Lotus Club Queensland
Dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of the Lotus experience
Login
Register
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Membership
    • Member Login
  • Events
    • Calendar
  • Motorsport
    • Lakeside DTC Timed Laps
    • LAKESIDE DTC RESULTS
  • Magazine
  • For Sale
    • Merchandise
    • Classifieds
  • Posts
  • Galleries
  • Directory
    • Suppliers & Parts
    • Advertisers
  • Archives
lotus-cortina-10

Lotus Cortina Mk1: A history Part 2

The process to make other Lotus-Cortinas more mainstream and reliable was underway.

This appealing van version of the Ford Anglia (above) was never sold here probably because its imported cost would have been too close to the local Falcon panel van. However, it was good enough for the Lotus-Cortina to wear its rear bumpers at the front. Those hubcaps look familiar too! (Image: kitfoster.com)

The Second Lotus-Cortina Mk I

In October 1964, a Lotus-Cortina was revealed with the wide grille facelift, new instrument panel with round instruments and the latest Aeroflow face-level ventilation with its exit vents on the C-pillars.

After the bonnet Consul badge was switched to Cortina, it was arguably the first Lotus-Cortina as technically the earlier cars were Lotus-Consul Cortinas! Ford had previously launched and promoted the Cortina as part of the Consul family to highlight its family car focus. Thanks largely to the Lotus connection, the Cortina now had its own identity.

Cortina GT seats replaced the bespoke Lotus items. Because the new instrument panel was designed to be easily upgraded with extra gauges for the Cortina GT, the Lotus instruments no longer required a special dash. However, the instruments did feature a special satin silver surround and the dash was painted black. To match this, the steering wheel centre badge was changed from yellow and green to black and silver.

The centre console and centre armrest/bin plus the umbrella handbrake continued, all missing from the GT cabin. Front quarter vents and rear side glass were now fixed thanks to the Aeroflow system unless optioned otherwise. Under the bonnet, little had changed except the brake booster was moved to the front of the engine bay for left hand drive.

Later in 1965, a centre badge celebrating Lotus achievements at Indianapolis was added to the centre console.

From July 1965, the Cortina GT rear axle was fitted after Ford added radius rods to its leaf spring rear end. As soon as race teams found the change made no difference to lap times, the rear bracing could be deleted which freed up the boot after the spare was returned to its LHS rear corner well.

Late in 1965, the new gearbox from the Corsair V4 was fitted and regarded as the best for road use. Its indirect ratios were closer to the original Elan gearbox but with a better spread.

Freed from fluttering and easily damaged aluminium panels, an excessively tall first gear that chewed up clutches in traffic, a body shell that highlighted resonances and a rear suspension design that kept eating its way through diffs and threatened the rear body structure over anything other than smooth roads, the Lotus-Cortina was ready to be enjoyed as a road car.

At this point, the Lotus-Cortina was exported to the US timed perfectly to cash in on recent Lotus Indianapolis victories.

Australian exposure to the Lotus-Cortina road car was very limited and long after it was first seen in the UK. After Harry Firth couldn’t join Norm Beechey and Peter Manton as the Neptune Cortina driver because of Ford development commitments, the Wheels cover car was quickly pressed into service as the Neptune team’s Cortina. It was then developed into the fastest Lotus-Cortina in the world in the hands of Jim McKeown.

After the Lotus-Cortina Mk I (and the Elan by association) had achieved its brief of adding glitter to the Cortina badge, it was time for all parties to move on. Lotus had grown to such an extent that it now had to relocate its production facilities at Hethel to meet demand for its own ever-expanding road car range.

The durability and quality gap that existed between Ford’s own Cortina GT and the Lotus-Cortina and the warranty claims that came with this were no longer acceptable. The model was dropped from late 1966 until March 1967.

The next Lotus-Cortina, based on the Mark II, was a very different car built by Ford. Yet its soul was still by Lotus after engine manufacture was switched from JAP to the new Lotus facility then delivered straight to Ford.

Lotus had enough on its plate as a manufacturer after the Elan range was expanded to include a new four seater coupe. The new mid-engine Europa would soon feature a twin-cam engine option. It made sense for Lotus to look after these unprecedented engine volumes and leave the final assembly of the Lotus-Cortina to Ford.

And once the Lotus-Cortina Mark II had run its course, Ford could then transfer the Lotus drivetrain to the new Escort as soon as it was the Escort’s turn to have its name in lights.

Reference: Ford Cortina, The Complete History by Russell Hayes

See Ford & Lotus Cortina History on YouTube

← Go to PART 1
Christmas Dinner – Nov 2012 Gatton Sprints

Related Posts

duratec-banner

Articles, Homepage, Technical

Duratec Elise – better late than never

plus2-banner

Articles, Gallery 2022, Homepage, Technical

Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane

helmet-banner

Articles, Homepage, Racing

$10 HEAD/$10 HELMET

Random images

IMG_4401 3-Winding-mountain-road-2 John Greg MG_6121 P1020846 IMG_6507 IMG_8438 IMG_4857 IMG_4826 121_2133_IMG Col-Tim-Best-1950-1995 IMG_6841 IMG_4905 image_103 lot_009 IMG_6229 Elan_Wybe_1 IMG_5312 IMG_5041 IMG_4330 Scott-Darryl_gw Full-House Mitch-and-Darryl-braving-the-wet The-awards-and-prizes IMG_0490-4 Cris-Johansen-with-a-smile-that-says-it-all-by-Emma-Morley ICC-Tony-G Stephen Foss 2008 Westfield XTR2 - 1 George Row 2007 Lotus Elise - 1 gw_Andrew IMG_6222 _MG_9167 as Smart Object-1 IMG-0167 NSX_pic3 Indy_Car_pic3 The Hill Kris 20160522_103515 Geoff N & Darryl 9-Arrival-at-Birches 2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0026 The-lasso Fire-at-Camp IMG_8941 main-7 Jan-main-12 Time-is-up Daryl-getting-by-with-a-little-help-from-Clive Alan_Conway_with_Gemini_Mk3A_s IMG_0037 2006_08_27_Gympie_Skid_Pan0041 main-15 Hang_gliders_on_Tamborine F1000021 F1000018 Alan Ploughman's Lunch IMG_0234 IMG_0326 img_1089 img_1574 122_2264_IMG MG_4311b 2_Erecting_extra_shelter 30_MG_2691 24_MG_2656 IMG_7858 P1060551 Guess_who_was_there_too P1060290 2009_Maccleans_Bridge_008 P8310151 IMG_7340 P1090173 IMG_6351 IMG_6332 IMG_8036 IMG_3631 IMG_0527 Steve-Lennox-Europa-S-2 Seven-Crew Jasons-son-Curtis DSC_0287 Cris-Johansen-doing-it-in-style-whilst-the-S1-is-down-south-by-Bridie-Moran Thanks-for-that The-Lotus-boys-looking-for-extra-horsepower-in-the-Europa Daryl,Phil, Marty and Suzanne DSC_0354 Jasons-menacing-Caterham alex-photo-1 Tea Break ford-rod 20140304_192936 IMGP8305 Vyvyan on the Line Clive IMG_6184 main-78 Shane and the loot

Recent Articles

  • Morgan Park Sprints R4
  • Kev’s Big Day Out
  • Duratec Elise – better late than never
  • Gold Rush Hill Sprint – 2022
  • Marburg Pub Run – 4 Sept 2022
  • Unique +2 Road Trip to Brisbane
  • Leyburn 2022
  • August 2022 DTC

Latest Gallery Images

20220220_093834 20220220_093818 20220220_093827 20220220_093743 20220220_093812 20220220_093730

Search articles by category

Archived articles

Lotus Club Queensland
© Lotus Club Queensland   |   Site by Black Eye Studios