It's the new Mark 4 Cortina!

[MorrisItalSLX]

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.

 

D1000096.JPG

 

D1000098.JPG

 

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

The big bumpers do look quite odd.

 

I love big Aussie wrecking yards, acres of fun. Do you have many other photos?

[Datsuncog]

I love big Aussie wrecking yards, acres of fun. Do you have many other photos?

 

Yup, shitloads taken one unforgettable afternoon at the legendary Flynn's Yard outside Cooma, up in the Snowy Mountains...

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/datsuncog/albums/72157601083714359

 

I uploaded a fair few of them to Flickr when I had a Pro account about ten years back, but have done nowt since. I should probably get a thread going here, since there were loads more I couldn't be arsed uploading through a wired modem...

 

EDIT: superb short video of drone footage shot in Flynn's!

 

[quicksilver]

I'll just leave these here. Same guy also owns a beige Allegro and one of those Mini Clubman estates with the plastic wood trim so is clearly a winner.

1978 Ford Cortina 2.0 GL by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

1978 Ford Cortina 2.0 GL by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

A bASe on Sercks, does it get any better than this?

1979 Ford Cortina 1600 Base by Adam Floyd, on Flickr

 

Has JohnK still got his MkIV Tina, infamously A-framed home from SF16 by the roffle Samara?

 

Also never realised until now that Cortina 80 estates kept the shallower windows, which explains why they look so much longer and sleeker than the saloons. Autoshite is edyookashunal.

[Bren]

My mate had YRK408S. Grey primer, seats from a citroen cx and kingpin radials. It handled like a shot giraffe.

[danthecapriman]

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!

Pretty much this.

 

I absolutely love Cortina’s, always have done bizarrely even as a kid! Mk3,4,5 were very common when I was a kid, though they were older cars at the time but they and mk1/2 Granny’s always impressed me and stood out.

I actually much prefer the mk3 onwards to the earlier cars.

Pick of the lot for me would have to be a mk3, Imho they are an absolutely perfect looking car. The styling is spot on in my opinion.

This thread has not helped my severe want for a mk3 1.6GXL that I spotted which I have on good authority that might be up for sale. I want it badly!!

[Datsuncog]

Turkish Taunus.

 

 

You can blame this one in an Altinkum breaker's for spurring me on to blow my savings on NJW.

 

Still, it was a decent old load lugger, I'll give it that.

 

 

 

[DaveDorson]

my old man spent a lot of time and energy making a very rotten white UPD 235S into a maroon solid car.

 

He fitted a weber, the exhaust was basically welded up straight pipe with a mid silencer that was in my grandfathers garage, into a cherry bomb.

 

That was the first car I ever did more than 100mph in.

[danthecapriman]

Turkish Taunus.

 

DSC_0862.JPG

 

You can blame this one in an Altinkum breaker's for spurring me on to blow my savings on NJW.

 

Still, it was a decent old load lugger, I'll give it that.

 

Cortina 3.jpg

There were shit loads of those Taunus badged mk4/5’s over in northern Cyprus last time I went, some in use some seemingly left on waste land or the roadsides.

In south Cyprus there’s both Taunus and Cortina badged ones. Again, last time I went there were still lots around, most were battered with rough paint but little rust. I wonder...

[egg]

Never get in a strangers MKIV is my advice...

 

 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

My dad had a black MK5 Cortina 1.6 when I was about 8 or 9. Lovely car but the MK2 Sierra that replaced it was light years ahead.

 

Would happily own either now

 

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

 

That is just perfect.

 

 

 

[danthecapriman]

There were loads of these over in north Cyprus too,

 

Ford Taunus TC4 Turkey by Ale06, on Flickr

 

Ford Taunus tc4, made until 1994 apparently. Still looks like a Cortina but much more modern looking. I wouldn’t mind one.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

That is fucking dreadful. 

[danthecapriman]

That is fucking dreadful.

 

Ha!

It looks to me like a 70’s saloon car that someone’s half arsedly nailed some sort of 80’s style bodykit and other shit onto to ‘barry’ it up a bit. Unbelievable really that these were sold into the mid 90’s, later than the Cortina’s replacement lasted. We had the Mondeo by then and look how modern that looks compared to that Taunus.

Apparently they were made in Turkey for that part of the world, I don’t think anyone else got them, though wasn’t there something similar available from Argentina?

 

In a weird kinda way though I’d like one of those Taunus’! It’d go well in my fantasy garage of a mk3 and mk4.

[fordperv]

There were loads of these over in north Cyprus too,

 

Ford Taunus TC4 Turkey by Ale06, on Flickr

 

Ford Taunus tc4, made until 1994 apparently. Still looks like a Cortina but much more modern looking. I wouldn’t mind one.

Oh my royal fuck, a cortina with mk1 sierra headlamps

[NorfolkNWeigh]

In Argentina they had to put Sirra lights in their Cortinas, because they needed the Cortina lights and grilles for their 1961 Falcons.

 

Didn't realise they had a "Mark 5" version of the old German coupe though.

[Datsuncog]

Ha!

It looks to me like a 70’s saloon car that someone’s half arsedly nailed some sort of 80’s style bodykit and other shit onto to ‘barry’ it up a bit. Unbelievable really that these were sold into the mid 90’s...

 

Oh yes... I believe that there was indeed such a bodykit known as the Commander, if memory serves?

 

I recall them from the ads in the back of Max Power... and yes, I did briefly (very briefly) consider pricing one up as a solution for XOI's bodywork woes - but then realised I would still require some sort of sills and wheelarches onto which to glue the kit... so that was that out the window.

 

They really were utterly gash, and I never saw one in real life - just the line illustration in the back of MaxyP. How many of them could they even have been shifting by the mid-90s?

[fordperv]

Live the dream The commander kit is still available

 

[Spottedlaurel]

My dad had a solid (Venetian?) red 2.0GL as a company car back in the late '70s, I think he got it nearly-new from Candor in Colchester. Visible in the background here:

 

Cortinas and Civic in the snow, Boxford c.1979 by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

I don't remember too much about it, but it followed three Mk3s he had at various points beforehand.

 

This is probably the best Mk4 I've seen in recent years:

 

1979 Ford Cortina 2.0 Ghia and 1972 Bessacarr Caravan by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

[bunglebus]

I'd love a MK4 2.0S but they are a pretty rare beast. Someone needs to head to South America and fill a few containers with these though;

 

292207_1g_detail by RS, on Flickr

 

2518861155_48f3ab7df2_b by RS, on Flickr

 

2537567832_3fc36af7d0_b by RS, on Flickr

 

2555771227_f6facf492d_b by RS, on Flickr

 

2556031817_7b0d197a95_b by RS, on Flickr

 

3981196513_8cb149e7eb_b by RS, on Flickr

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Just a nice standard four door saloon for me please. Ideal spec - 2.0 GL in Jupiter red or a Ghia in Roman bronze, T9 box, some decent dampers, job done.

[sheffcortinacentre]

There are only 2 mk5 coupes known of (one ex embassy ) in Europe.

They had the American "lima" version of the OHC.

Those late otasan versions have a Sierra dash too they also made the P100 (it's the only way you could get one with lhd too).

I was parked next to the light blue mk4 last Sat at the "grand tour" filming day in Lincoln with my mk3 estate.

 

Have 2 mk5s in my fleet dove grey 4dr 1.6L ( bought new by my late father) & diamond white 1.6 GL auto crayford aswell as the 5 1/2 mk3s.

[Burnside]

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

 

My Dad had around the same time a similar experience with his Mk4 Cortina. I was only barely a year old then so I have no memories of it and my Dad never took any pictures. It was a 77/78 Red 4dr 1.6 base/L spec possibly. He only had it less than a year. The rust was pretty bad at around 7/8 years old. Sills were already welded and every panel bar the roof was rusty.

 

Highlights of ownership included a split floorpan along the gearbox tunnel that had to be welded up as was letting water in. Bootlid had to be replaced with a brown one from the local breakers after the bootlock fell through due to rust. Passenger front door fell off one night due to a rotton door post so had to be tied on till it was welded. Rear windows had to be propped up with wood due to rust.

 

But the worst thing was one Friday night my Dad was on his way home and stopped off to fill the tank up. Brimmed up he set off home and halfway back he heard a thud an scrapping noise. He pulled over thinking it was the exhaust that had fell off only to find it was the fully brimmed tank that had parted company due to the straps failing!

 

After getting that fixed my Dad decided he had enough and traded it in for a 3yr old Vauxhall Chevette Estate. He hammed the crap out the Cortina the day he drove it back down the A5 to trade it in and was barely running on fumes when he got there. Thinking he seen the last of it as he drove away he was surprised a week later to find a neighbour up the street had brought it.

 

The neighbour then brought four doors in Metallic Blue to replace the rotten one's and then had the car resprayed Red and fitted a Black vinyl roof.

 

It was also stolen regular by persons unknown before being dumped back home sometimes with more Petrol than it left with.

 

Despite all that my Dad said it was a great car to drive and although it nearly bbq my Dad I wouldn't mind one myself if I had the chance.

[Datsuncog]

Live the dream The commander kit is still available

 

ford_cortina_commander_bodykit.jpgcortina_underbumper_kit.jpg

 

That actually doesn't look quite as abysmal as I'd imagined. Maybe there's time yet for my teenage daydreams to become reality...

 

Those late otasan versions have a Sierra dash too they also made the P100 (it's the only way you could get one with lhd too).

 

Think I might have snapped a late P100 in that same Turkish scrappy:

 

 

Also a down-at-heel Taunus with the same quad-light nose lurking in the street:

 

[Guest Hooli]

I'd love a MK4 2.0S but they are a pretty rare beast. Someone needs to head to South America and fill a few containers with these though;

 

292207_1g_detail by RS, on Flickr

 

2518861155_48f3ab7df2_b by RS, on Flickr

 

2537567832_3fc36af7d0_b by RS, on Flickr

 

2555771227_f6facf492d_b by RS, on Flickr

 

2556031817_7b0d197a95_b by RS, on Flickr

 

3981196513_8cb149e7eb_b by RS, on Flickr

 

WANT! Those look great.

[anonymous user]

My brother had a Mk4 estate in JCB yellow, which replaced his Mk3 2000E Estate (metallic green with tan vinyl roof) The yellow one was always a lazy starter and often had to be rolled down the drive and bump started. One day it failed to bump start so got left on the verge which prompted a phone call from a neighbour across the valley asking if it could be moved as it was spoiling the view. My favourite was the Mk5 2.3 GL saloon which I did many miles in (could have done with a fifth gear). It was bought new by my brother's father in law, passed to my sister in law, I borrowed it for a year before buying it off my brother, sold it back to my brother, bought it back again and sold it back to him again before it eventually left the family. The first time my sister in law drove it she asked "what's that noise?" It was the wheels spinning.

[kinkersaab]

I still rermember as if yesterday sat in the back of my mates mums one  a 1.6 estate in grey with chrome wheel finnishers. KSL6X.  It had a red and yellow fisher price tape player for tunes . would have been mid 80s 

[Amishtat]

Our next door neighbour had mk.4 and 5 estates in the mid eighties, the mk.4 was beige and the other chocolate brown. I don't remember the registration of either because at the time I regarded his wife's white Mk.3 2000E much more highly. TOO200N lived until about 1988 and was the only Mk.3 locally not to have any different coloured panels.

Some years later as a student in Coventry I came across a dumped Mk.4 2.3. Ghia auto in an underground car park under the bowling alley on Ansty Road. It was caramel with a brown vinyl roof and was mint under at least a decade's worth of dust. I did try to find out who owned it but the council took it in the end. Also around this time (1999) there was a chap often seen round Foleshill with a tidy dark blue 1.6L mk.4, SDU4T I think.

[Bren]

I laugh at any link between cortina and performance. A 2.3 will just about get into three figures but will be running out of puff. They are about waftiness.

[cort16]

Aye they’re all just okay . They handle okay as long as all the suspension and subframe bushes haven’t dissolved and in the case of mine all the shocks aren’t frozen solid.