Trigger's Mk3 Cortina

[In The Pit]

It has been mentioned but the website for you to join now is http://www.buysellcortina.co.uk/home.htm the people on there are very friendly and quick with advise and help ive been a member since 2004 (albeit under a different user name). Im sure someone on there can point you in the direction of some MKIII seats. A person on there may even be familiar with the car.

[Guest]

For those that dont know these are "Tombstone" seats. Dont know if they are still there or not - think they were £80 the pair needing a refurb to drivers seat.

[sierravanman]

Hi Trig...just to say if its of any interest to you,I have a secondhand blue XL seat base for the rear and a new cover for the back of a front seat(its not perfect though).I would have a pair of XL/GXL front seats,and the rear upright,but not necessarily all in blue...too many seats in too big a mess...and not enough time to look.

You're more than welcome to them if you wish....I'm not a million miles away from you,and best of luck with the car !

[trigger]

Hi Sierravanman, That's very kind of you, I'm still a bit undecided what to do with mine at the moment, the trouble is the rear seat is mint but it's been painted with vinyl paint, it looks good but cream looks out of place and the front seats although modern are really comfy and don't look out of place.

 

I'm thinking of buying some vinyl paint and repainting the rears again and doing the front leather ones, What this look stupid or not and would it even work?

[sierravanman]

Hi Trig.....regret I'm no expert on these paints.If your seats have been painted,I have no idea if you can paint over that.I have only ever used Vinylcote ,which dyes them rather than paints them.I guess if they have been vinylcoted then you can do that again and simply dye them another colour.I have no idea if you can paint over paint...if you see what I mean.

I was thinking ,if you wanted to return the seats to original,I could offer some already blue bits and the rest another colour,which you could then dye blue to match.I know Vinylcote went bust,but Woolies do it now,and it works well.

If you want to keep the front seats,I would suggest trying perhaps some thinners and see if the 'paint' comes off...then you could get it all off and repaint it.If its dye...it shouldn't come off and can be dyed again.

[retrogeezer]

I doubt the vinyl would be too happy with having thinners on it, you will just end up with a sticky/smelly mess!

[sierravanman]

Applied sparingly on a rag and it'll be fine...trust me I'm a doctor

[M'coli]

* try on an unseen area first. Try to find out what brand of vinyl paint was used, then post up that information and any safety data sheets - I'm sure there are enough decent chemists on here could tell you from that what's the least aggressive solvent that will help to remove it.

[trigger]

I've been keeping busy this week, now a funny thing happened on Thursday, I popped into a local garage where a bloke I know works who owns a Mk3, as I pulled up a chap in a 306 Estate pulls up behind, he's only got a brand new N/S front wing for a Mk3 in the boot which has been in his loft 40 years!, He said he was going to put it on ebay but wondered if I was interested, My mate bought it in the end for £50.

 

He's going to keep it as a spare for his Mk3 but he said if I want it I can have it for £50 so I might take him up on that as mines got a big filer repair on both sides by the "A" post and the scuttle.

 

I've now removed the ugly tow bar from the rear and filled the holes with rubber grommets, I've autosol polished some of the chrome and polished a few panels, The chrome is good but the paintwork isn't great in the flesh, It's still better then it was though.

 

I've now changed the rubbish original Philips radio for the "high quality" brand new Sakura tape unit i bought of ebay, It was made around the early 80's I think but as it only cost me £2 so I'm not complaining, It took a while to wire up as I changed the cigarette lighter at the same time as the original one is really long and won't accept modern phone chargers, I ended up stripping half the dash out to change it, what a job!.

 

The only problem with the new radio is the inference from the engine noise, It's been years since I've heard a car suffer from that!.

 

Yesterday I removed the indicators to clean them as there was primer on them and found that the amber centres removed so I popped into my local motor factors and bought a pair of amber bulbs and left the original centre off, I think the clear indicators really suit the colour now.

 

I've still got plenty more to do but it's coming on now, This afternoon i went to my wife works car park to take a few photos, enjoy.

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

The "new" radio!

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

That's the top of Ipswich Town FC behind.

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[dollywobbler]

Nice photography Trig! (well, apart from the lurid LSD flashback one!) As you say, looks great with the amber bulbs. It's absolutely the best colour for a Mk3 I reckon. Sets off the shiny chrome bits perfectly.

[trigger]

  dollywobbler said:

Nice photography Trig! (well, apart from the lurid LSD flashback one!).

 

Thanks!, I was trying to create one of those 70's trippy shots, it didn't really work, Have another instead!

 

My 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

[dollywobbler]

Cor. What a sky! A photographer's dream.

[warren t claim]

Does anyone know what the rarest type of Mk3 left in existence is?

[trigger]

God knows, I shouldn't have thought there's many 1300 Base's left, they must have been pretty depressing drive even when new.

[eddyramrod]

At a guess, I'd say a two-door 2000GT.

[trigger]

2 Door 2000 GT's are the holy grail amongst Mk3 circles I've discovered from their owners club forum.

[Shep Shepherd]

Can't imagine that many 2000E estates are left.

[Shep Shepherd]

  trigger said:

God knows, I shouldn't have thought there's many 1300 Base's left, they must have been pretty depressing drive even when new.

 

They got even worse when they were fitted with the 'sonic idle' carb in 1975

[warren t claim]

  Shep Shepherd said:

  trigger said:

God knows, I shouldn't have thought there's many 1300 Base's left, they must have been pretty depressing drive even when new.

 

They got even worse when they were fitted with the 'sonic idle' carb in 1975

 

My family ran a fleet of them back in the 70s and they weren't that bad really. Very reliable up to 3 years/80,000 miles.

[Jordan T]

I would have thought the 1300 Base Estate car would have been the rearest or the even the 1600 GT (Didnt they once make a 1600 GXL??)

[eddyramrod]

  Jordan T said:

(Didnt they once make a 1600 GXL??)

 

Yes, and there's a yellow example in my "Never go out..." thread!

[oman5]

I owned a mk3 1300 once upon a time. Not THAT bad, they had lower gearing to give the poor x-flow a fighting chance, but you wouldn't want to do any more than 70 as it was revving so hard. I found it no better on fuel than the 1600 pinto.

IIRC they also had a habit of cracking the cam followers and also fuming from the rocker cover after about 80k

[trigger]

I spend this afternoon today going over the bodywork with a mop i bought of Amazon thanks to a recommendation from Cavcraft's valeting division. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-Silv ... 999&sr=8-1).

 

I also invested in a new decent Farecla mop head for £6.99 of ebay and a bottle of Farecla G3, I have already given the car a bit of a hand rub with some autoglym when i bought it but the paintwork still liked very tired, as you would expect for a 38 year old car.

 

I used to mop cars 10 years ago so i knew what to expect but I did forget what hard work it is!, If i did it for living everyday I'd have arms like popeye!.

 

Polishing my 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

I made sure i used plenty of water as you have to be careful not to burn the paint and go through it, I used the mop on the lowest setting, 1, that seemed plenty quick enough for what i need.

 

Polishing my 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

Sadly you can see the poor aerosol repairs a bit clearer now as the paint they used seems more silver but It does look 1000% times better then it did before.

 

Polishing my 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

You should be able to see how much better the paint looks i hope even from this mobile phone photo, I then went over the whole car again by hand with some Autovalet supplies polish which i bought in a 5Lt can form 12 years ago and is still doing well, It's the best polish I've ever used, really good shit like yo.

 

I then finished by scrubbing the vinyl roof with a nail brush before drying and spraying some autoglym vinyl and rubber spray on and cleaning the glass and tyres, I'm pleased with the results.

 

Polishing my 1974 Ford Cortina 2000 XL by Trigger's Retro Road Tests!, on Flickr

 

The bodywork still isn't perfect, The top of both wings has been badly filled and need welding, the bonnet needs painting, the rear quarter has a annoying dent as does the boot and there's lots of aerosol repairs but it's much more presentable now i think.

 

 

The next big problem is the seats, The rear seat has been badly sprayed with vinyl paint and has now started to flack off, I'm so pissed off with this but i won't go there, Now I've had lots of people give me advice on how to fix them but i really still don't know what's best.

 

I have three options.

 

1) try using thinners to remove the old paint and dye then navy blue again.

 

My worry with this is that the thinners could damage the vinyl and could also damage the stitching by making it rot.

 

2) Try rubbing them down somehow and respraying them again but in navy blue.

 

This could ended up looking a right sod with paint over paint.

 

3) Get them retrimmed.

 

I'm not made of money!, This would be expensive, at least £300 at a guess?.

 

Anyone with experience of this type of thing got any ideas?.

[boobydoo]

I know close up you mention several imperfections, but from the photos that car looks blummin lovely! I can imagine a good mopping has improved it no end. We get charged £100 from a local bodyshop for a whole car mop one one of our used Mercs....it's well worth it in my opinion, particularly on black cars.

 

Not sure what to advise about the interior. I had a local woman who did a SUPERB job re-colouring seats. She transformed tired old leather on an old Vauxhall Viscount I had into virtually as new! We used her for all our Mercs and a friend of mine who sold Astons did aswell. Unfortunately her husband is very ill with cancer so she doesn't do it any more.

[trigger]

I'm amazed at how much a quick mop has transformed the car, It really does look $100 now, from a tired old car to a cherished classic car, The imperfections are there but don't stand out like they did before which is good as well.

 

I'm thinking of rubbing the rear seat down with a scouring pad and repainting it again with vinyl paint but i suspect the old paint will start flaking away from the vinyl taking the new paint with it and it looking even worse then it does now.

 

I popped into the petrol station this morning and had a lorry driver getting very excited by it!, This rarely happened in the Kadett, everyone has a Cortina story to tell!

[CortinaDave]

They do. I get accosted almost every time i go for petrol in my mk4.

 

The conversation is always exactly the same - "Nice car, there cant be many of those left now"

 

me : " no they're a bit thin on the ground these days"

 

Joe Public: " Isn't it hard to get spares for?"

 

Me:" no you'd be surprised what you can still get if you look hard enough"

 

Joe P:" I used to have one/my dad had one but we scrapped it/sold it to banger racers. Wish we hadn't"

 

Me: " ah well , shame... anyway nice to meet you"

 

REPEAT next time you need petrol, every time you go anywhere in a Cortina

[cort16]

triggleston, have a look at this. Probably not as harsh as using thinners anyway.

 

http://www.ehow.com/how_5182927_remove-vinyl-paint.html

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Goo-Gone-Decal-Adhesive-Remover-Removal-UK-8oz-/390214072439?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5ada923877

[MrDuke]

And every 2nd or 3rd conversation, add:

 

Joe P: "And you don't pay any tax on it either!"

 

Me: "Oh ffs....."

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Yo Trig!!! That looks the mutts nuts. Great work!!!! I am gonna get my Argenta and MOP ITS ASS BIG TIME to brighten it up after seeing this. As for the seats, I reckon you’ve gotta get that paint off the vinyl before owt else can happen with it. I have heard folk have had mega results with that ‘vinylkote’ dye stuff, but thats not gonna work on a painted surface i wouldn’t have thought. Who in their right mind spray-paints a vinyl seat i wonder. They should be punished. I don’t think you’ll harm the vinyl with a bit of thinners to be honest, and it will evaporate off long before the stitching gets time to rot (obv don’t splash it all over ‘Arry).

[trigger]

Thanks for the link Cort, that first link sounds helpful, I might try and find some of that Grog stuff they mention and give that a try.

 

Bo1, it's well worth wazzing the polisher over the Argenta, it doesn't take long if you knuckle down with it and it feels very rewarding stepping back and looking at the fruits of your labour.

 

I've heard good things about that Vinylkote stuff, I reckon I'll buy that and give it go, I still can't believe the guy i bought the car of, who's a Cortina "expert", painted the rear seat, I'm so fucking angry about it.