This is the story of a car that really shouldn’t exist. In the early 1960s Ford were one the largest companies in the world, with the cars and sounds of ‘Motown’, rolled out to every corner of the globe. No less so than to the UK, where post war rebuilding established a strong foothold for the Ford Motor Company in the land of the gentlemen racer ( and country lane thrill seeker ). Chief amongst them, and arguably the most influential man in race car history, was Colin Chapman – the founder and visionary mind behind Lotus. Affable, stylishly moustached, and utterly brilliant, that even the great Enzo Ferrari acknowledged his genius.

In short, Chapman can be credited with taking Formula 1 from a dangerous ‘jolly’ for wealthy mad men, to the exacting battle between elite racers and engineers that it is today. Evolving the vehicle silhouette from cigar to winged science, and introducing the now standard livery and investment of external sponsors. As a pioneer of advanced materials and mid-engine architecture, he’s arguably the godfather of the modern supercar too. His mantra – ‘simplify, then add lightness’.

From the Lotus factory in Hethel, Norfolk, out in the rural east of England, Chapman had come up against a problem – he needed a better and cheaper engine. Through a series of twists and turns, in 1962 he settled on modifying the Ford 116E five bearing 1498cc unit, for use in both his racing and production cars. The supporting cast add yet more intrigue to this story; instrumental to it’s tuning was a young Keith Duckworth, of future Cosworth fame, and test driving the engine’s first outing, in a Lotus 23 at the legendary Nurburgring, was Jim Clark – possibly the greatest ever driver.

As the motor was being further modified for the Lotus Elan, in order for it to compete in 1600cc races, Ford UK’s enlightened PR chief Walter Hayes requested Chapman try it in a batch of Ford saloons – one thousand of them – to enable their Group 2 homologation. And so it began. Ford supplied the two door Cortina body shells, and would market the car with all their resources, whilst Lotus were left to apply their custom detail and mechanical magic. Alongside the Elan production line, the Type 28, was born. Better known as the Lotus Cortina, or Cortina Lotus MK1, as Ford preferred it be called.

It might bear some resemblance to the well loved family car, but the Lotus badged Cortina is a very different beast. In goes the 1557cc (105 bhp / 78 kw / 106 PS ) engine, together with the same close ratio gearbox found in the Elan. The gearbox and differential are also slimmed down with lightweight casings. The rear suspension is fully reworked for performance, and bodyweight is reduced considerably with bespoke alloy doors, bonnet and boot. All the Lotus factory cars were finished in clean white with a unique green side stripe. Ford built a number of their own race cars with the stripe detail in red, and one superstitious customer notably requested dark blue instead of green. The cars identity is subtly confirmed with Lotus badges on the grill and rear wings, and by the simplified quarter bumpers up front.

Earlier models had engines supplied from factories in London and Wolverhampton, but our car, from 1966, is a complete Norfolk build, with the 1600cc engine produced in-house at the Lotus Hethel facility. The original interior had a unique centre console to accommodate the modified gear shifter, which we have removed from our race build, in line with Chapman’s philosophy. Running on GAZ suspension, our twin cam engine is fitted with twin 45mm webers. First day completed on the test track, accompanied by the most wonderful engine note…further tuning and modifications to come…