The Ford Cortina Mk 1 was first on sale in 1962 and was voted car of the year in 1964.
The secret project name was ‘Archbishop’. It was then decided to call it the Ford Consul. In 1962 it went on sale as the Ford Consul Cortina (apparently the name was inspired by the sophisticated Italian ski resort Cortina d’Ampezzo, site of the 1956 Winter Olympics). Two years later, the Consul was dropped and it became simply ‘Ford Cortina’ and was already Britain’s best-selling car.The new Ford Cortina pretty well changed the face of the British motoring world and over the next twenty years it continued to sell in vast numbers albeit in five different versions. The Cortina’s chief designer was Roy Brown Jr who had also designed ill-fated Ford Edsel, for which he had been banished to Dagenham – presumably the equivalent of Siberia for an American Ford executive in those days. When the Cortina first went on sale in 1962 the heater was only optional as were the front disc brakes.
The name was inspired by the name of the sophisticated Italian ski resort Cortina d’Ampezzo, site of the 1956 Winter Olympics.
An Australian For Cortina ad from 1963.
The 1963 Ford Consul Cortina Estate Car.
South African Ford Cortina ad. Not only were they racist but sexist too.
South African ad for the new Cortina Mk 3 from 1971.
Ford Cortina 1600E from 1969.
England and Tottenham Hotspur players Martin Peters (left) and Allan Mullery. In 1970 Ford loaned out a Ford Cortina to every England player for a year.
An ad for the Ford Consul Cortina Dinky car from 1963.
Publicity picture for the brand new Ford Consul Cortina, 1962.
Interior of the firs Ford Consul Cortina in September 1962.
Two more England players (Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore) ecstatic at the thought of a Ford Cortina for a year, 1970.
Ford Cortina Mk 3 advert from 1971.
South African Ford Cortina pick up ad from 1972.
UK Ford Cortina ad from 1968.
American Ford Cortina GT ad from 1967.
Ford Cortina Lotus Ad from 1966.
Groovy Australian Ford Cortina ad from 1963.
The 1963 Ford Cortina Estate car with the fake wooden panels were particularly unsuccessful and withdrawn quite quickly.
An American Ford Consul Cortina ad from 1963.
The Cortina Story
The Cortina Crusader advertised in the Radio Times in 1982. The last year of the Cortina.
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