Unfortunately NSW went into Covid Lockdown again at the end of June, which meant I was stood doiwn from work again. The good news is that I’ve been able to spend a bit of time on the Cortina. We’re now down to the last stuff, lots of fiddly bits with an hour here and there adding up to a lot of time. I have finished fitting up all of the side trim. Lots of holes to drill and lots of little nuts to do up with my arm wedged up inside a door frame. The result though is spectacular and the trims are laser straight and all fit snug against the car. Best of all, if I ever need to take them off it’s relatively easy. I also fit up all of the window moulds and gutter trims. These were not so easy and unfortunately I got quite a few little dents in what were perfectly straight polished trims. Very frustrating but they fit tight, there was little I could do and they are very fragile. I also finished installing the last two side windows. The passenger window is very tight in the new rubbers. Hopefully it will settle a bit and start to go up and down a bit easier. The vent windows also need to be carefully opened and closed in the new rubbers otherwise they go metal on metal.

I managed to source a perfect front bumper that had been chromed years ago and then put in storage. It’s a perfect fit. I have new stainless bumpers but I think I will sell these as the originals are so much nicer. The rear bumper still needs a bit of work on one side. I sourced new rear bumper irons but my old ones are still better and I have manipulated them to get a nice tight fit to the car.

The rear vents have also been installed. I had dismantled these and had the outside re-chromed. The inside was blasted and painted in a colour that closely resembled the unfinished original look. From factory they were held together by locating lugs that were peened over on top. As these had been ground back, to put them back together I used epoxy over the top of the lugs. They were a tight fit anyway so this should hold nicely. One of the downsides of getting things re chromed is that the threads in the die cast items can get damaged. After my troubles with door handles I checked everything thoroughly this time and helicoiled a number of threads before using new bolts. I made up a new gasket to fit them up but in the end I decided to use some window gasket material that I had to provide a nice watertight seal.

I have also fit up the GT badges and Ford badge. Because the lower section of my front guard had been replaced I had to drill new holes to fit the Ford badge. Another friendly Cortina owner provided the original measurements and after checking against my photos the holes were drilled and it fit. I used starlock nuts to hold them on but I might also add a small dab of silicon.

I fit up some reproduction GT badges for the back. These will do for now but I have a stack of original badges that I am just playing with to work out the best way to refurbish them. When I have that sorted I will re chrome two originals as they are much much nicer.