Talk:Ford Cortina

Picture error
The (new) picture is in fact a Mark 2, not a Mark 4... GRAHAMUK 08:25, 11 Oct 2003 (UTC)


 * You are right, of course. A strange error since I owned a Mark 2 for 3 years and a Mark 4 for 3 years! Thanks for spotting it.
 * Adrian Pingstone 10:36, 11 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Predecessor?
Other articles about Fords seem to suggest that this was a direct replacement for the Prefect, and that the Consul Classic was actually replaced by the Corsair, which was then somewhat succeeded by the Cortina Mk III which was larger than previous Cortinas. I wasn't around at the time, so I don't know for sure. Like I said, I'm just going by other wikipedia articles that I've read.

It was a replacement for the OHV Anglia. The Escort effectively was the replacement for the Mark II Cortina, when the Cortina went up a segment for the Mark III. 203.39.81.92 (talk) 09:12, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

firing order
currently looking for the firing order of a 1971 ford bob cat It has a 1.6 cortina motor.

From memory it was 1-2-4-3 - BrownBear —Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.161.44.86 (talk) 11:11, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Car Ebayed?
The car featured on the show Life on Mars wasn't sold on Ebay, but actually given away in a Daily Mail competetion

Medium or Large?
I see somebody has made an edit to the intro changing "medium sized family car" to "large family car". This is now inconsistent since the intro goes on to say "The Cortina was Ford's mass-market midsize car". But on the other hand in the timeline at the bottom the Cortina is in the 'large family car' section. So which is right? pm215 10:09, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

It was a large car in the UK and a medium sized car in Australia and South Africa. 203.39.81.92 (talk) 09:12, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

If the Cortina was a large car, then what was the Consul/Granada ? (In 2006 I owned 0.1% of the remaining mkiv/v) 80.176.88.36 (talk) 22:33, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

They were the long wheel based 'swanky' version, like a Holden Statesman.203.39.81.92 (talk) 04:30, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

When the Cortina Mark II was sold in the US (1969 - 1970 model years), it was considered a small car by US standards. US automakers weren't making cars that size; the Ford Pinto (introduced in 1971) was considered the same size as the Cortina. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Radiomo (talk • contribs) 04:43, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

United States sales?
I know from personal experience that the Cortina was available in the USA in the late 60's - early 70's; my parents bought a new one in 1969 and traded it in a few years later when they were stopping the importing and it looked like parts wouldn't be available. I don't have any documentation, though, so if anyone can come up with anything it would be worth a mention. MarkHB (talk) 03:25, 9 November 2008 (UTC) 68.94.37.164 (talk) 01:34, 6 December 2008 (UTC) The Cortina was indeed imported and sold stateside. Not sure exactly when they first appeared but our small town had two different dealer franchises, the last a Ford dealer, when importation ceased after the 1970 model year. Ford didn't care to have the Cortina competing with it's newly released Pinto. David S

My parents bought a 1969 Cortina Mark II Station Wagon (1600-cc) in the fall of 1968, in southern Indiana. They wanted a small station wagon and the Cortina was the only car that fit the bill. the Cortina was sold in the US for 1969-1970 model years; then the Pinto came along. Parts were impossible to get, and had to be taken from the new cars that weren't yet sold ... which resulted in many brand-new cars sitting at the dealership, missing critical parts. Ford didn't have the part supply worked out ...and the mechanics working at the Ford dealerships at that time had such headaches since the cars couldn't be repaired. The Cortina wasn't listed in the parts books, even for simple things like a fan belt. My parents kept the car, teaching us kids to drive in it, passing it on to us, and the car was in steady use until 1983 or so ... when the brake cylinders needed rebuilding (it wouldn't pass the safety inspection) but parts were unavailable. The car was sold for $75 - cost ~$1200 new (the sticker was still in the glovebox). It was a great little car, even if most Americans didn't know what it was. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Radiomo (talk • contribs) 04:53, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

MkIII LHD versions?
It says the MkIII was exported to Canada, which drives on the right, so have there ever been any left-hand drive versions of the MkIII?--Cancun771 (talk) 21:25, 19 September 2009 (UTC)


 * I've seen a photo of a Slovakian-registered LHD MkIII so yes, such beasties existed. The article says they were assembled in The Netherlands for the Dutch market, and sold in Scandinavia; these would also have been left-hookers. Mr Larrington (talk) 12:32, 28 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I want one! =;-) --Cancun771 (talk) 09:46, 17 August 2011 (UTC)
 * A wiki contributor appears to have found one in (I think) Greece.  (And somewhere I have a picture of one I found in Vienna round 1979, but I don't think it was good enough for uploading to wikipedia) Regards Charles01 (talk) 10:02, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Small numbers of LHD may have come from Dagenham for export to the continent. (Belgians are keen on non-French things!) France did not allow Ford/GM/Toyota to manufacture, at the time. It was the Iron Bitch who allowed Toyota into the EC, during the 80s. Mitsubishi and Holden do make small numbers of LHD for export. They are usually a lot better than the local models. The Ford Capri convertible sold in Aus was a piece of junk. The LHD exports to the US were well regarded, until the MR2 killed it off.220.244.88.51 (talk) 07:57, 5 August 2014 (UTC)

mark 3 cortina rally pack information
hi does any one know anything about rally pack mk3 cortina's if any one does have any information please email me at sam91_mum@hotmail.com i am wanting to know as i have one and would like to know more infomation about then i would like to at least everything about the rally pack and how many are there in australia thanks for everyones time —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.149.110.7 (talk) 11:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC) The mark 111 cortina was available in lhd drive for some European country's There is one uk registered from new lhd 1972 gxl in tawny brown It was ordered as European spec because the owner was moving abroad to switzerland and the car came back to the uk a few years later and retained it original registration number It's great to drive as I own the car third owner — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.5.109.130 (talk) 20:01, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

special models
I have added infomation on some special models that were sold in South Africa under the Mark 5 section. All the factual info is from South African Car magazines. I also have some rare images of them but dont fully understand how to upload them yet.


 * You can upload them, here but they are likely to be deleted very quickly unless you personally own the copyright to them. If you don't own the copyright, read the policy at WP:NFC to see if you think they qualify for uploading. Mighty Antar (talk) 18:35, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

south african models
I think under the south african section it would be good to add that the MK4 cortina in 1600 form would have the "crossflow" kent unit (OVH) instead of the 1.6 pinto unit (OHC) 196.215.146.225 (talk) 13:43, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

Australian mk3 bonnets
Many years ago I owned both 4 & 6 cylinder models and can confirm that the 6 cyl bonnets offer no benefits other than cosmetics as the sound deadening pretty much eliminated the extra room. I also sold a six bonnet to a bloke who had a four cyl bonnet on his 4.1 TD, clearance was fine, he wanted it for the look. Motorsyko (talk) 11:16, 22 June 2012 (UTC)

I had a 6cyl wagon in Queensland. The engine was good (250ci ?) but the rest of the car was rough. I doubt if the Aus Cortina was assembled from imported parts. GM and Ford learned in the 1960s that making identical parts in all countries leads to 3rd party importers and local OEMs, such as REPCO. They make their international cars look very similar, but the parts are not interchangeable. Mazda and Toyota do this too, and even make different sized parts in the same factory. Try fitting an Opel bonnet or headlight to a Commodore. Try fitting a Japanese Mazda piston into an Australian Mazda block. Only fits with a 10kg sledge hammer.220.244.88.51 (talk) 07:45, 5 August 2014 (UTC)

South African Cortina sales v Sierra and Mondeo sales
"The last brand new Cortina was sold in South Africa by mid 1984,and it was often the countries top selling car, and was far more popular than the Sierra and Mondeos which followed it."

Can someone provide some sales figures to back up this statement? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Asd36f (talk • contribs) 06:10, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

"Compact car"?
"The Cortina was Ford's mass-market compact car", says the introduction. AFAIK, the term compact car is American terminology for something the size of an Escort or Focus; surely the Cortina was Ford UK's standard family car of the time? It just looks rather incongruous. — Christine (blather • contribs) 09:27, 20 June 2013 (UTC) The Cortina is the forerunner of the Mondeo and the models in between. The Granada was the "large" car. Cheers! — &#124; Gareth Griffith-Jones &#124; The Welsh Buzzard &#124; —  20:45, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Absolutely - and if it was a "small family car", where does that put the Anglia? Unless someone has a source, I think it's better we leave it out altogether. Mighty Antar (talk) 13:49, 29 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Completely agree with both of you. For my recent part in this please look at the history before my two revisions here and you will see that I brought the two existing paragraphs to one, and at the same time removed "large" car and added "small family car" to the already hyperlinked Compact car, aware that this is an American expression that is not used here.

Mk II peeling paint
Doesn't yet mention the Mk II's early offering of metallic paint as an option (before the rest of the industry, at this price range), and the poor quality of this paint leading to widespread peeling problems and lots of dealer recalls. Andy Dingley (talk) 01:14, 4 August 2013 (UTC)

The Australia Section
I had previously had a copy edit tag for this section, but after looking at it again, I feel that it really is very essay-like. I think it should either be edited and formatted to include only a description of Australian-spec Cortinas, not just a cut-and-paste excerpt from a book on the GT500 model's whole racing heritage (which includes such "encyclopedic references" such as referring to accountants as "bean counters"). If the Aussie-spec cars are different enough, why not give them their own infobox? Surely the GT500 would be well-enough represented by giving it its own 2- or 3-paragraph subheading, rather than giving it 4 times as much space as any of the other entire countries' sections have. If there are no objections and nobody who wants to move forward with this, I will check back in a month or two to start chipping away at it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Illini407 (talk • contribs) 10:15, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

Hyundai version
Hyundai started building the Ford Cortina under license from November 1968 until 1983. Engine, according to Korean Car World was a 1.6 liter 4-cylinder with a 2-barrel Solex carburetor. However, I don't consider that a sufficient reference and so will not include this information in the article.--Kevjgav (talk) 16:15, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Survivors
Back in 2006 it was revealed in the press that only around 745 Morris Marinas were still on the road. The same press reports stated that only 2,101 Mark IV/V Cortinas were still registered. Sadly I can't find a good-quality internet source (a later story by the Daily Mail lists 5,411 survivors, perhaps across all models). How many Cortinas remain on the road in Britain today? It has been a very long time since I last saw one. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 18:43, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

New Zealand dry?
The statement that compared with "Britain and many other countries where the Cortina was originally exported, in New Zealand it has a far superior survival rate due to the climate being far drier and more favourable to the preservation of rust-free classic cars" is wrong. New Zealand is not far drier than other export markets of the Cortina. These are not "classic cars" and the issue is not the preservation of rust-free cars, but the preservation of cars rust-free.Royalcourtier (talk) 21:40, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

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Primary photo not the best
I think there are much better (more appealing) photos of the Cortina in the article than the first one ( File:Ford Cortina KTO959E.jpg). The car seems to sag toward the curb (kerb), the lower right front side is underexposed, the paint seems old and dull. I suggest "File:Ford Cortina Mark I reg Aug 1963 pre first facelift.JPG" or "File:Ford Cortina Mark I 1964 prefacelift front.JPG".

Came here after seeing obituary for Roy Brown, designer.

Ttulinsky (talk) 19:15, 9 September 2021 (UTC)