jays
Part of things
Posts: 26 
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Hey guys and girls.
This is the family Cortina - my dad purchased it new in 75 from Perth, Australia.
It was handed over to my mum when I was a kid.... And it was our main mode of transport for a number of years, taking us to school and back again. We were all super embarrassed of it back then - the brakes squealed like you were kicking a pig in the a**, the Ford Mulberry was fading and badly sun damaged, and it coughed and splurged if you didn't coax it into acceleration (I suspect from the poor design of the log head?).
Generally, the Cortina was in a bit of a sorry state.
When we were in possession of it, we gave it to some auto body spray painter; I use these terms very loosely because this guy proceeded to paint it in a house paint shade of terracotta. Anyway, it was painted - in some areas with a brush, no less. But, with the bad comes the good: Luck would have it that I think the extra coat of paint protected it over the years when we parked it up after it had stopped working. Which takes me to my next part in the story....
So in AU, the government ends up phasing out leaded fuel in the early 2000's, which pretty much spelled the end of the humble Cortina. I had no choice but to use 98 octane with a "lead replacement" ... that stuff is garbage. A lot of pinging and detonation would follow for (*gulp*) the next few years as I worked, driving it to and from for approximately a 55km round trip every day for the next few years.
Unfortunately, where we live there is minimal room (single car port storage area) for car storage and mechanical duties. I opted to park my S13 under the car port and the Cortina out the back. Occasionally, I'd rotate the cars so a dry one would get wet, and the neglected rained on car could dry up. It's probably not how things work but it made a car guy sleep better at night. Regardless, its pretty special to me. It's the family car, with just 150xxxkms from new. As stated, my Dad purchased it from a Perth Ford Dealer, and around the date of purchase he decided the 3.3 had to go and he got it replaced with a log head 4.1 hi comp through Houghton Ford Perth. Therefore its a factory G code, with a 3 speed Auto (Z Code trans), Saddle Trim, in Mulberry Metallic.
250 (High comp variant 9.1:1)
3 speed auto bordeaux
Ford Mulberry
I'll try to dig up some old pics, but for now, the work has started. Stay tuned if you like.
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Last Edit: Oct 19, 2016 14:40:56 GMT by jays
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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I don't understand all your engine number stuff being English , but if i get the gist of it you had a monk off engine put in from another Ford ? Whats the D for in the title , as at first i assumed you had a diesel in it .
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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Cheers for the feedback and early well wishes. The cortina family had marks 1-4, with mine being a mk3.. The Mk 3 had 2 series - the TC and a later "face lift" / redesign model, the TD. From the factory, my Cortina had a 3.3L 200 cubic inch ford straight 6. My dad didn't particularly like it because it couldn't tow and climb hills quickly. So he had a new 4.1L 250cu (ci?) straight 6 installed from the dealer. The "D" is not for diesel, its just the nomenclature of the Mk3 Ford Cortina... hope this helps.
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Last Edit: Oct 8, 2016 15:55:07 GMT by jays
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Great story jays and a great way to introduce yourself to RR.
Welcome aboard mate and lets have some more pictures and details.
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düdo
Part of things
wide as house
Posts: 770
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My Dad had a pale blue metallic Cortina estate in the 70s. I remember the vinyl seats not much else.
Can you post a pic of the engine bay? I love that Perth band 'Tame Impala' - how about 'Tame Cortina!?'
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Last Edit: Oct 8, 2016 22:01:18 GMT by düdo
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It always amazes me that they sold these in AUS when there were perfectly acceptable domestic product available ?
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79cord
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,617
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Plenty of potential there, & the wagons would be so much rarer than sedans now.
Why on earth did these attract brown so well!? I collected 4 in the mid 90's when people were dumping them on-mass (didn't manage to get a really good one), & 2 were metallic brown & another had been painted brown from gold!
Love the Mulberry & a 'parchment' interior would contrast nicely, 'saddle' unexpected.
Looks like XL trim with the chrome window trims which I found made for a shocking improvement over the base L with the extra sound deadening & ctr console. Thought '74 very early for the TD facelift, though the (raised) frt suspension certainly looks high enough for TD. Assume it lost the ugly stick-on rubstrips with the repaint. Love the early sloping dash & anodized alloy grille before the facelift.
Not a fan of the Falcon six personally but I made sure to get the revised (late '72-), body with the notched firewall in case I wanted to move the 4 back further. Shame import duties & costs killed the v6 here against the local straight 6, but certainly plenty of torque & it dominated sales, even though a workmate described his as either under-steering or over-steering with little in-between.
Our mk4/5 (TE/TF) also had revised frt suspension to eliminate the frt subframe & put the upr A-arms above the frame rails for more suspension travel after early (low) TC were cracking their reinforced sub-frames bottoming out under the weight of the 6. So TD/late mk3 raised the suspension 2-3" & reinforced the frt rails as a stop-gap. Plenty of dirt roads still in the '70s apparently.
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Last Edit: Oct 9, 2016 10:20:45 GMT by 79cord
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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Great story jays and a great way to introduce yourself to RR. Welcome aboard mate and lets have some more pictures and details. Getting a good run of sunny weather, so I'll be getting into it and giving it some tlc. Stay tuned for pics, will update in the coming days... |
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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My Dad had a pale blue metallic Cortina estate in the 70s. I remember the vinyl seats not much else. Can you post a pic of the engine bay? I love that Perth band 'Tame Impala' - how about 'Tame Cortina!?' HAH, sounds good. Not a bad aussie band at all. The last song I heard of theirs was the cover they did of Outkast's 'Prototype'. A good cover. Tame Cortina  .. I guess compared to a nice cleveland or windsor cortina, yeah its tame  But let me tell you - when this six is running well, it actually pulls hard with plenty of torque. But... If the name sticks, it stays! I'll post images in the new week sometime, stay tuned. |
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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It always amazes me that they sold these in AUS when there were perfectly acceptable domestic product available ? The Cortina was lovingly dubbed "the poor man's falcon". It was cheap and new, which suited my dad. In that time period, dad probably considered xa - xc falcons and Holden Kingswood / Premier wagons. I believe they were all more expensive.... and considering how light the Cortina is, i'd put money on the 250 Cortinas out performing the heavier falcons. You're right though...there were a few local cars to choose from. |
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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Plenty of potential there, & the wagons would be so much rarer than sedans now. Why on earth did these attract brown so well!? I collected 4 in the mid 90's when people were dumping them on-mass (didn't manage to get a really good one), & 2 were metallic brown & another had been painted brown from gold! Love the Mulberry & a 'parchment' interior would contrast nicely, 'saddle' unexpected. Looks like XL trim with the chrome window trims which I found made for a shocking improvement over the base L with the extra sound deadening & ctr console. Thought '74 very early for the TD facelift, though the (raised) frt suspension certainly looks high enough for TD. Assume it lost the ugly stick-on rubstrips with the repaint. Love the early sloping dash & anodized alloy grille before the facelift. Not a fan of the Falcon six personally but I made sure to get the revised (late '72-), body with the notched firewall in case I wanted to move the 4 back further. Shame import duties & costs killed the v6 here against the local straight 6, but certainly plenty of torque & it dominated sales, even though a workmate described his as either under-steering or over-steering with little in-between. Our mk4/5 (TE/TF) also had revised frt suspension to eliminate the frt subframe & put the upr A-arms above the frame rails for more suspension travel after early (low) TC were cracking their reinforced sub-frames bottoming out under the weight of the 6. So TD/late mk3 raised the suspension 2-3" & reinforced the frt rails as a stop-gap. Plenty of dirt roads still in the '70s apparently. Don't know why this ended up Brown.... the guy my folks employed to do the job needs to put down the spray gun asap. I do love Ford Mulberry Metallic when its new though, maybe with a spash of black to darken it up a bit. Its a verrrry nice colour when applied properly. It is XL trim, I have the badge inside the car, along with the "250 six cylinder" fender badges. It has the center console too. I'll take a pic soon and upload - but it has seen better days. The log head falcon six in this car is a good motor and went well when it was in use. It really had good power and quick acceleration (for what it is). No doubt about it - the handling of the car is suspect at best and it doesn't really stop well. I'm hoping for some off the shelf parts to help out there. Very interesting info about the suspension on the mk3 / mk4! Definitely know what you mean about the earlier TC touches - the sloping dash was beautiful and extra metal looked much better than plastic on the TD. Brown! Although i'm following the theme of the factory id plate, they don't look too bad in brown! But I'm sticking to mulberry arguably the nicest cortina / mk1 escort colour! A bit of inspiration for me: car-from-uk.com/ebay/carphotos/full/ebay903006.jpg |
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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Plenty of potential there, & the wagons would be so much rarer than sedans now. Why on earth did these attract brown so well!? I collected 4 in the mid 90's when people were dumping them on-mass (didn't manage to get a really good one), & 2 were metallic brown & another had been painted brown from gold! Love the Mulberry & a 'parchment' interior would contrast nicely, 'saddle' unexpected. Looks like XL trim with the chrome window trims which I found made for a shocking improvement over the base L with the extra sound deadening & ctr console. Thought '74 very early for the TD facelift, though the (raised) frt suspension certainly looks high enough for TD. Assume it lost the ugly stick-on rubstrips with the repaint. Love the early sloping dash & anodized alloy grille before the facelift. Not a fan of the Falcon six personally but I made sure to get the revised (late '72-), body with the notched firewall in case I wanted to move the 4 back further. Shame import duties & costs killed the v6 here against the local straight 6, but certainly plenty of torque & it dominated sales, even though a workmate described his as either under-steering or over-steering with little in-between. Our mk4/5 (TE/TF) also had revised frt suspension to eliminate the frt subframe & put the upr A-arms above the frame rails for more suspension travel after early (low) TC were cracking their reinforced sub-frames bottoming out under the weight of the 6. So TD/late mk3 raised the suspension 2-3" & reinforced the frt rails as a stop-gap. Plenty of dirt roads still in the '70s apparently. Don't know why this ended up Brown.... the guy my folks employed to do the job needs to put down the spray gun asap. I do love Ford Mulberry Metallic when its new though, maybe with a spash of black to darken it up a bit. Its a verrrry nice colour when applied properly. It is XL trim, I have the badge inside the car, along with the "250 six cylinder" fender badges. It has the center console too. I'll take a pic soon and upload - but it has seen better days. The log head falcon six in this car is a good motor and went well when it was in use. It really had good power and quick acceleration (for what it is). No doubt about it - the handling of the car is suspect at best and it doesn't really stop well. I'm hoping for some off the shelf parts to help out there. Very interesting info about the suspension on the mk3 / mk4! Definitely know what you mean about the earlier TC touches - the sloping dash was beautiful and extra metal looked much better than plastic on the TD. Brown! Although i'm following the theme of the factory id plate, they don't look too bad in brown! But I'm sticking to mulberry arguably the nicest cortina / mk1 escort colour! A bit of inspiration for me: car-from-uk.com/ebay/carphotos/full/ebay903006.jpg Also - let me check that saddle interior color. I thought saddle would be equivalent to an "off" white / tan, which seems like my interior colour.... but my plate may say "W" which equals "white". Will double check!! |
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Last Edit: Oct 9, 2016 16:51:08 GMT by jays
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Sure brakes parts off modern fords will fit , mondeo focus etc or what ever you call them over there .
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79cord
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,617
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Oct 10, 2016 13:19:30 GMT
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Saddle was the dark/mid brown, with Parchment creamy beige vinyl, have one with Black too. Top spec XLE went tastelessly overboard with weird cloth vinyl combinations, vinyl roof, side rub strips & the body coloured hubcaps . Aside from the vinyl roof Ford also offered an off-white painted roof option early on, & even a bench seat with floor shift. TC XL with GS frt fender stripes( the Ebay pic. has a bad copy), painted roof & early option wheel covers in Mulberry, Calypso green or Cosmic blue my favorite.  uniquecarsandparts.com/brochures_ford_cortina_tc.htmI don't think our TE/TF front suspension could be directly fitted to other cars as Ford revised the front rails to suit. Their vented frt brakes should be used but there must be better options if you wanted larger wheels anyway. |
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Oct 10, 2016 14:37:06 GMT
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This looks superb and it has such a great story and family connection too!!!
I am looking forward to seeing the re-birth of this one...
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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jays
Part of things
Posts: 26
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Oct 11, 2016 15:11:01 GMT
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So being around the Cortina lately I'm beginning to have a metal checklist of things to do and realistic goals. Here I might take the opportunity to mention I am not a mechanic, I am not a panel beater...not even a welder. While I wish I had knowledge in these areas, I only have enough to do the basic services and the like. The most complex thing I have done mechanically would be changing a timing belt on a ca18det, and resetting the mechanical / static timing enough to start it. This pretty much gave me a good understanding of the 4 stroke process, and with that, the confidence to figure out to do more odd small jobs. So prior warning - these posts will probably be filled with cringe worthy mistakes and through those mistakes, the sweet, sweet moments of victory! The Cortina does not run as of today. Its actually been parked for some time now (since 2005) - no fuel going into the bowl, possible weak spark. I can recall it giving a lot of trouble during its slow death on pulp + leaded additive. Hesitation / trouble starting / low on power... The feeling of it wanting to fire but just not being able?!?! I thought I blew my head gasket - gotta check that. Things to do / completed - Look at car Wonder if its just too much Take some pics Pull head off Clean head 250 Log head / BOV2 Stromberg Carburettor  Note core plugs..    It's pretty dirty with years of buildup on this one....  |
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Last Edit: Oct 11, 2016 15:22:58 GMT by jays
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.. I guess compared to a nice cleveland or windsor cortina, yeah its tame 
But let me tell you - when this six is running well, it actually pulls hard with plenty of torque. But... If the name sticks, it stays!