Some of you youngsters may have to brush up on your olde timeyvocabulary for this one. Like "carburetor." And "distributor." Betteradd "live axle."
Throw all these weird words into a perky little white sedan with greenside flashes, stir in more modern-sounding ingredients like twin cams,trick suspension and aluminum body parts, and what you cook up is thistasty little steak-and-kidney pie from the land and times of theBeatles.
It's a Lotus Cortina from the 1960s, and it's highly revered today by asmall but dynamic group of cultists determined to keep the works of thegreat racecar designer Colin Chapman laying rubber forever.
Our story begins long ago in a united kingdom far across the sea. Agifted young engineer and racecar driver named Anthony Colin BruceChapman built himself a tidy, lightweight sports special and called it aLotus. It was so good that other people wanted one, and suddenly Chapmanwas a leading car constructor. Lotus Cars went on to many triumphs inracing, especially in Formula One, and even won the Indy 500.
Enter Ford Motor Company and Total Performance. That was Dearborn'searly-'60s marketing campaign, which led to all sorts of wonderfulthings like Shelby Cobras and GT350 Mustangs cutting up sports cartracks, GT40s winning Le Mans, Ford powerplants dominating F1 andIndycar, and much more.
Ford of Britain quivered to the parent company's excitement. In 1962 itsimaginative P.R. director, Walter Hayes, popped 'round to see ColinChapman and (we're guessing here) bought him a drink. At the time, Lotuswas launching a tiny, two-seat road car named the Elan. It would use theengine from the English Ford Cortina sedan, aka "saloon," but would bebored out and hopped up with a special Lotus cylinder head.
"I say, Colin, old boy," we can imagine Walter murmuring there in someoak-paneled pub. "Wouldn't it be a good idea to plop your lump into oursaloon? I know--we'll call it a Lotus Cortina! Do us both a world ofgood ... "
Well, no moss grew on Chapman's business instincts, and so the plot washatched. Unveiled in January of 1963, the car was really an appealingpiece. Think English Shelby Mustang. It started out with anot-quite-finished Cortina two-door sedan taken from the Ford assemblyline and shipped to Lotus for installation of Chapman's magic parts.
Foremost among these was the engine. Its standard iron, four-cylinderblock was bored out from 1498cc to 1588cc, and the regular pushrodcylinder head was replaced by the twin-cam, two-valve aluminum Lotusitem. (The original camshaft remained in the block to drive the oil pumpand ignition distributor, but did nothing for the valves, still,technically, this was a triple-cam engine.) Equipped with Italy's famousWeber twin-barrel carbs--two of them--the 1.6-liter Lotus pumped out aclaimed 105 hp at 5500 rpm and 108 lb-ft at 4000 rpm.
Remember, it was 1963. Those were pretty good numbers back then. Anyway,that power was nearly twice what the standard Cortina could boast.
Bolted to the engine was a heavy-duty clutch and a highly modified,four-speed manual gearbox with closer ratios than normal. In back camethe live axle. Chapman really went to town back there, tearing off theoriginal leaf springs in favor of coils. That meant he had to add a pairof trailing arms, plus a central, A-shaped link pivoting on a specialaluminum differential case to control the axle's movement. Here's wherehe went wrong. But we'll get back to that.
You can spot a genuine early Lotus Cortina today by checking inside thetrunk. You'll see tubular braces for that axle A-arm. Also, the batterywill be here instead of up front, and the spare tire will be layingflat, rather than standing to one side. Both of those changes were inthe interests of weight distribution. Chapman was a bug on weight.
Other mods that made a dull English Ford family sedan into a bright,sparkling Lotus Cortina included a lower and stiffer suspension (thefront remained a strut type) with bigger tires. Inside were sportyseats, steering wheel and gearshifter, plus special instruments. Thehood, trunk lid and both doors, normally steel, were replaced withaluminum ones. To save more weight, underbody rust protection wasn'tapplied.
Every car came painted the same: Ermine white with Sherwood green sideaccents and tail panel. The grille was black, and Lotus badges were onit as well as on both rear fenders.
Contemporary reviews raved about the Lotus Cortina's brisk performanceof 0-60 in about 10 seconds and top speed of around 105 mph. Handlingwas considered excellent, agile yet stable and with high-cornering grip.Tail out to the exit was the norm.
Even British bobbies liked it: some Lotus Cortinas became Motorwaypatrol cars.
Ford's Walter Hayes took care to capitalize on his investment by puttingChapman's hot rod on the race tracks, and on the rally roads too.Competition models with stripped interiors and plastic windows, tightersuspensions and as much as 145 hp soon began winning major events allaround the world.
Lotus' top factory driver in those days, the quiet but brilliant JimClark from Scotland (a two-time world champion), stepped out of his F1car long enough to pick up the British Saloon Car Championship in aLotus Cortina. Another Scot and future three-time F1 champ, Wee JackieStewart, showed off the LoCort to Americans by co-driving one to victoryin a 12-hour race at Marlboro, Md.
Pushed to the limit by such aces, this was one spectacular car to watch.Stiff front springs meant the inside front wheel would fly all aroundevery turn.
But, in extended use, on the highway and on the race track, the LotusCortina showed a few minor flaws, like the diff opening up and losingits oil, and the rear suspension falling apart. Clanking and bangingnoises back there when the car was driven hard suggested Chapman mightnot have gotten his geometries right. Private owners as well as raceteams, and especially rallyists, had to stay on top of their maintenanceto keep the car going.
Various minor fixes were attempted, but Ford, rightly concerned for itscorporate reputation, finally told Chapman to go back to thetried-and-true leaf spring suspension. That took effect in June 1965.
By this time, other changes had begun to dilute the Lotus Cortina'soriginal, performance-is-everything character. The aluminum differentialand body parts were declared optional in 1964. Gearbox problems led toless and less Lotus content. Everyday drivers were beginning to admitthat, fun though it was to play Jim Clark when the roads were right, thestiff, rev-happy LoCort was a little tiresome in traffic.
The end came early in 1967. Ford redesigned the Cortina's body and tookthe opportunity to announce that, while there would still be a Lotusversion, this Mark II model would come off the regular Ford productionline. A gain in reliability, a loss in cachet. Also, the new car wasbigger, heavier and uglier. Though the Lotus engine's horsepower wasbumped a bit to 109, it wouldn't be enough to compensate for the newcar's lack of charm. And color combos other than white-and-green wereavailable. The reborn LoCort just wasn't the same.
That's why today, despite all its foibles, the Mark I, like MikeSchaffer's unrestored and unmolested 1966 example, is the one to want.