Greg's Cortina Mk1 GT Build

The car has made it into print. The January 2026 issue of Cortina Times, the official magazine of the MK1 Cortina Owners Club, features the full restoration story — and the Bathurst trophy shot made the cover.

Writing the article was a good excuse to look back over the whole journey in one sitting: buying a car that had sat in a shed for 20 years, the strip-down onto the rotisserie, Warwick Parr’s panel work and the respray in the original Silver Metallic Grey, the interior remade by Aldridge from my original Australian-pattern seat covers, and the GT motor rebuilt by Larner Engines — 110hp on the dyno, but factory to look at. Condensing five years of work into four pages was harder than some of the jobs themselves.

Thanks to the MK1 Cortina Owners Club for featuring the car. The knowledge of fellow members, and the club parts store, played a big part in getting it to where it is — it felt fitting to see it in the club’s own magazine.

You can read the article below, and the full build history is in the Build Diary.