Lotus Cortina

The Lotus-Cortina was a high-performance car, the result of collaboration between Ford and Lotus.

Released in 1963, originally called the 'Consul Cortina Sports Special by Lotus', the Lotus-Cortina was a variant of the lightweight 2-door Mk I Ford Cortina, and available only in one colour: white with a green flash, though resent historic racing examples can be see in the red and gold flash used by the ford galexies and folcans in period. The Lotus Twincam Motor was never installed from the factory in a four door shell.

Future Formula One World Champion Jim Clark used a Lotus Cortina to win the 1964 British Touring Car Championship.

The Lotus-Cortina featured a 1558 cc dual overhead cam engine from Lotus, based on Ford's Kent, and produced 105 bhp. The car also included modified suspension, a close-ratio gearbox, and aluminium alloy panels.

A Lotus-Cortina based on the Mk II Cortina was released in 1967. Like the Mk I, it was originally called the Lotus Cortina, but was later reduced to Cortina Twin Cam to reflect the reduced input from Lotus. The Mk II version is seen by enthusiests as less authentic, as it was built among ordinary Cortina's on the Dagenham production line. The white and green livery was no longer compoulsary on the Mk II. Powere increased slightly to 109 bhp