1969 Ford Cortina Lotus Mk2

Following on from the enormous success of the Lotus Cortina in the hands of a plethora of star drivers including Jim Clark OBE, Sir Jackie Stewart OBE, Graham Hill, Sir John Whitmore and Frank Gardner, Ford introduced the Cortina Lotus Mk2 in 1967. With the move of production from Norfolk to Dagenham, the marketing team at Ford felt more comfortable with the car being seen as a Ford product rather than a Lotus one and the names were reversed. The famous Lotus 1600 twin-cam engine was now developing 109bhp and externally all the cars had a black front grill, steel wheels and Lotus badges on both rear wings and adjacent to the rear number plate. The gearbox ratios remained to 2000E spec, but the final drive was lengthened to 3.77 to one from 3.9 to one and comfort and handling improvements were made with a larger fuel tank and radial tyres.

This very well restored Cortina Lotus offers the new owner a better built and more refined alternative to its earlier sibling and at half the price. Our example here was subject to a top quality restoration and has only covered 536 miles since. Leaving the Dagenham factory in the last few months of production and one of only 4,032 made. A revised final-drive and new gear linkage gave it a bit more driving modernity and comfort and handling improvements were accompanied by a larger fuel tank and radial tyres with Ford, perhaps, aiming at a slightly broader customer base.

Classically finished now in Ermine White with the Sherwood Green stripe, it's believed it may have had a colour change at the point of restoration which could have been around 2015 (second-generation cars were available in a number of colours). It still presents exceptionally well, sitting four-square with sharp panel work and good panel gaps. It still features its original air-box.

At this estimate, and lesser examples have topped today's upper estimate, this Cortina Lotus could be the one that got away.