Ford Cortina 1963

This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at Race Retro 2026 Competition Cars on Saturday the 21st of February, Stoneleigh Park, Stoneleigh Rd, Coventry, CV8 2LG. , 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 allcomers. The solution was to take Ford's bulletproof 1500 Kent engine, take it out to 1588cc, fit a TwinCam 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 rustfree South African bodyshell, whilst adding an alloy bonnet, boot, doors and racespec Perspex windows.It has FIA certification until the 31st December 2027 (see images attached of FIA/MSA Technical Passport), with the obligatory FIAcertified rollcage and alloy fuel tank. It features a full racespec JS Motorsport Ltd. / John Smirthwaite of Warwickshire engine on 45DCOE carbs, with only runningin hours covered, a closeratio gear box, one piece propshaft, 4.7 LSD, heavyduty halfshafts, competitionspec 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 roadregistered) and has allimportant 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.