Gavin’s Mk1 Cortina(s)
One can never have too many projects. Well, that’s what Gavin keeps telling himself anyway, as another (familiar) Mk1 joins the fleet.
I’ll be the first to admit that I have too many projects and I just shouldn’t consider buying another car. Well, that was my stance until a car that I’ve wanted for years came up for sale!
I’ve always liked Mk1 Cortinas; I was taken home from hospital at two days old in one, so maybe there’s something in my subconscious. However it was only the two-door saloon I lusted after, the proportions of the other models just didn’t look so good. As soon as I passed my test, I bought a two-door and I’ve had one ever since.
While I loved my two-door I never paid any attention to the Estates. That all changed when back in 1996 Custom Car magazine started a new project; a Mk1 Cortina Estate which they were going to convert to a two-door. I saw some artwork at the Nationals that year and I was hooked — the proportions were spot-on and the long roof just accentuated this. Armed with the how-to article published in the magazine my dream was to build one for myself. I managed to find a very rusty two-door saloon to cut up for the required panels but before I bought an estate I tried to track down the original Custom Car project. I understood that Tim Baggaley, the car’s then-owner, had been involved in a nasty accident and the project hadn’t progressed following the two-door conversion. Despite my searches I couldn’t track the car down and I ended up buying a standard estate — the red car which Rayvern have since fitted out with airbags. Of course once I was deep into the project the inevitable happened, that very Custom Car project popped up for sale. As I said, I didn’t need another project, but this was the very car that turned me on to estates, which I tried to track down, and which I was now trying to emulate. It was a significant car for me.
It caused much debate but in the end I decided I’d try and win the auction. There was just one problem, the auction would end while I was visiting a friend in Moscow. Due to the time difference it would end in the early hours of the morning, at a time we would be in a nightclub. I had to put my maximum bid in hours before the end of the auction and hope nobody else trumped me. When we got home I was very excited to find that I’d won the auction.
So I now have yet another project!
“THE INEVITABLE HAPPENED, AND THIS CAR POPPED UP FOR SALE”