My 1967 Mk1 Cortina

[Chobis]

Okay maybe I will share some pics of one of my non-Yota's. This is the story of my first Mk1 Cortina..... in fact the first car I ever bought. I've owned several other Mk1 Cortina's, but this one has stayed with me. Why? Ask Eric Bana.

 

I bought this car back in 1996. Yep that's right..... the Macarena went top on the ARIA charts and I needed a car that I could sink a wallet full of cash into. In the end this car not only took my wallet, but my entire bank balance for the next few years and my ability to buy food. I didn't care though...... this was going to be the greatest Cortina ever.

 

Well the pictures tell the story really. It never really became anything. All my money went into an Engine rebuild which involved porting, balancing and blueprinting. Of course I wasn't smart enough to upgrade anything else straight away and learnt the hard way after snapping the tailshaft off the diff, ripping numerous engine mounts, replacing 5 diffs, two full engine bay rewires after electrical fires and a bunch of other terrible and expensive stuff. The idea of the car was to go Group N racing. However after upgrading all the mechanicals I realised I just couldn't keep sinking more money into the car to get it to the track. Race seats, roll cage...... etc etc etc.

 

Anyway the car was my daily for many years even as many other cars, mainly classics, came and went. Then about 8 years ago the car stopped being used. I had other cars that had become more enjoyable and so the poor old Corty just remained at the back of the yard wherever I lived. This however all changed in November 2005. My mate (ratiara on here) was doing up his VW Beetle at the time in the rat-style so popular among dubbers in Europe and USA. He convinced me to try the same theme on the Cortina and I have to say it worked out nicely for me.

 

In January of 2008 a photoshoot was done for a full feature article on my Corty for the British magazine "Classic Ford". The magazine came out later that year and I was a pig in mud. Couldn't believe that a car that looked like that could possibly get in a magazine. Best part of all was it was a very cheap way of resurecting the Cortina and getting it to turn more heads than any other car I had owned along the way. Who said you have to spend a lot of money to build a show car that heaps of people will look at and take photo's of. :hmm:

 

Well here's a few photo's along the way.

 

Back in 1996 When I first bought the car for almost $1500 if I recall correctly.

 

 

You can never have too many Mk1 Cortina's. :D I really like them!

 

 

 

This is in 2005 after many years of the Corty sitting without even being started.

 

A few photo's of the rat-style taking effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well here was the end result......

 

 

 

 

[Chobis]

And here is the photoshoot for "Classic Ford". Ended up with a 6 page spread. As I said above...... I was a pig in mud. Always dreamed of getting a car of mine featured..... never in my wildest dreams thought it would be the Sporty Corty however. :hmm:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is the article...... even got a little pic of my car on the front cover. :D

 

 

 

 

 

[Chobis]

As many of you know I was lucky enough in September last year to score another photoshoot. This time for "Retro Cars" which is also a British magazine. Here's a few pics of the Corty from that and also my Rolla and Stout.

 

Promise I won't post any more pics for a bit. Sorry for so many. I get excited :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RA28GT]

Yes! You put pictures up.

 

This is hands down one of my fav cars of all time. Styling is 100% perfect.

 

I love Mk1 Cortina's and i love rat style so this thing just works. Congrats of all the success you have had with the car!

 

Fantastic write up too.

[67Rolla-Ken]

Fantastic!!

 

I'm not a fan of cortina's, but I am a fan of ratrods... this thing is absolutely styling!

[7shades]

Win

 

Just... win.

 

The car, the backstory, the theme, and the execution. Love it. Well done.

[Chobis]

Thanks chaps. Been meaning to put this car up for a long time, but never got around to it. Just seemed like a fun thing to do last night after a few refreshing Australia Day bevvies. :D

 

Not too sure how you have seen this car before Troy. I guess pics of it have gotten around on diff forums etc.

 

The funny thing about the rat style (HoodRide as I prefer to call it) is that it's not quite as easy to pull off as some people think. It's not as simple as having a piece of c**p and claiming it's a ratter. It needs some attention to detail and the highlighted areas of the car need to work together so the whole thing still looks good. I think it's easy to over-do it too.

 

Back in Early 2006 when this hit the road in Adelaide it was very rare to see a ratter that wasn't an actual Rat Rod. Even they weren't prolific, but they were around. Even more rare was to see a non yank tank ratter. Darren's VW (Boris for those of you playing at home) and my Cortina caused quite a stir at many shows in the early stages. Sadly the ratter styling has become fairly played out over the years and when you see on some forums people turning up with 1991 Honda Accords that are just in totally $h!thouse condition and claiming them to be "Rat Rods", you just want to shoot people. I got over it and hence the Corty has been relegated to the back of the line again in the last 2 years.

 

Anyhow a couple of things I'd like to point out that some of you may not have noticed........... firstly there is a fair few number plate changes on this car as you look through the pics. It took me a while to decide what I wanted.

 

Also if you look at the bonnet you will notice that the badging says "PATINA". Probably my favourite bit on the car.

 

Also there's the genuine old skool cams badge on the grille and if you were to see the car in the metal you would be able to see the pencil lines still on the boot where I was marking up where the stripes would go. :hmm:

[ratiara]

Your Cortina is not very nice.

 

Just kidding, gee wizz brother we had some fun with the rat look....scouring swap meets, comparing ebay purchases of completely useless scooters, suitcases and eskies.

And yes, the Hoodride or Rat Look scene was fun while it lasted. Attention to detail is the key......a ratter needs period accessories and innovation, it is more than an unsafe poo box with chopped springs and the folk at shows generally appreciated it.

 

Your Corty really broke the mould and showed that a little original thought, some help from your mates and stuff pulled from alternate 'scenes' could really result in something special.

[67Rolla-Ken]

I just had a look on Ebay for a swamp cooler... only 3 on there, looks like I'd be up for $200-$300... maybe later.

[ca18ae71]

nice mate , i owned a mk1 and mk2 that were both ratrod inspired good to see more getting out and about good job

[Marjanne]

Hi Mate

 

Awesome car!!! I have a MK1 to. My one is a '67 4 door automatic. Similar condition as yours. I love my Cortina. Bought it 2 years ago but got it only recently on the road. My paint has cracked very badly and it needs a respray.....Love the rat rod theme. I might go with flat black or a flat pale blue similar as the original colour

 

All the best

[orangeLJ]

Id kill to find a decent nick MK1 cortina.

 

My old boy's first full blown race car was a MK1, had an infatuation with them since I looked at his old photos.

 

Would look good parked next to my torana! haha.

 

Very different example though. Good job dude!

[13BT_KE20]

looks great, well done!

[Jason KE30]

This is one of the most out there corty's I've ever seen! Great job!

[nickyboy]

i love yoooouuu!!! and your swamp coolers :)