1965 Ford Cortina Mk1 GT500 2-Door Sedan

Description

Ford’s Cortina was a mid-sized family car launched in 1963, designed to fill a gap between the smaller Anglia and executive Zephyr/Zodiac models. With its lightweight shell and decent handling, Ford’s engineers soon realised the Cortina had genuine potential as a performance model and created the GT by adding a Cosworth-tuned 1.5-litre version of the Kent four-cylinder engine, upgrading the transmission, brakes and suspension and installing a rev-counter to the steering column and extra dials in the centre console. The Cortina GT was soon selling in huge numbers and few cars could match its 95 mph top speed or willing acceleration at such an affordable price. Cortina GTs were homologated by Ford for rallying and notched up numerous wins on the international stage in the mid-1960s while the potent Lotus version was developed for circuit racing, the legendary Jim Clark winning the 1964 British Saloon Car Championship and Sir John Whitmore the European Touring Car Championship the following year. The Cortina GT enjoyed a similar level of success here in Australia, particular on the legendary Mount Panorama circuit, dominating the Armstrong 500 in 1963 and 1964. With the threat of the new Mini Coopers looming for 1965, Ford Australia and Harry Firth responded with a home-grown alternative to the Lotus-Cortina, the GT500, with a host of performance modifications aimed at keeping the Blue Oval in the winner’s circle. Although technically a production model as dictated by the rules, the GT500 was built in strictly limited numbers and boasted an uprated drivetrain, competition suspension, twin air ducts for the brakes and long-range fuel tanks with twin filler caps. Using a five main bearing version of the Kent motor, changes included a Wade cam, Weber downdraft carburettor, increased compression ratio, a harmonic balancer and better cooling system. With 98 horsepower, the GT500 was almost as quick as the more exotic and costly Lotus-Cortina and is now considered a genuine collectors’ item, with around 50 of the original 247 made thought to survive.