CL-1965 Cortina Race Project - $6,000 (BC)

[Sideways]

I am glad the codes worked, I see you got the steering wheel in the right place. Do you remember what the asking price was on the red one back then?

I vaguely remember around the $5K mark with all the bits and pieces thrown in and (again VAGUELY) remember when I met with the owner prior to this gent that he was asking less than $5K for the roller only.

But as I said, it was a while back and the memory is often just that - a memory

PS just scanned my old emails but I didn't keep what I had on this car

[1970 cortina GT]

Thanks Brett, price was never mentioned. We agreed at $4,000 on the white one when I first met his widow and then it rose $500 the day before I collected... Still got a good deal I believe. I also managed to get a set of Minilites and tires thrown in, so probably worth the extra. He had a shop full of parts, more than I can list and also an old Europa. I was told that someone bought the whole lot, someone from Gimley MB, where Gord used to race Formula Fords. Maybe I should have made an offer on everything but I'm sure the 'trouble and strife' would have had something negative to say about that..

[Brett Wilkie]

For some reason I seem to recall it was 4 to 5 Grand when it was first advertised but I guess like fine wine the asking price keeps going up? The Minilites are nice on these cars, what size are the rims? I bought a set of those wheels and tires out of the U.K. but I have yet to put them on the car, I am waiting until I get the paint done.

[1970 cortina GT]

Sounds about right on the price, big project, I had some of the original trim from this one as well as my own, just sold it all to a guy in Australia. My Minilites are 13" and I just about managed to squeeze 205 x 60 x 13 in there. About 1/4" gap between tire and wheel arch on the back and a little more on the front, ideally the inside of the wheel arches on the front would have been rolled but it didn't happen and I'm not risking wrecking the paint now.

[Brett Wilkie]

How is the clearance at the front between the tire and strut, the Mk1 strut is a bit tight there.

[Sideways]

How is the clearance at the front between the tire and strut, the Mk1 strut is a bit tight there.

My GT had 13" 205s when I bought it, no clearance issues, can't remember the profile but it was probably 70.

If it helps, I then went with 14" wheels with 185/70s on mine...no clearance issues anywhere. I also found that dropping the width from the 13" 205s which were on the car gave much less "squish" to the handling. The 205s felt "unsure" when cornering hard, the 185s felt a lot more consistent - and no discernible difference to the ride.

If memory serves, the offset was the same for both sets of wheels.

PS, the 205s were on Rostyles and I suspect it was the width of the wheel versus the tire was the issue, too much tire for rim width, hence the squish.

[zephyrgary]

I had 205 60 13s on both of my V8 Cortinas back in the day. Never had a problem with rubbing the fenders. If memory serves I think they were 6x13.
Gary in AZ

[1970 cortina GT]

Took a quick measure and it's looking about 5mm from the front struts, pretty snug but never had an issue. On the rear I'm pretty similar with my deep dish 'Lotus" wheels, interestingly enough slightly different gaps on each side but I'm told this is pretty standard. Minilites give me more of a gap on the rear with the same tires, must be slightly narrower wheels ..

[Brett Wilkie]

Took a quick measure and it's looking about 5mm from the front struts, pretty snug but never had an issue. On the rear I'm pretty similar with my deep dish 'Lotus" wheels, interestingly enough slightly different gaps on each side but I'm told this is pretty standard. Minilites give me more of a gap on the rear with the same tires, must be slightly narrower wheels ..

I can't remember who I was talking to at one of the Vancouver All British Meets years ago but the topic was about some wheels he had tried fitting on his Mk1 Cortina GT and If I remember correctly he had some wheels that came off a Mk2 Cortina, when they were bolted to his Mk1 Cortina the wheels or tires interfered with the front strut. I don't now what wheels or even if I am recalling this 100% correct but it stands out in my pea-brain. I think for the likes of our cars 5.5 or 6.0 wheel width is perfectly adequate and no need to put big fat tires on either, as mentioned they make things feel sloppy.

[Sideways]

Took a quick measure and it's looking about 5mm from the front struts, pretty snug but never had an issue. On the rear I'm pretty similar with my deep dish 'Lotus" wheels, interestingly enough slightly different gaps on each side but I'm told this is pretty standard. Minilites give me more of a gap on the rear with the same tires, must be slightly narrower wheels ..

I can't remember who I was talking to at one of the Vancouver All British Meets years ago but the topic was about some wheels he had tried fitting on his Mk1 Cortina GT and If I remember correctly he had some wheels that came off a Mk2 Cortina, when they were bolted to his Mk1 Cortina the wheels or tires interfered with the front strut. I don't now what wheels or even if I am recalling this 100% correct but it stands out in my pea-brain. I think for the likes of our cars 5.5 or 6.0 wheel width is perfectly adequate and no need to put big fat tires on either, as mentioned they make things feel sloppy.

Going from memory (so ignore if it is incorrect) I believe the Mk11 wheels had a marginally greater offset than the Mk1 as well as being a tad wider but the offset was the issue.

That was a decade or two ago so...

[Brett Wilkie]

Yes, I think that you are correct, the Mk2 has a lager spindle angle on the front strut so there was room for a deeper inboard offset. Looking on Wikipedia I see that the Mk1 and Mk2 did have different offsets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Cortina
From Wikipedia.
The car also had a different final drive of 3.77:1 rather than 3.9:1. The Mk2 was a wider car than the Mk1, so although they looked the same, the steel wheels had a different offset so as not to upset the tracking, and radial tyres were now standard.

[1970 cortina GT]

Anyone know if this is still for sale? I know of a guy in Calgary that may be interested. Postings on Craiglist and Kijiji appear to have gone.

[Brett Wilkie]

I have not seen it advertised for a while but I believe some from this Forum have contacted him in the past, maybe they still have his number or email?

[Sideways]

FYI He had dropped the price to $5K a week or so before the ad was removed

[1970 cortina GT]

Ok, thanks, if anyone does have any contact info. Please forward to me. Thanks.