It's the new Mark 4 Cortina!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Bloody weird looking back - 42 years now. Been, gone, crushed, bangered, shredded.

 

[Datsuncog]

I bloody loved the Mk IV. I fell in love with an absolute heap abandoned down a sidestreet on my walk to school, at the age of 11. UKS249T; Jupiter Red with a tattered black vinyl roof. Despite being more holes than car, I schemed and schemed about how I could possibly make it mine.

Then, one day, it was gone. Just like that.

There were a handful of other MkIVs kicking around locally in the early 90s, but one by one they all vanished from the streets of Bangor and ended up in a three-car stack in Bobby Shaw's yard. By the time I was close enough to the magic 17th birthday for my whining to succeed, there were no MkIVs about and I had to settle for a beat-to-shit MkV/Cortina 80. But the MkIV looked so much better with the slim chrome bumpers and delicate rear lights, I reckoned.

I'd still have a hankering for a proper MkIV even now, despite the fact I've owned a few MkVs and they've all just disintegrated on me.

Maybe I'm better off with my 1/43 Vanguards version - at least it won't crumble away...

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

You're right, the IV was a better looker. The GL/Ghia on the sports steel wheels was the best looking IMO. Roman Bronze or Jupiter red looked epic. 

[bigstraight6]

I remember 2 work colleagues back in 1984 having 1977 MK4 Cortinas, they were both hanging with rust and didn’t last another year..

[drivewaymyway]

Was the MKV a facelift of MKIV ? Was it just a styling change ? I had two mates with MKV, one was a Ghia and the other a GL both 1.6, the Ghia was a BOS so the interior found it's way into the GL but the Ghia had a Blue printed 2.0 from a Crappi and was impressively slow compared to MK3 Escort and MKI Fiestas considering how much work and money had been thrown at it.. I ended up with the GL / GHIA but with the 1.6 dog thrown back into it, a bloody hoot to drive because of it's sea going suspension and 4 speed on the floor which was under the floor on the way back from a drinking binge Friday night ( them were the days ), when the gearbox mount broke and the mini gearstick disappeared through the floor, I had to put my hand down into the tunnel to change gear.. I also had plastic race style anti tramp bushes and stiffer springs and standard wheels that would step out just by twitching the steering wheel.. The seats were so low and the dash so high you needed a thick cushion to see out.. Fuel economy was measured in gallons to the mile and although the temp gauge always read normal the bloody thing used to Kettle something rotten, When I was finished with the car I decided to brick it so placed a brick on the throttle, started it up and went down the shops for a bag of crisps, when I came back 20 mins later it was still going like a screaming banshee with rusty water blowing out of every possible hose joint and rad cap.. I took the brick off and left it boiling over for an hour, went back out, put 5/6 litres of water in it and it started fine.. apart from that the body was rust free after having been rebuilt by the previous owner, new rear 1/4s, front wings, windscreen, sills, and a respray in bright red coupled with the cream fabric Ghia interior it looked the biz but back in 1990 I couldn't give it away after buying it for £50 with an MOT the only taker was the local Banger Racers, even the Scrappy wanted to charge to take it away.. If it was today the body would have been a grand on it's own because it had no rust at all.. Happy Days...

[cort16]

Pretty much the same. The mk5 has a taller roof so the mk4 doors bolt on but are too short .

[dollywobbler]

Yeah, Mk5 was just a tweaked Mk4. Wasn't it internally just known as the Cortina 80? 

 

Best bit is that the estates were pretty much still Mk3s - same as Mk2 Escort estates that were still just Mk1s with a new nose.

[Isaac Hunt]

Mate of mine had a MKIV 2.3 Ghia Auto in 'Mushy Pea Green' with Beige Interior.

 

It was only a stop gap cos the RS2000 had been through a wall backwards.

 

The Cortina had been to the moon a back via the taxi ranks of B'ham but it was still a smooth ride.

 

Can't remember the last time I saw a MK4 on the road and they were everywhere

[mercrocker]

I think early publicity for the "Mk V" did actually refer to Cortina 80.  I wasn't privy to internal Ford stuff so can only have seen it publicly - it was definitely back around the release time.    

I did spy a bunch of brochures for the MkIV, though, in a skip at the Opel Dealership where I worked the pumps in September 1976.   It was before the official announcement date - there must have been hundreds of the bloody things.   The garage had held a Ford franchise in recent years so I guess they got sent there automatically (no computer to blame back then).   Should have fished 'em out, really, but even back then I had my head in the Fifties and didn't think I would ever be interested in New Cortinas. 

 

Only ever had one Cortina and that was a Mk IV - 1.6L, bought at auction for £30 and sold a while later for a ton.   The only car I ever turned a quid on.....

[Cavcraft]

My had a beige (Sandglow) 1.6L estate, PEM 120T. Still on database, last taxed in 1991 though. It replaced his Mk3 1.6L estate and it was ace, got a real buzz when he first came home in it.

[cort16]

I’ve had 4

 

1980 early mk5 1.6L

1982 mk5 1.6 crusader

1978 mk4 2.3 Ghia

My current 1977 mk4 2 dr BASE but with 2.0 pinto and 5 speed transplant

 

I’ve has loads more 5 series BMW’s.I might need to change my name to cort520i

I fancy selling the mk4 and trying to get a nice original mk5 but prices are all over the shop.

[junkyarddog]

Pretty much , the same the mk5 has a taller roof so the mk4 doors bolt on but are too short .

Ford also did the same trick with the Sierra.

 

I had a decentish mk4 at one time.

 

Sold it to a Sierra owner for its good pinto lump.

 

Quite regret that now,it was a nice old car.

[mk2_craig]

This was recently 4 SAIL. It sold quickly!!

 

[CortinaDave]

Still got mine. 2.0S Still sitting in the same shed its been in since 2011..Still needs more spent on it to get it back on the road than I ever have available

[fordperv]

I do love a nice mk4, father fp had a great one, it started as a light metallic blue 2.3ghia with dark blue velour interior, the panels had tin worm so good scrap yard collection panels in any colour were fitted, he built and fitted a modified 2.8, the mechanical were great but the car looked like crap because of the multiple colours, it was the perfect sleeper with its 1.6L badge on the boot, he had numerous tinas but this is the one that will always stick in my mind

 

Here it is

[Uncle Jimmy]

Fucking dreadful piles of festering shit. Would though...

[bunglebus]

Love the MK4 way more than the 5, lower roofline, nicer bumpers and lights etc etc. Might be slightly biased by my dad's 2.0S which used to make me carsick and was scrapped due to rust at 10 years old - loved it though. AMD253T

 

Image 45_zps9bkuynfa by RS, on Flickr

 

Image 44_zpsrpktdioz by RS, on Flickr

 

Image 43_zpsv5o7s928 by RS, on Flickr

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Mine were:

 

 

1.6L VGN655R, Venetian red

1.6L RMB90V Mark 5, Fjord blue

DTF455V, Beige 1.6L Mark 5

VBW818V Midnight blue 2.0 GLS

JJO40W White 1.3L 4 door Diamond white 

 

 

All gone now.

[Bren]

We had REF795X. Rusty at less than 10 years old. Sitting in the back of one was like being jammed arse first into a letter box.

[vaughant]

A school mates grandad had a MK4 2.3ghia in jrg with a brown tan roof and brown interior. I thought it was the absolute BOLLOX apart from when it used to fill up the footwells to almost the sill plates with water from a leaky sunroof. Stood for years outside their house after he died then got scrapped no doubt.

Solid thing to look at, not rotten anywhere visible.

I think his mum had the 2.3 S version as well (if that was a thing).

[I_am_Diesel]

My second car back in late 1987 was a Mk IV, a 1.6 GL  which was an absolute limo compared to the Mini it replaced.

 

I barried it up with some Hella spot lamps and sprayed the back panel Satin Black like a 2.0 S.

 

It was killed due a combination of rust and the fact my brother accidentally reversed an ERF B Series over the arse end.

 

AOL880T, you will never be forgotten.

[MorrisItalSLX]

I do like me a MK4/5 'Tina.

 

Prices are pretty good here in Australia, especially compared to Ford Falcons/Holden Kingswoods/Chrysler Valiants of the same era.

 

But they are much rarer than the above mentioned competitors, most Ford buyers people shied away from the 4 cylinder Cortina in favour of a 6 cylinder Falcon. The majority of surviving Cortinas here have had a 6 or even 8 cylinder heart transplant.

 

Time to check out eBay again...

[MorrisItalSLX]

Here is your average Aussie Cortina

 

 

Typical engine swap for Falcon Straight 6

 

 

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ford-te-cortina-1977-250-xflow-4-spd-manual-falcon-gt-V8-Holden-Chev-Valiant/283235451747?hash=item41f2260363:g:Z8sAAOSwpw5bzmbS:rk:4:pf:0

[bolognasal spray]

We were always an Escort family. I envied the Cortina families because their cars generally had bigger engines, and - in the mkIII - ace looks.

[adw1977]

I think his mum had the 2.3 S version as well (if that was a thing).

The 2.3 S certainly was a thing - must have been a thing of envy for most Cortina owners.

 

https://flic.kr/p/cGwP49

[SierraMikeHotel]

These were absolutely everywhere when I was little, always looking as rough as the ones bunglebus and fordperv posted. They all just seemed to disappear overnight.

 

I guess the equivalent now is a gaffer-taped up mk1 Mondeo.

 

Great-looking cars, I always think - just the perfect three box saloon.

[Guest Hooli]

I miss these, they were proper cars. They looked good, drove ok & you could fix them, everything a car should be.

 

Plus RWD is for winnahs!

[Captain Furious]

Fond memories of the Mk5 2.3 Ghia we had as kids.  Fairly rare beast even back then and as a kid, where the only relevant measure of performance is engine size, one of the fasterist cars on the road.  Certainly it was the fastest of all my mates dads' cars "what, you reckon your dad's Montego Turbo is faster, behave, its only a 2.0..." 

 

As I mature though, I find myself liking the Mk4 more.  I still view spotting a 2.3 Ghia at shows as the holy grail.

 

My old man never really wanted it though, he was pressured into having it by my mum who thought a Mk2 Granada was too large.  He eventually got his Granada, citing the need for "more room for the kids" - checkmate.

[Datsuncog]

My MkV/Cortina 80s.

Utter nail of a 1980 1.6L, XOI4276, in Meadow Green and bought for £80. What I didn't realise was that the previous owner was planning on bundling all his parking fines and unlicenced vehicle penalties in with it, which was great fun* to sort out.

In a fit of enthusiasm, I knocked out all the filler and set about it with my shiny new angle grinder with a wire knot attachment to remove the black Hammerite tidemark... only to find there was substantially less car behind it than I'd originally thought.

Still, it gave me a fair bit of practice in tinkering with engines and setting points and whatnot, even though I was too young to drive the thing. I then briefly owned a (possibly even worse) 1975 Mini Clubman, before admitting defeat and buying a 1973 Viva HC which was also fairly ropey but seemed to offer some vague hope of serving as actual transport one day - so off went the Cortina to a chap on a farm for £100 - where no doubt it received a full nut-and-bolt concours restoration and is now carefully stored in a climate controlled bubble.

Or so Iike to fantasize.

 

NJW605X was advertised on Car and Classic, and came up in a search when I came home from a holiday in Turkey craving a Cortina (having been exposed to so many Otosan-built Taunuses out there) - a 2.0 GL estate in Crystal Green (so the same bodyshell and panels as the MkIV, and effectively the same tailgate and rear section as the MkIII, as DW mentioned upthread).

It was in Glasgow, and although the seller was very open that "it's not as good as it looks in the photos, they do flatter it", I still jumped on a plane by myself and rocked up to his place in Cambuslang with a big envelope stuffed with £50 notes. It ran (slightly rough); it was quite bubbly in a few places; and I hadn't really made any plans beyond getting to the vendor. So naturally I bought it, sputtered over to Troon and paid for a ferry crossing to Larne, with the dawning realisation that maybe this wasn't the wisest move...

I ran it for about 18 months, during which time several bits broke, a theft attempt destroyed the steering column, and it became clear that for some reason the exhaust was impossible to make gas-tight, despite a whole new system and manifold. It ran worse and worse, stalling repeatedly on every run (then refusing to restart), and a loss of compression meant it struggled badly on hills. The bodywork was also disappearing into holes, and when I eventually decided that enough was enough and advertised it for sale, a putative buyer demonstrated that it had no inner wings left and the sills weren't far behind...

I sold it to a local Cortina enthusiast for less than half what I'd paid (and who, on the test drive, asked "you do know the timing's completely out, don't you?" - perhaps explaining the running problems), but a few months later it was up on Car and Classic again, somewhere up in the Sperrins at a somewhat optimistic price - now lacking its Hella grille but having gained a broad black coachstripe up the side... and since it's now listed as off the road since 2014 with no SORN or export marker, I'm going to assume it's... also received a full nut-and-bolt concours restoration and is now carefully stored in a climate controlled bubble by someone too forgetful to inform the DVLA.

And yet... if a Jupiter Red MkIV came up, I'd still get a bit excited - even though I'm sure Ford Tax has pushed them well beyond sensible money now, for something that wasn't exactly a phenomenal driving experience (the clutch on my 2.0 was monstrously heavy while driving in traffic which, living in central Belfast, I did every day). Still, a man's gotta dream...

[Datsuncog]

On 11/1/2018 at 6:03 AM, MorrisItalSLX said:

I do like me a MK4/5 'Tina.

 

Prices are pretty good here in Australia, especially compared to Ford Falcons/Holden Kingswoods/Chrysler Valiants of the same era.

 

But they are much rarer than the above mentioned competitors, most Ford buyers people shied away from the 4 cylinder Cortina in favour of a 6 cylinder Falcon. The majority of surviving Cortinas here have had a 6 or even 8 cylinder heart transplant.

 

Time to check out eBay again...

Saw very, very few TD/TE Cortinas while I was over there - the US federal-spec touches were a bit odd, being so different to what I was used to seeing.

Clearly it was the TC/MkIIIs that caught my eye at this breakers!