The first car I owned was a 1970 Mk2 Cortina. It was a low mileage one owner car, white with a blue interior and automatic. It had a few bumps on the outside but no rust and the interior was immaculate. I don’t think anyone had ever sat in the back. When we picked it up it still had the original crossply tyres. I decided that this car wasn’t for me and I set my sights on trying to find a Mk1 GT Cortina. I eventually found one in Summer Hill, Sydney (they were still rare back in 1990) and the car was soon mine. It had been neglected but with a bit of TLC it was soon looking good. I absolutely loved it but unfortunately being totally original it wasn’t that reliable so I moved it on for a Mk2 Escort. I made a pact with myself that one day I would get my Cortina back. As things happen life gets in the way and it would take me 25 years until I finally got a Corty back in the garage.
When my wife finally agreed I started looking in earnest. I really wanted a complete running and driving car but I quickly found that anyone with an immaculate Mk1 Cortina GT tend to hold onto them so I also started looking for something that might need work. I narrowed my search down to cars that were mostly original and with an original colour that I liked. Red or Green being my preference. I ruled out most other colours as I didn’t like the interior colours.
When I finally found my car it ended up being a colour combination that I never even knew existed. It is a Silver Grey Metallic car with a Black interior. Apparently only the 66 and 67 cars had the black interior so I think this is quite a rare colour combo and I absolutely love it. The car had been painted Silver Blue Metallic somewhere in its life but that didn’t matter too much as I knew it would be getting a respray in its future.
The car was all there but had not been driven in 13 years.
Greg's Cortina Mk1 GT Build 