Loading... Ford Cortina
One of the definitive family cars of the 20th Century, the Ford Cortina ran for three decades with five different incarnations of one of Ford's most successful.
Brought in at the time of the Mini and the Morris Oxford it set a new bar for what a family car could be.
It fitted Ford's philosophy of a lot for a little very well, with clever (for the time) suspension and an abundance of accessories crammed in.
By today's standards they are not much when compared to keyless entry, bluetooth and parking sensors, but the ashtray, optional mirror in the optional sun visor were impressive for the time.
The performance in the most common engine was a little modest to say the least, with the very widely used 1.3 litre Kent engine delivering an exhilarating 88mph!
The later incarnations of the Cortina introduced more powerful engines though, including a rather potent 4.1 litre straight six.
Unfortunately it never joined the RS ranks, the performance Cortina was outsourced to Lotus who, all be it knew how to make a good car, never produced anything with more than a 1.6 engine.
Ford sold more than two and a half million Cortinas in Britain and it topped the sales during the 70's until the emergence of the Escort.
Nowadays it is a little hard to come by a good example of a Cortina after a survey revealed it had become the most scrapped car in Britain.
Have you got a Cortina? Share your pictures here!
