Tell me about MK2 Cortina 1600e's

[LowStandards]

Any info, good or bad, how much i'm looking to pay etc...

I've fancied one for ages, and now i'm getting rid of my modern since it nearly got stolen... with me still in it! I have the perfect opportunity to buy one!

[arthurbrown]

Apparently these were highly nickable back in the day.
Not very helpful, am I? :

[LowStandards]

Not the best ;p

I just remember my mates Dad coming home with one, he'd been doing a roof at this old blokes house on a huge Garage and the bloke said as well as paying him he could take one of the cars in there. This Cortina had done 22k miles and was immaculate, and i mean immaculate, just let him drive it away!

I want one, on reverse steels FTW

[akku]

The Ford Cortina was the most stolen car evAr, back in the day.

The Mk2 is a nice package, strut front, leaf rear. The 1600E has the Lotus Cortina suspension, is already lowered, comes with Rostyles and wood dash/door caps, additional dials and vinyl roof. Most were in metallic colours. Most have now been repainted Aubergine!

Series one cars have the dials on top of the dash in a pod like a Madadash, the Series 2 cars haev the dials in the dash. There are other differences but I can't recall what.

They use the pre 711M xflow block from memory and a hydraulic clutch. The rear axle is the standard "English".

They suffer the usual Ford stut/unibody rust problems. Sills, rear chassis legs, strut tops, door bottoms, wheel arches, fronts of front wings, A pillars. Make especial checks for rust under the vinyl top. Any bulges will be rust.

You can get loads of parts and panels from them from places like ExPressed Steel Panels.

At one point they went screaming up in value and they were out of the reac of mortal man, kind of like Mk1 Escorts are now, but they have settled back to more reasonable prices.

People ask "why wasn't the 1600E baseed on a 2 door shell if its a sports edition?" Its not, the "E" stands for "Executive". The Lotus and the GT versions were the "sporty" ones.

Nice cars. Get one.

I like the 2000E better, but what would I know. I like Fifth Avenues.

[arthurbrown]

They are lush though.



Too Kool.

[Deleted]

Yup well nice motors.

As AK said, prices did fly up a couple of years ago and watch out for rot. They rot like Anglias and rot quick when they get going.

Running gear is McPherson struts with disc brakes at the fron and drums at the back. It has an English axle like in the Mk1 and Mk2 Escort so diffs and ratios are completely interchangeable. The gearbox in the 1600E has an aluminium tail and looks quite thin compared to the 2000E box so I would expect it wouldn't take much abuse before it snapped. I've seen some clutch dropping smash the back of an 1100 box which is practically the same casing.

Crossflows are easy to tune. Up to 150hp is easy with parts off ebay, mainly need a heavily flowed head, mad cam from Kent cams, 4-into-1 or 4-into-2-into-1 exhaust and twin Webers for that old timey look and sound.

I think you're looking at a good couple of £K for one in good condition. If you're going to change the running gear etc then a povo spec in good condition is better to start with as the extra value of the 1600E will be lost when you start chopping it about.

[akku]

www.buysellcortina.co.uk

[Seth]

I can't tell you an awful lot but would echo what Jonny69 said - if you want one to modify it then you might as well start witha good shell of whatever spec and work from there as you might end up changing from the usual 1600E stuff anway.

There's several clubs out there including no doubt the "Ford Cortina Mk2 1600E With Number Plates Ending in a D" club and the "Mk2 Ford Cortina 1600E - Other Number Plates" club.

[wagoneer]

I passed my driving test in one...........well, a 1600 Super anyway. And guess what, it got nicked whilst my Dad had it parked up whilst at work. Recovered, then stripped as we wanted the engine to recon and slap in a Westfield.

[TwincamGTi]

Still good value for the money

(Check genuine and not a replica/look-a-like).

Last year a silver one I knew of with 10 months M.O.T changed hands for £600 ...lota a nice motah for the wonga ;D

Although the majority say Lotus Cortina is best I actually think the 1600E Cortina IS the nicest 'Tina evAr

[LowStandards]

K, so if i went povo spec, what model am i after? I quite fancy a 2l Mundano lump in there with a 5 speed box and the like!

[Deleted]

I'm guessing a 1300 deluxe, I don't think they did an 1100. Only thing is the smaller cars might not have discs already and the struts are getting hard to find these days worth checking on the owner's club site.

[superden]

I still hanker after a 1600E, though I went to look at several a few years ago and all required a lot of remedial work bodywise, as you would expect from a Ford. One (bronze, tan vinyl roof ... wibble) was like a patchwork quilt underneath ... hard to tell where Ford stopped and replacement metal started !

[anthonyg]

superden said:

I went to look at several a few years ago and all required a lot of remedial work bodywise, as you would expect from a Ford. One (bronze, tan vinyl roof ... wibble) was like a patchwork quilt underneath ... hard to tell where Ford stopped and replacement metal started !

Yes watch out for rust!

Particularly as 1600Es were worth more than other non GT/Lotus Mk2s and are more likely to have been filled and bodged than the others, which used just to get scrapped if rusty, or broken for the mechanicals.

Unlike the Mk1 and Mk3, there aren't many 'normal' Mk2's around, so I think you may as well look for a 1600E as there are more to choose from.

The high values tend to be for the minters and original cars. But there's also a lot of dross about.

BTW if you want to use it everyday - fit a large (full cover) steering wheel lock and I'd do the old rotor arm removal trick as well when neccessary!

[samyboy]

will you budget stretch to a ..........

[VW]

what about the mk2 savage.
Werent they 3L and came with leccy windows?

Usually white with black vinyl roof. Not seen one for a while though.