Help me fix the Cortina!

Hey all,

So those of you who frequent the Racing section may be familiar with the 1965 Lotus Cortina I work on and occasionally race. It's a huge amount of fun and if you haven't seen the videos, feel free to check them out in my sig.

Anywho, we were using the car this past weekend at Summit Point. I was sharing the car with someone, and unfortunately he had an incident during his first session:



We have yet to take a close look at the car, but we're hoping that at the least the suspension towers weren't affected. In the meantime, we're looking for both front fenders, a radiator core support, a headlight grille, headlight trim rings, and a hood for a Mk1 Cortina. We would like to find parts that are straight and almost rust-free, as we want to make the car as perfect as possible.

Feel free to PM me or email at mrspitfire1500@yahoo.com if you have or know of anything we may be able to use.

Thanks,

Mike

GAH! That saddens me.

About the only thing I've got left here is a turn-signal lens. And IIRC it's the port side one.

The good news is that the panels from a regular Cortina should work.

DrEntropy said:

GAH! That saddens me.

About the only thing I've got left here is a turn-signal lens. And IIRC it's the port side one.

Click to expand...

Believe it or not, the parking lights appear to have survived somehow. Maybe because we removed the buckets and riveted the glass to an aluminum plate, who knows. We'll get it back together though...

Steve said:

The good news is that the panels from a regular Cortina should work.

Click to expand...

Yeah, this car came with the steel panels so we don't need any of that fancy Aluminum stuff.

These guys have fibreglass panels https://www.oldfordautos.co.uk/phdi/p1.nsf/supppages/oldford?opendocument&part=5

Maybe install the reproduction panels, and in the meantime get the real ones fixed by someone who knows the ancient art of tin-bashing. It's a specialised trade but there are some magicians around who can work on them to bring them back, just not quickly.... Idea?

Wish I could have stored the ones I had. Room forced my to give them away. Think I am getting close to where they are sitting now, still looking.

If that's the one I'm thinking of I've enjoyed seeing it run at SP my home track.

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess I missed them. Updates are that we believe we've found an appropriate steel piece from a LC to fix the outer skin and core support, and we have someone to straighten the inner fender and the chassis rails. Still figuring out how to get everything from California to New York, but we have a possible lead. That is probably the one from Summit and it will unfortunately miss the Jefferson this May... Our goal is the English Ford reunion at Waterford Hills, MI in July, but the car should be together before then.


Speaking of! This time around, we aim to make the car as original as possible cosmetically. We want to remove the upside-down GT dash and install an original Lotus one. Does anyone have any parts for a Lotus dash including the brackets? We'd also like to get the "Cortina" hood emblem and chrome surround. Thanks!

Do you have any more info on the English Ford reunion at Waterford? Waterford Hills facebook doesn't say anything about it yet.
Thanks

Sure- The event is still open to all comers, but will be focusing specifically on English Fords e.g. Cortina, Escort, Capri, etc. Austrailian racer Allan Moffat will be the guest of honor, famous for many types of racing but his first ride was in a Lotus Cortina.

Joel Hershoren--the event organizer--would love to have specialty races (all-FF, Lotus 7 vs. Ginetta, Cortina vs. Pinto, etc.) but that all depends on entries.

The event is July 25-27 and hotels are filling up quick!