Article: mentions Cortinas

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stanchfi
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Article: mentions Cortinas

Post by stanchfi »

This article mentions the sucess of Cortinas, and makes some other good points as well


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-James
angliagt
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Post by angliagt »

Jaime owns the MKII Lotus Cortina that Ford gave to Colin Chapman.
Just think if Ford had sold the original Escort over here.
I remember when a friend & I went to a Ford dealer in Vallejo,CA,
while we were racing our Fiestas at Sears Point in (I think) 1981.
We looked at the new Ford Escort.... & were NOT impressed.5ft. long
heavy doors,etc.
Sad to think that those were the "Good old days".

- Doug
Remember - Nobody EVER says "COOL PRIUS!"
IFHP
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Kitman Article

Post by IFHP »

Back in the day, I had the same opinion of the Maverick and the Mustang II that Jamie Kitman espouses. But 30+ years on I am not ashamed to say that I actually like these cars, especially the Maverick. This doesn’t mean that think that they are great cars, they aren’t, just that I enjoy their period 70’s charm.

Actually, the Maverick didn’t replace the Cortina in the US (they overlap by 18 months), the Pinto did. And the Pinto, while flawed, was a breath of fresh air for Ford USA. A lot of the mechanicals were sourced from Ford of Europe; in fact this was the first four banger American Ford since the Model B.

It is true, especially with the 1981 Escort, that when Ford did produce a European designed Ford in North America, they tended to water it down to a US mass-market common denominator – but hey, that was an industry wide practice. Compare for example the German-built VW Rabbit with the Pennsylvania-built Rabbit it was replaced with in ‘79.

I hope that the North American market has reached the stage where Ford can really do well here with non-watered down versions of their European-designed cars in the near future.
Dave A
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Post by Dave A »

Well the Fiesta was alot better performer than the American Escort!

While the Maverick was poorly conceived and had clumsy handling etc they were quite reliable and better suited to the harsh Canadian winters than what the Cortina was. At the time the American industry was stuck on building cars with long hoods and no trunk like the Pinto, Gremlin, Mustang etc.

Yes. bring on that European Focus!
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