・A flexible and historic competition Ford

・The subject of a full bare metal strip, rust proofing and custom respray

・A high power, turbo-charged car
・Recently mapped by a race engine tuner 

Production of the erstwhile Ford Cortina MK2 ran between 1966 and 1970 based on an attractive new design by Roy Haynes. Despite being marketed under the strapline “New Cortina is more Cortina,” the MK2 was actually slightly shorter than its predecessor.

The Cortina was not only the UK’s best-selling car in 1967 but also did very well in export markets such as New Zealand, Canada and, in the case of this car, South Africa.

This particular car started life as an official Ford import to South Africa in 1967. The car spent the next fifty-four years in the warm, dry climate of northern South Africa. Consequently, the shell provided an excellent and rust free basis for a full, high-specification competition rebuild in the late 2010’s.

The modifications to this, already rare, 1967 Cortina are both extensive and transformational. Currently running a turbo pressure of 1.5 BAR the car produces a claimed 400+ BHP and 500+ NM of torque. The turbo installation and ancillaries, however, are rated to run at turbo pressures up to 2.5 BAR making this a very potent competition car indeed. 

It is not just the 2.0 litre 16v EGI engine that has been the subject of such a thorough, competition focussed enhancement, however. To transfer this raw power through to the drag strip or race track the powertrain has been appropriately upgraded too. These upgrades include the fitment of a Copper clutch,  a Toyota 21R gearbox and a Borg Warner M75 limited slip differential. 

The handling is taken care of courtesy of disc brakes all round, new front and rear shocks, recently tensioned rear leaf springs and new Toyo Proxes tyres with semi slicks at the rear. Race safety features include roll cage, Sparco race specification seats and race harnesses.

The competition set up is managed by an onboard Dicktator 60-2 engine management system. This allows the next owner to fine tune the parameters of the engine to suit their specific competition type, environment and climate.

This level of consideration to the rebuild results in a car that can easily be adapted to a range of competition types, be it drag racing or circuit based. The car could, potentially, be adapted for road use and road registered if required.

The current owner will provide all the necessary paperwork to register the successful buyer as the first UK owner of this historic racer. Given this is a 1967 car it is both tax and MOT exempt.

The interior is appropriately stripped back for a purposeful competition car. Front seats are Sparco race specification seats with race harnesses. A sturdy, internal roll cage is fitted. The rear seats appear to be an original, but retrimmed, vinyl bench seat.

A number of additional gauges, as photographed, have been fitted alongside the minimal original fitment articles. The additional gauges monitor oil pressure, oil temperature, water temperature and boost pressure. A tachometer is also fitted to the right of the original speedometer.

This Ford Cortina clearly signals its intent and capability from the outside. It sits low on wide wheels and tyres and the metallic grey paintwork appears appropriately thick and lustrous. The wheels all appear in excellent condition and the tyres are new with the stamped serial numbers still clearly visible on the treads.

All the glass appears clear and unchipped as do the light lenses. The underside of the car appears to have been rust proofed and professionally overpainted too exhibiting no visible areas of concern. A small amount of damage has been sustained to the offside sill, just behind the front wheel arch (pictured). This was sustained during its sea voyage from South Africa in October this year.

As detailed above, the majority of the key mechanical components are new and essentially barely used. The car has not yet been raced and was purely used as a show and display before leaving South Africa. 

The potent turbo charged engine and running gear has covered around 300 KM only since being fitted to the car. Currently running at 1.5 bar and claimed to output 325KW (435HP) and a whopping 520NM at the wheels. Tuned to 50/50 petrol ethanol mix.

The power figures are based on what the seller was told by the previous owner but they haven’t actually seen these readings, however the performance components fitted in the engine suggest it would be correct

Given this the current owner validates that everything works as it should and that there are no mechanical issues apparent or known of. The vendor has just had a race engine tuner out to map it and he indicated it will require Dyno tuning to map it correctly at high revs and also burn off the excess fuel accumulated.

The front suspension will require upgrading for racing, I.e coil over shocks.

With the appeal of historic and classic competition classes growing and growing, especially for Fords, the appeal of this special car will be apparent to those in the know.

The choice of components has been well chosen to provide both extreme potency and flexibility to suit a number of different competition disciplines. It seems a very exciting prospect to be the first to exploit the obvious potential of this rare competition Ford Cortina MKII.


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