Ford Cortina Lotus

The Ford Cortina Lotus, commonly called the Lotus Cortina, was a high-performance sports saloon built in the United Kingdom from 1963 to 1970 by Ford in collaboration with Lotus Cars. The first version, based on the Cortina Mark 1, was promoted as the Consul Cortina developed by Lotus, and the Mark 2 followed on the Cortina Mark II. Colin Chapman had Harry Mundy design a twin-cam version of the Ford Kent engine, which in the Cortina displaced 1,557 cc and produced 105 horsepower, and Lotus gave the car the type number 28. Ford needed 1,000 cars built to homologate the model for Group 2 touring car racing and supplied two-door Cortina bodyshells for conversion. The car won in touring car racing, with Jim Clark taking the 1964 British Saloon Car Championship, and 3,306 Mark 1 and 4,093 Mark 2 cars were produced.