Brooklands Ford Meet 1977'

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ESSEXV6ESSEX
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Brooklands Ford Meet 1977'

Post by ESSEXV6ESSEX »

Caprifan Rob
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Re: Brooklands Ford Meet 1977'

Post by Caprifan Rob »

I’ll take the Cortina Ghia & the Datsun Laurel please. Great to see these cars new & hear their prices, that BMW as now, must have been a fortune against the fords & opels. Nice find.
Daz-RSK
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Re: Brooklands Ford Meet 1977'

Post by Daz-RSK »

Good find Mark! I love these old footages of old stuff in the time. It takes me back to my youf! :D

No, it takes you back to another time, when prices sounded ridiculous but were probably true to the time. Brand new Grandad for £7000. But that is £40,000 today. That Cortina is £25,000 in today's money. A lot of car back then. Great to see all of the Ford models on Chelmsford, Essex plates as well.

OK, the anoraks amongst you - please join me. The Cortina. What is unusual about it - as in what did it have in the footage that actually was only for promotional purposes and very rarely seen on the road ?

See if you can spot it.
ESSEXV6ESSEX
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Re: Brooklands Ford Meet 1977'

Post by ESSEXV6ESSEX »

Daz-RSK wrote:Good find Mark! I love these old footages of old stuff in the time. It takes me back to my youf! :D

No, it takes you back to another time, when prices sounded ridiculous but were probably true to the time. Brand new Grandad for £7000. But that is £40,000 today. That Cortina is £25,000 in today's money. A lot of car back then. Great to see all of the Ford models on Chelmsford, Essex plates as well.

OK, the anoraks amongst you - please join me. The Cortina. What is unusual about it - as in what did it have in the footage that actually was only for promotional purposes and very rarely seen on the road ?

See if you can spot it.
Is it overiders - headlamp washers
Daz-RSK
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Re: Brooklands Ford Meet 1977'

Post by Daz-RSK »

You did hit on something there Mark that I hadn't considered. Overiders were part of the Ghia trim with all the Mk4's.

But headlamp washers ??? That's a good one. Were they an option ? Quite rare if they were. I know they had these on the Capri. I am now not sure about the Cortina, whether these had these. If they did, they were super rare.

I thought I had the Cortina anorak but I am showing myself up to be not so knowledgeable now that you have sewed that seed of doubt in my mind about headlamp washers. :lol: Hmmmmm......might have to go back to the Ford archives on that one.

I am going to stick my neck on the line and state, on record, the Cortina Mk4 never had the accessory headlamp washers. I'll wait for someone to come back on here and say they had one or look through the archives to see if this accessory was available for these models.

Good spot though chap - because it's certainly set up the doubt in my head and I thought I had all sides covered on the Mk4/5 Cortina.


So I have just got my Cortina Pak-a-Mac to the side and will spill the beans. The alloy wheels you see on that footage. Standard Cortina alloys ?

No, they weren't actually. You look through all of the Ford promo pictures, the Sweeney footage, maybe Professionals, if they ever had some Corina's on there, and most importantly, the James Bond Spy Who Loved Me where the Cortina chases after the Lotus, all of those Mk4 Cortinas don the alloys shown.

They are an Italian style wheel and as you can see, they have all of the hallmarks of something that would go on a Ferrari and Lancia. The Granada also sports a set of 14" (think they were 14s on the Grandad) versions of the Cortina's 13s.

On the Grandad Ghia, they were standard and they were everywhere from the off on the S reg introduction of the Mk2 Granada. But they were never standard fit on the Cortina Mk4.

Looking back through time, we think they were because lots of Cortina's had them on. But those were the Mk5's where the Ghia did have them as standard. IMO they are a fantastic looking wheel. But Ford offered them as a very rare option on the Mk4 though. And because the option take rate was lower in the 1970's, coupled with their price, which would have been astronomic, very very few Mk4's entered the street with these alloys. Instead, most had these and these would be recognised through lots of Ford models through the 1970 / 80s.


Image

So why do we see them here and other promo pictures, including the moving pictures of the programmes I mentioned if they didn't really exist ? Well it makes the Cortina look much more premium with these on. That Mk4 looks a beaut, as a Cortina lover. Obviously new, but compare and contrast the alloys on that one in the link vs the steel I pictured (if it was also new condition) and the vehicle raises itself a level.

The power of wheels back then. They used to speak vols about a motor, perhaps more so than today.

Don't forget - another sad man fact - the Mk4 Cortina was launched as a fleet / budget motor but was only 4 years later than the Triumph Dolomite Sprint, which is recognised as the 1st mainstream, saloon motor to have alloys fitted as standard. The issue was that the Dolly and then RS 2000 / Capri's were aimed at a different market to the rep mobile Cortina, so could not only wear these alloys with pride, but consumers would buy them. The lower mgt levels that the Cortina Ghia was aimed at and any fleet company that took these on would not have cared for alloy wheels on the 3 box saloon Ford issued. Private punters would have just bulked at the price of the accessory.

Sad man facts over.
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Re: Brooklands Ford Meet 1977'

Post by Paul G »

With the Cortinas, Mk 4 models could have headlight washers as an optional extra on S and Ghia models. These were of the high pressure water jet type as on a Capri and are identified by having big thick over riders on the bumpers in front of the headlamps which contained the nozzles. The Mk5 also had them available on Ghia models and as part of the S pack which could be added to L and Gl models indicated by LS and GLS badges on the bootlid.

The wheel you show is what many call the Dartboard or "Sports" wheel. Made in various widths it was introduced late 1972 on the MK3 Cortina GXL/ 2000E and Escort Mexico, Sport and 1300E. It was fitted to most Ford models from GL upwards and was used up to 1983/4 when the Capri GL stopped.

It was not used on the Fiesta or the Granada which was a 14" 5 stud wheel of different design.
Daz-RSK
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Re: Brooklands Ford Meet 1977'

Post by Daz-RSK »

Good info there Paul!

So with the Cortina Mk4, I was wrong when I stuck my neck on the line with the washers. There were very few sold though with these, I am sure. In fairness, there were few Ghia & S spec Cortina's sold, relative to the shed loads of L's and GL's. Trim level was not quite so important then as it is today.

A friend at school - his Dad had a 2.3S Cortina, obviously with the manual shift - the transmission is another thing that was rare on 2.3L Cortinas due to most being auto Ghia spec with that engine. What would that be worth today in tidy condition ?

On the Mk5, the number of S spec versions were even fewer, when it wasn't a trim on its own and more of a pack, as you said. Even in the day, I only ever remember seeing a dozen or so Ghia S versions. There were more that that sold, of course, but they were pretty rare. Fishnet recaro seats was what I always remember from the S spec (Ghia & GL) versions. Lovely seat!

I looked at a 2.3GLS and went for a 2.0Ghia instead about 30 yrs ago. Probably should have had the former, but the Ghia was in better condition.
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