For the last 16 + years, I have had a 1500cc Super lurking in the garage. I last used it in August 1986, having bought it (very second-hand) in Blackpool in 1983. I used this car every day for three years, clocking up some 30,000 miles running between South Wales and Morecambe and Blackpool.
I laid it up but kept a piece of paper with all the known faults. This turned out to be extremely useful, as I have worked on the car intermittently, over the years.
This is me on the front of "Restoring Small Fords" with HTB. Note the welded patch on the front of the wing, and my hair colour! Its white now...!!! (my hair)...
I hoped to have it completed for the National in July 2002, but did not finish in time. The next deadline was a local show at Tredegar Park, in South Wales in September, but again we did not make it. I was recorded for a BBC Radio news programme marking the 40th anniversary of the MK1 Cortina. The engine, which had been rebuilt and run for about two minutes prior to the interview would not start. So my ten minutes of fame on the radio was accompanied by the turning-over of a non-obliging engine!
Main problems at the moment are the re-spray (two-pack) not going well, and being unable to find bits I put in "sensible" places 16 years ago!
I always run my cars on Duckhams Oil !
I hope to have the painting problem solved shortly, and there is a full article about the problems and how they were overcome.
I'm hoping to be on the road this year, especially since my other car, the red GT is now off the road.
I just got round to scanning these photos from last year. They show the engine bay after a nice coat of two-pack blue. Although the paint looks un-naturally shiny in this photo, the shine has "weathered" and now does not look unnatural.
Page last updated:--03 October, 2006