Cortina Ghia fast lane magnificence.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

 

Was in the BMW on the M1 when this loomed large in my rear view - so I did the only right and proper thing, moved over and let it through. 2.0 Ghia and a very early Mark 5 (Cortina '80) in really nice condition. Good to see a 2 litre Corty being driven as it should be!

 

A side profile of this handsome beast....

 

[Guest]

Bloody sales reps!

[eddyramrod]

Sweet, I think I need another Cortina in my life...

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Boot full of samples.............but of what?

 

None of your sweaty arse 1.6L poverty here - 2.0 Ghia with alloys meant punch ups in the firms car park and internal memos.

[Cavcraft]

Bloody lovely that, 'V' plate is quite an early one isn't it?

[eddyramrod]

It is, you won't get a Mk5 any earlier. Mine was a W...

[Cavcraft]

My 2.0GL spackermatic was 'W' reg (TLY 243W iirc) and I had a 2.0 Ghia on a 'W' too.

[eddyramrod]

Here's mine, also 2.0GL Auto. I was actually offered the other one in the pic first, but chose the green one because it was an auto, the blue was manual. The grey panels on both cars are from the same scrapper. My car had been brush-painted in Modena Green, but I got a good deal on a respray, so I had it done in Peppermint, which Ford offered on the Mk4 but not the Mk5. This all happened 19 years ago, goodness! It's the car I bought with the payout from the black Princess.

[autofive]

i know that Cortina, think it came from the south coast originally

 

i ll pass on the pic links to the owner, he also used to own this 3 litre african import

 

 

i spotted this on the A1 today

 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

i spotted this on the A1 today

 

How awful.

 

 

I had three V plate Cortina V's. CBW818V was a midnight blue 2.0 GLS, DTF455V was a beige 1.6L and RMB90V was a Cork assembled 1.6L in Fjord blue.

My First Cortina V was a 1980 W plate 1.3L 4 door in Diamond white, can't recall the reg. It was slow but introduced me to the wonders of Cortina 4/5 motoring.

[Negative Creep]

Guess it's an excuse to post mine again

 

 

2.0l auto and absolute poverty spec. As seen outside the local job office circa early 1990s

[trigger]

I say a really tatty grey Triumph 2000 in the fast lane of the A14 heading towards Huntington direction yesterday on the opposite side of the carriageway, It looked like it had just driven out of a scene from The Sweeney as it past.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Guess it's an excuse to post mine again

 

 

2.0l auto and absolute poverty spec. As seen outside the local job office circa early 1990s

 

The Mark 4 is definitely the better looking car - love the early small rear lights.

[Pete-M]

[Lord Sterling]

Lovely, I do like a nice Cortina. Particularly that Mk5 Ghia. Very nice. Looks at home on the outside lane.

 

I remember a couple of young lads who occasionaly did delivery driving for my Dad in the early 90s, the lad had an early 82' Audi 80 which he eventually blew the engine on, he later got himself a Cortina.

[mattblack]

Well, if this is the 'here's me sitting on a MK4/5 Cortina' thread...

 

 

Oh, and it's the OUTSIDE lane, FFS...

[Louise2cv]

As someone who only ever liked MK 2 and 3 'tinas, I never payed attention to 4 and 5. Now I love the look of MK 4's. My questions:

 

1)How long were were Mk4s being made/sold?

2)What did they change to make it a Mk5 apart from putting horrible ugly oversized lights on?

 

I think that for a car essentially (as far as I can tell) the same shape the MK5 lights ruin the look that the MK 4 had.

[Albert Ross]

My Mother had a Cortina 80, MJN 197V (I think)......1.6L I seem to remember, it was in that "really nice" Highland Green. Looked like an inside out Mint Aero as it had brown tweed style seats.

 

Then she got a 2.0GL Estate in Tuscan Beige. RJF 475W That fucking flew. Tailgate opened once on the M3 at "about 70" and three Epson printers got sucked out.................. This was in 1981........ They were a tad expensive back then...... Turns out it had a faulty boot lock! Ford paid up!

[Cavcraft]

As someone who only ever liked MK 2 and 3 'tinas, I never payed attention to 4 and 5. Now I love the look of MK 4's. My questions:

 

1)How long were were Mk4s being made/sold?

2)What did they change to make it a Mk5 apart from putting horrible ugly oversized lights on?

 

I think that for a car essentially (as far as I can tell) the same shape the MK5 lights ruin the look that the MK 4 had.

1) 1977-1980 I think.

 

2) Bumpers as well as lights, though I seem to recall the Mk5 front wings were different to that of the Mk4. Interiors also got an update.

 

Stacks of fond memories with Cortinas including racing (and beating) a Porsche 924 who's owner was considerably pissed off about it. I was in a borrowed 2.3 Ghia manual at the time and the 924 driver followed for miles until he finally overtook me. Juas as I was turning into my road

[trigger]

My Mother had a Cortina 80, MJN 197V

I knew coming who had MJN 86V (Marina HLS Estate) and MJN 87V (Triumph Dollomite) from brand new, I think they might still even have then in the garden, They both came from Kennings in Colchester.

[Pete-M]

Differences between Mk4 and Mk5 Cortinas?

 

Front wings, bumpers, grille, front indicators, glass (higher roofline on Mk5), seats, mirrors, rear lights, back panel, centre console.

 

Mk5 Estates kept the Mk4 roofline and glass. Mk5 estate front doors used to be sought after by people who wanted the big mirrors on a Mk4 saloon.

[Angrydicky]

Cortinadave has a white MK4 2.0S but I don't think I've ever seen any pictures of it outside his avatar. How about it CD?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The Mark 5 also had the black top Pintos (black cam cover and cambelt guard) which had thinner piston rings and which lasted longer than the old blue tops. 1300 and 1600's (not Ghia) also had the VV variable venturi carb, and viscous fan couplings were used on all cars.

 

The Mk5 had a flatter roof skin, and although the roof is the same height, the windows on saloons were made taller and the seats (new) were made 2 inches taller as well.

Although it was fashionable for magazines to sneer at the Cortina, it was a pretty good car and an excellent motorway cruiser. The ride wasn't that great once laden and the handling was decidedly iffy at the limit, but they were a nice quiet and smooth thing to drive, largely reliable and pretty solid. The Mark 1 Cavalier was a better all rounder though.

[eddyramrod]

I never owned a Mk4, though I've driven them; had a Mk3 as previously mentioned and thought my Mk5 was much nicer in a soft-and-flabby sort of way... then I drove my first Sierra. Oh dear, how could a company that got the Cortina so right, get the replacement so wrong? My parents had two Sierras, both 2.0GL so comparable to my Mk5. The Mk5 was an unrecognisable improvement on the Sierra in every way. The Cavaliers were good, very eager, but the competitor I really liked was the Montego. It was let down only by being FWD, if you wanted to tow anything you had only one choice: Ford. This was before BMW and Mercedes decided to conquer the mass-market.

 

So, more Cortinas, guys, we love 'em! In fact... have some from Paphos.

This one is a bit of a hybrid, Mk5 taillights, Mk4 front.

Now this one is all Mk4, and I know where it is. In fact it's round the corner from where I'm sitting now! Apparently it's being stored for family reasons, because there isn't room where the current owner lives.

And a couple of random Cortinas just for pleasure; Mk2 turned up at an event our local club held in April, and Mk1 is just sitting quietly in a carport in Paphos. I do hope it gets restored. Can't be that many pre-facelift Mk1s knocking about.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Oh no, the Sierra was a much better car. the ride and handling were on a different planet and it was a lot better on fuel. I went straight from Cortina V's to early Sierras and the difference was startling. My first was a Y plate 1.6L in Crystal green with the 5 speed box and it was a good car. The interior was a bit cut price with the cardboard door trims.

[eddyramrod]

I can see us agreeing to disagree on this. I've made my position clear. I'd pay money for a Mk5, you'd have to pay me to take away a Sierra. Best to let this dog lie, I reckon.

[autofive]

The Mark 5 also had the black top Pintos (black cam cover and cambelt guard) which had thinner piston rings and which lasted longer than the old blue tops.

 

i didnt know that

 

ive had about a dozen pinto mk5s over the years and a few mk4s

 

this is my current mk5, a carbed 2.8, 5-speed manual

 

a couple of pics of cortinadaves 2.0s at Duncfest 2007

 

the main reason i dont like to drive a sierra:

[Cavcraft]

Dave's 'S' is fantastic, always had a soft spot for them.

 

Car wise I'd have a Cortina over a Mk1 Cavalier any day of the week.

From memory my Cortina ownership was roughly as follows and in no particular order:

 

Mk1 2 door pre-airflow 1200 Delux. Badged (on the bonnet) as a Consul it was early, rare and very tidy. Biggest problem was the shitty 3 bearing crank engine which over-heated for fun, but I loved it. Started out as 7891 FM (to my shame I plate raped it) and ended up as PMB 99 (or possibly 98) B. Sold it to a lad who loved them and lived right opposite the Ford plant in Halewood.

 

TLY 243W: metallic blue 2.0GL spazmatic. Cut my teeth bodyfilling with this car, had the rear arches looking really good in no time. Went just about everywhere in it in about 2 or 3 years and loved it to bits. Eventually scrapped when the autobox went tits up (again) and the bodywork started to detiorate very quickly.

 

Mk4 2.3S manual. Possibly XRJ 95S but my memory is wank. Bought from an in-law who was, erm, 'slightly dodgy' but who'd spent hundreds on it including a full respray. Didn't have it too long because it was so well known to the police I'd parked it outside my house the day I got it and within an hour there was coppers swarming all over it and almost everytime I went out in it I got pulled over. Right laugh to drive and could hold it's own against a few tastier motors.

It met it's fate on a banger racing track with the bloke I sold it to.

 

I also had various Mk4 and M5 sallons and about three estates. One (1.6L saloon Mk4) was comically appalling in every department. That's the one where the o/s/r wheelarch was no existant so I plonked a cut off piece of 'long vehicle' sign into the gaping hole, undersealed it, took it down the lanes and wheelspinned in/out of fields, removed the door card, shut the lock then cut the wire bit so the door couldn't be opened again. Then sold immediately after to a mate of a mate who hand painted it black and white to 'look like an American police car' and only ever made about three journeys in it because it was falling apart.

 

Alas never had a Mk2 or Mk3, and would like both at one point, especially the Mk2 because I love the lines of them. It'd have to be light blue metallic or silver really and the best (worst?) mingebag spec possible.

[Formula Autos]

I can see us agreeing to disagree on this. I've made my position clear. I'd pay money for a Mk5, you'd have to pay me to take away a Sierra. Best to let this dog lie, I reckon.

As always, there is a middle ground - I wouldn't kick either a Sierra or a Cortina off my driveway.

 

As a 'best of both worlds' sort of peace offering, how about a nice picture of a Saph?

 

[whiskeyonesix]

I had a W reg Cortina for about a year in 2001, 2.0 GL with autobox and Power-steering..... bloody great cruiser, and fairly rapid! Sadly the rust bought it to an end - TAR 118W