Readly RF Feb 20

GLS! A model never available in the UK and has a lot of
small differences that you wouldn’t notice straight away.
So, I snapped it up and tried to drive it home as it had an
MOT on it.
However, it didn’t go well, the steering was all over
the place, vague wasn’t the word for it!
So, Les had got himself an Essex V6 Cortina with
steering that was more disconnected than a teenager on
a mobile phone! At least the Cortina was rust free? Well,
err not exactly!
“I took the car to a well-reputed place to be repaired,
£5,000 and a few months later and the car had barely
been touched! I was not happy, so I gave up with these
Jokers and hunted around for somewhere better! This
time I struck gold with Upwood Auto Repair Centre, they
were superb from the get-go! They advised that we strip
the car down, to see what we were working with. Once
the engine was out of the engine bay, we discovered
that the front panel was rusty dented and full of filler!”
Les added.
Les sourced a new front panel and a new power
steering rack. However, the steering rack was meant for
a 2.3 Cortina Ghia with the Cologne V6. Unfortunately,
there was no way it was ever going to fit. The three Litre
Essex X-member it turns out is totally different!
“As the build commenced, I began to find more
and more unique small differences between the South
African and the European Cortina’s. Luckily, I managed
to get the original rack rebuilt, so I got around that issue.
About this point I decided to do away with the C3 Auto
transmission and instead fit a 5-speed type-9, but this
came with the issue that the type-9 won’t fit straight on
the Essex engine.
After some head-scratching, it was made to fit with
a spacer plate and a shortened prop shaft. Then a Mk4
Cortina manual peddle box was installed. “It ensured I
would have the correct amount of pedals.” Says Les
The build at this point was starting to take shape, and
Les was looking for a new interior as the original was
well past it, so a chance meeting with serial Ford builder
Wayne Champion to pick up a Mk4 Sport interior led the
build in a slightly different direction…
“Wayne had a superb Mk4 Cortina Sport, and it got
me thinking, Ford didn’t make a Mk5 Cortina Sport,
but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t! Now my car had
a manual gearbox, it was pretty much the same spec
as the Australian XR6 Cortina. So, with a bit of artistic
licence maybe I could build the car as a sort of mash-up
of the two, with a bit of American muscle car styling
thrown in?” Grins Les happily.
Back in the day, Les had worked on a few ‘Yank
tanks’ and liked the side marker lights that they had,
and he fancied incorporating some on his car. That’s
not all, he also liked the idea of some round LED rear
lights instead of the originals. It’s not one for the purists,
but Les built the car how he wanted it, and not for other
peoples benefit….
“One of the interesting differences with the South
African cars is that the bumpers don’t have plastic end
caps they are all steel, but the front one was badly
dented. Luckily the ends unbolt, so we used the centre
section from a standard bumper and then bolted the
metal ends back on, some powder coating later, and
098
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