Interesting to see Swiss mention Lotus Cortinas.
I had a Mark 2 for a little while, during 1971/2, although the car was older than that of course - I'd guess the car was 1967, though memory is unreliable that far back. Also seem to remember there was a lot of silly chat about the Mark 1s being "Lotus Cortina" but the Mark 2s, technically being named "Cortina Lotus".
What I remember much more clearly is that it was one of the VERY few cars in which I have ever managed to cover more than 90 real miles (93.6) in an hour's actual driving on public roads - a much rarer achievement than just hitting 90 mph on the speedo, that's for sure! The other great satisfaction was driving around Germany in it, where no one had a clue what the car really was, the general population thinking it was some sort of tarted up Ford Taunus. Great satisfaction was to be had in giving smug Mercedes and BMW drivers a decent head start from traffic lights and then effortlessly blasting past them, laughing self silly at their incredulous phizogz in the rear view mirror! Other than that, it was nasty, noisy and uncomfortable and, 35 years on, I'd be perfectly content to be one of the fat Merc or BMW drivers that I so enjoyed traumatising in my mis-spent youth.
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I had a Mark 2 for a little while, during 1971/2, although the car was older than that of course - I'd guess the car was 1967, though memory is unreliable that far back. Also seem to remember there was a lot of silly chat about the Mark 1s being "Lotus Cortina" but the Mark 2s, technically being named "Cortina Lotus".
What I remember much more clearly is that it was one of the VERY few cars in which I have ever managed to cover more than 90 real miles (93.6) in an hour's actual driving on public roads - a much rarer achievement than just hitting 90 mph on the speedo, that's for sure! The other great satisfaction was driving around Germany in it, where no one had a clue what the car really was, the general population thinking it was some sort of tarted up Ford Taunus. Great satisfaction was to be had in giving smug Mercedes and BMW drivers a decent head start from traffic lights and then effortlessly blasting past them, laughing self silly at their incredulous phizogz in the rear view mirror! Other than that, it was nasty, noisy and uncomfortable and, 35 years on, I'd be perfectly content to be one of the fat Merc or BMW drivers that I so enjoyed traumatising in my mis-spent youth.
