Estimated Price: £30,000 - £35,000
The Lotus Cortina's serendipitous arrival resulted directly from Ford's decision to step up their motorsport involvement in the early 1960s. Their Head of UK Public Relations, Walter Hayes, spoke to Colin Chapman asking him to come up with a competitive saloon, using their mainstream Cortina as a base, that could be produced in sufficient numbers to satisfy the mandatory 'Group 2' homologation requirements and with which the Blue Oval could beat all-comers. The solution was to take Ford's bullet-proof 1500 Kent engine, take it out to 1588cc, fit a Twin-Cam cylinder head, pop it into a stiffened Cortina shell, sort out the suspension and brakes, paint a green stripe down the side and the Type 28 had arrived. The cars would be built by Lotus at its plant in Cheshunt and marketed through their dealer network as the Ford Cortina Lotus. Once fully developed, Lotus Cortinas (as they quickly became known) absolutely shone on track as they have continued to do for the last 60 years.
The car presented here is a 1963 Lotus Cortina Mk1 (FIA) replica race car built by renowned specialist Steve Lancaster of Selby, who utilised a totally rust-free South African bodyshell, whilst adding an alloy bonnet, boot, doors and race-spec Perspex windows.
It has FIA certification until the 31st December 2027 (see images attached of FIA/MSA Technical Passport), with the obligatory FIA-certified roll-cage and alloy fuel tank. It features a full race-spec JS Motorsport Ltd. / John Smirthwaite of Warwickshire engine on 45DCOE carbs, with only running-in hours covered, a close-ratio gear box, one piece prop-shaft, 4.7 LSD, heavy-duty half-shafts, competition-spec Gaz adjustable shock absorbers (front &rear), single leaf springs, uprated front coil springs, dual brakes, and Minilite wheels.
This very capable historic race car (which is road-registered) and has all-important FIA papers offers huge potential and superb value over and above a genuine example, which can be worth three times the lower guide figure presented here, an opportunity not to be missed.
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