XNX 796H
Roger Barker’s 1600E
Roger joined our “Cortinas to Cortina” run to Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Italian Dolomite mountains back in 2012 that celebrated the 50th birthday of the Ford Cortina in his early 1300 Deluxe. Like so many others, Roger began its restoration during the 2020 covid lockdown period but quickly discovered it was a rather bigger project than expected. Over the following year he spent every spare moment available working on the Deluxe but there was still so much to do Roger didn’t think he would get it finished in time for the 60th anniversary Cortinas to Cortina tour in 2022. The search was on for another MkII to drive to Italy instead.
Roger spotted XNX 796H on eBay in the summer of 2021. The seller had owned the 1600E for several years and had recently carried out quite a few jobs on it including having a new vinyl roof and Webasto sunroof fitted in September 2020 before having it resprayed. All this tempted Roger into successfully bidding for it in the auction. When he made the trip to Doncaster to collect the E Roger found the respray hadn’t been done very well with lots of overspray – including on the new vinyl roof! – but as it seemed fairly solid in all the right places and drove well he became the proud owner on 18th July.
On getting it home and onto the ramp Roger discovered it needed a bit of fettling and recommissioning to be ready for that 2,500 mile trip to Italy so work was paused on the Deluxe to concentrate on the 1600E. Both the rear differential and radiator were taken out and sent away for reconditioning while Roger set to on the rest of the car. Despite the work of the previous owner it was a long list of parts needed but the club spares scheme was able to provide everything needed.
For the engine, a full service kit (consisting of oil and air filters, spark plugs, and rotor arm, points and condenser too) and well as a new water pump were ordered from the club spares. For the drive train club spares were also able to help out with new leaf springs and rubber bushes, and new dampers for the rear end as well as new propshaft UJs and a new clutch kit too. After all this work Roger and Jackie had an amazing and trouble free trip in the 1600E to Cortina and back.
SFH 435G
Adrian Howe & Eddie Newman’s 1600GT
Towards the end of 2020 Eddie had not long finished his lockdown project, a very unusual MkII Cortina Crayford Cabriolet. He wasn’t really looking for another project, especially another MkII Cortina, after all the Crayford had been his 4th MkII Cortina restoration in fairly quick succession, but when he heard about a failed restoration through club contacts he couldn’t help himself, he just had to go and find out more.
The car in question turned out to be a late series I 4dr, a 1600GT in the now rare Lagoon Blue. It was just the rolling shell but with all the necessary welding completed the seller claimed it to be ready for paint. The missing parts had made Eddie rather cautious but good friend Adrian is always up for a challenge and convinced Eddie they could take it on together. The (not so) small matter of them living over 100 miles apart and how that might work logistically would be something they could work out later!
They went to see the rolling shell in early 2021 and found the seller had most of the rest of the car after all, he had planned to sell it all off piece by piece. It took a great deal of negotiating but in the end Adrian and Eddie managed to buy the shell and everything else the seller still had relating to the GT.
They got everything back to Adrian’s unit and as expected, Eddie being 2 hours away (on a good day!) has got in the way of progress, but progress has been made. The “ready for paint” bodywork, although very solid, was nothing like the standard that Eddie and Adrian prefer so much time has been spent reworking and improving many areas before they were able to move on to spraying it in cellulose.
They have also made good progress with restoring other parts of the GT making good use of the club spares scheme. Steering joints, wheel cylinders, brake shoes, discs and pads, as well brake hoses, prop U/J’s have all been supplied by the club. Adrian and Eddie plan on dipping into the club spares catalogue for the many rubber items they’ll need, things like door and boot seals, quarterlight seals and screen rubbers, as well as floor bungs, door bump stops and petrol filler neck pipe can all be supplied. Progress may be slow, but it’s been made so much easier thanks to our spares scheme.
DVY 50J
Graham Bird’s 1600E
Graham’s 1600E is a rather special Cortina that we had lined up to display at the Covid cancelled Classic Motor Show here at the NEC back in 2020. Registered in September 1970, it is one of the very last MkII Cortinas ever to be built on Ford’s Dagenham production line. It had around 70,000 miles showing on the clock when Graham bought it nearly 30 years ago in 1995, and other than a pair of new front wings and a repaint in its original Fern Green metallic colour it was in the same correct factory specification you see today.
Graham has covered fewer than 10,000 miles in the E over the last three decades, and while the car has needed very little he has still made good use of the club spares scheme with replacement steering joints, brake parts and wheel bearings as well as a new radiator all being supplied by the spares team. They also helped with a full gasket set and valve stem seals when the engine was reconditioned last year.
If you’re into your Cortinas you may well have seen Graham’s 1600E without realising it. In December 2003 DVY 50J was the subject of a professional photo shoot in the studio at Beaulieu. These images were first used by Practical Classics magazine in a full Buyers Guide the Spring 2004 issue but unbeknown to Graham at the time, the photos would be sold on many times and the car has since featured in all sorts of other places. With the numberplate blanked out the 1600E became the cover car for the Duke DVD “Ford Cortina” (also published in 2004), another photo from the shoot was used on the cover of Practical Classics bookazine “The Complete Guide to the Ford Cortina”.
Both The Sun and Daily Express newspapers have used the images, as have Ford dealers T C Harrison who featured the 1600E in one of their calendars, and on another occasion it even appeared in disguise with its colour changed from green to blue for an advert for the Simply Ford event at Beaulieu!
DVY 50J was photographed again for Practical Classics when they asked us to help out with a 1600E Buyers Guide and has also appeared in Classic Motoring magazine alongside a Corsair 2000E when they were celebrating 50 years of “E” badged Fords.
“It’s down there somewhere!”
It was great to see a couple of other club members’ Cortinas elsewhere in the show.
This year’s “Best In Show” winner at our National Rally, the fantastic series I 1600E of Ian Mills was in the Meguiar’s Club Showcase over in Hall 1.
And just across from our stand in Hall 8, Graham Orchard had been invited by the Crayford Convertible Car Club to reunite his recently finished Lotus Crayford with the Lotus Crayford of Ken Clark. Both cars had been off the road for over 20 years and this marked the first time the two had been side by side in 27 years.
It’s a long hard 4 days for everyone looking after our club display but almost before we knew it the car horns were blowing bringing the show to a close for another year. It was time to get packed up and head for home.
Our thanks to Roger, Adrian and Eddie, and Graham for bringing along thier Cortinas, to Pete, Lynn, Mark and Dave for bringing along the club spares and merchandise shops, and to Adrian for pulling it all together.
Well done everyone, a great effort!
We hope to see you all next year.
All photos and video © Cortina MkII Owners Club LTD.
