The Ford Cortina is a compact car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s.
The second incarnation of the Cortina, designed by Roy Haynes, was launched on 18 October 1966, four years after the original Cortina. It had some styling elements in common with the third-generation US Ford Falcon. Although the launch was accompanied by the slogan "New Cortina is more Cortina", the car, at 168 in (427 cm) long, was fractionally shorter than before. Its 2+1⁄2 inches (6.4 cm) of extra width and curved side panels provided more interior space. Its other improvements included a smaller turning circle, softer suspension, self-adjusting brakes and clutch, and the availability on the smaller-engined models, for the UK and some other markets, of a new five-bearing 1300 cc engine.
A stripped-out, 1200 cc version running the engine of the Ford Anglia Super was also available for certain markets, where the 1300 cc engine attracted a higher tax rate. The 1500 cc engines were at first carried over, but were discontinued in July 1967, as a new engine was on its way. A month later, in August, the 1300 received a new crossflow cylinder head design, making it more efficient, while a crossflow 1600 replaced the 1500. The new models carried additional "1300" or "1600" designations at the rear. An 1100 cc crossflow engine from the Escort was also offered for markets such as Greece, where higher capacities were taxed heavily. The Cortina Lotus continued with its own unique engine, although for this generation it was built in-house by Ford.
The Cortina was Britain's most popular new car in 1967, achieving the goal that Ford had been trying to achieve since it set out to create the original Cortina back in 1962. This interrupted the long run of BMC's 1100/1300 range as Britain's best-selling car.
Period reviews were favourable concerning both the styling and performance.
Again, two- and four-door saloons were offered with base, Deluxe, Super, GT, and later, 1600E trims available, but again, not across all body styles and engine options. A few months after the introduction of the saloon versions, a four-door estate was launched, released on the UK market on 15 February 1967: much was made at the time of its class-topping load capacity.
The four-door Cortina 1600E, a higher-trim version, was introduced at the Paris Motor Show in October 1967, a year after the arrival of the Cortina Mark II. It combined the lowered suspension of the Cortina Lotus with the high-tune GT 1600 Kent engine and luxury trim featuring a burr walnut woodgrain-trimmed dashboard and door cappings, bucket seating, leather-clad aluminium sports steering wheel, and full instrumentation inside, while a black grille, tail panel, front fog lights, and plated Rostyle wheels on radial tyres featured outside. According to author and Cortina expert Graham Robson, the 1600E would be the first Cortina recognized as a classic.
For 1969, the Mark II range was given subtle revisions, with separate "FORD" block letters mounted on the bonnet and boot lids, a blacked-out grille and chrome strips on top and below the taillights running the full width of the tail panel marking them out.
