lotus Cortina or an Aston Martin Tickford Capri :)
My dad had one in green with the white roof, standard shift gear stick as he didn,t like "column" control, his had the 1200 engine ,but as we know it was very heavy bodied like a "tank" therefore because of the body to engine power ratio, the 1500, was more "econimical"because of that extra bit of "H.P.!! built like a tank and reliable,
In the early 1970s I was in the West Yorkshire Police and our 'divisional car' was the Cortina. It was fast ! Loved it... I never owned one myself... I had an A35 van... I run a 2017 Toyota Camry 2.5 now (In Wisconsin), and it is million times better then any UK car of the 60s/70s.. In Leeds Police I drove the Vauxhall Viva which boiled all the time and blew head gaskets... It was a replacement for the Velocette Noddy Bike... British motorbikes were junk too compared to today's Kawasakis which are techno miracles... Zero nostalgia for 60s/70s stuff
Typically of such people, nobody made such a suggestion. It is all an imagination of a pilgrim who don't know how to keep their own mind in order and make their problems everyone else's problem as well. Jesus Christ loves you and paid the same price for you as He did for me.
My late father owned four cortina gt s,beautiful cars,hope to buy one some day,South Africa
My Dad had one for years, sold it to a neighbor, and he drove it for years. It was a two door, 4 speed standard stick shift. First car I ever drove on the road. Gravel, but none the less , a road. I would buy one in a flash given the opportunity. Reliable, and tough.
I had one also, very exciting to drive, steering was perfect, gear box perfect and nice little engine never missed a beat. The body was solid too.
Great car, I still miss it.
Mine was a 1964 Cortina Consul 644
My family bought one of the very earliest Cortinas brought into New Zealand in CKD form in early 1963. It was a Cortina Deluxe 1200 in French blue with light tan interior. That was a FANTASTIC car for the time. It had tons of pick up due to it's light weight and the ultra responsive free turning three bearing crank engine. The later five bearing crank models (1300 and 1500) were higher internal friction engines and they just didn't feel as 'sporty' and lively as did the 1200. They tested a Mk2 Cortina Super 1500 to see if they wanted to upgrade to it, but it was so sluggish by comparison with the 1200, that the 1200 remained with us until it was finally replaced in 1967 with a Mk1 Triumph 2000. I still remember the 1200's number plate BJ3341 and it was the car I learned to drive in mid 1966. In those days the correct maintenance called for a recurring 500 mile valve grind due to the terrible sulphurous high lead petrols used in NZ at that time. You knew it was time when the engine began to 'pink' due to carbon build up in the combustion chambers and piston crowns. Each time the car came back from the local workshop it felt like a sportscar again. It had so much power that it could keep up neck in neck at the traffic lights from a standing start with the 2.6 litre 6 cylinder Vauxhall PAX Velox. An AMAZING little fun car.
I remember my parents owning one of these till a lady came around a corner over a brow of a hill on the wrong side of the road.......smash !!!! that was the sad end to that car which my parents both loved. Think they had only recently had a new engine put in as well. No seat belts back then as I recall as we were flung around a bit in the back during the accident.
Cortinas and Capris best cars ever made .. the only people that diss Fords are usually devout Vauxhall owners ..Not many will be rushing out to buy a Chevette , Astra or Cavalier .. maybe the SRI's and the GTE's get a slight nod but they will never be a Lotus Cortina or an Aston Martin Tickford Capri :)
My dad had one in green with the white roof, standard shift gear stick as he didn,t like "column" control,
his had the 1200 engine ,but as we know it was very heavy bodied like a "tank" therefore because of the body to engine power ratio, the 1500, was more "econimical"because of that extra bit of "H.P.!!
built like a tank and reliable,
In the early 1970s I was in the West Yorkshire Police and our 'divisional car' was the Cortina. It was fast ! Loved it... I never owned one myself... I had an A35 van... I run a 2017 Toyota Camry 2.5 now (In Wisconsin), and it is million times better then any UK car of the 60s/70s.. In Leeds Police I drove the Vauxhall Viva which boiled all the time and blew head gaskets... It was a replacement for the Velocette Noddy Bike... British motorbikes were junk too compared to today's Kawasakis which are techno miracles... Zero nostalgia for 60s/70s stuff
Had 3 of them 1973 2000 XL auto,MK 4 2000S. MK 5 GLS estate.
My grandad had a mk1 cortina which was a 1500 but had a 1600 head on it
You could open it and start it with a lollipop spoon, and KJG232E that I had woulld start itself up if the weather was damp. Proper Dagenham dusbin.
Men and motors!!! As a LGBGTV8QT person I object to the assumption that only men are interested in motors.
Typically of such people, nobody made such a suggestion. It is all an imagination of a pilgrim who don't know how to keep their own mind in order and make their problems everyone else's problem as well. Jesus Christ loves you and paid the same price for you as He did for me.
Made someone make a fortune in filler
Yes like most cars of the era, they rusted badly.