"The Cortina Savage was first produced by Race Proved Performance and Racing Equipment Limited in the mid-1960s and came in the form of the MK. II Ford Cortina. It was designed and produced by the 1959 British Saloon Car Champion, Jeff Uren. The most obvious feature of the later Cortina Savage is the optional fiberglass bonnet but this usually not seen until the mk.III. Many other options were also available, such as Mati headers and power pipes, Dunlop wheels, adjustable shocks, and various brake upgrades.
Jeff Uren had raced for and managed the Ford Works team before joining the Willment race team, which fielded Ford Falcons, Galaxies, Cobras, GT40s, and, most famously, the humble Cortina Mk. I. Uren was responsible for the development of the Willment Sprint GT Mk. I Cortina. When John Willment gave up racing, Uren set up Race Proved Performance and Racing Equipment Limited as his own company in 1967. The first car to have the Savage treatment (by dropping in a Ford 3.0 litre Essex V6 engine and re-engineering the suspension) was the Mk. II Cortina; this then progressed to Mk. IIIs, Mk. IVs and even a one-off Mk. V Cortina. A review in Autocar, August 1967 of the Mk. II stated ‘it really does hitch its skirts and get moving in the open roads in a manner that will leave practically everything else standing’ while Motorsport Magazine stated ‘the outstanding feature of the Savage is how enjoyable, yet effortless, it is to drive.’ Race Proved linked up with Weslake Engineering who did most of the engine tuning for Jeff Uren. The customers had various tuning choices; the standard Ford Capri-spec 3.0 litre engine with 138bhp and 182 ft-lbs of torque, the 170, 180, 190 and the mighty 218bhp Tecalemit fuel-injected version, which in a 1972 Motorsport Magazine article was timed as fast to 0-60 mph as a Jaguar E-Type V12.
First registered in February 1970, this rare example of the Cortina Savage Estate is presented in metallic green with a contrasting black interior with red piping trim and wood veneer dash. We are led to believe that this example was owned by Jeff Uren himself for 21 years and it is thought to be the last one he built, based on a 1600 GT estate but ordered new as a three litre Savage. Found within the history file is history dating back to the order and includes original sales literature from Race Proved Performance Ltd. Alongside countless invoices and receipts there is one from the Savage Register confirming that OBM 307H was of particular interest as was originally prepared for rallycross racing and as a consequence was built to a very high mechanical standard with a racing bottom end, triple carbs, big valve head pushing out a claimed 230bhp and a limited slip differential. Since then, the car has been fully nut and bolt restored and is in show condition. The ownership can be traced with letters, V5 registration documents and magazine entries for the car and as such it is a very well-known and desirable example. In this exquisite condition we strongly advise viewing to both appreciate the quality but also to confirm specification.
Interested parties should note that this example has very recently been restored and thus some minor fettling and running in will be expected"