Coys Auction
Ascot Racecourse,
Berkshire SL5 7JX
Saturday 2 October 2010 at 3pm
In the early 1960s Ford asked Lotus founder Colin Chapman to produce a sports/racing version of its new Cortina for homologation in Group 2. Chapman also needed a new engine for the forthcoming Elan, and Harry Mundy, ex-BRM and Coventry-Climax, duly produced an alloy twin overhead camshaft cylinder head that was mated to Ford's 1,498cc block; the unit debuted in Jim Clark's Lotus 23 at the 1962 Nurburgring 1000kms. Chapman thus had a potent power unit for both the Elan and Ford's new saloon. The Lotus Cortina was born.
Introduced in 1963, and assembled at Lotus, the stylish Ford Cortina Lotus (its correct title) sported white paintwork, green side flashes and discreet Lotus badges. Bonnet, bootlid and doors were alloy, as were clutch and differential housings and the gearbox tailshaft. Front suspension was standard MacPherson strut, lowered and stiffened, but the rear was radical, the leaf springs replaced