Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Bell
I had a 3yr old Tawny 2000GXL and it was a great car. There was a 1600cc GT spec Pinto engine, as the Mk2 Mex also used it. I think it was also fitted to later Capri?  |
As I haven't been getting any notifications I just assumed you'd all gone on your hols & all was quiet - it seems not!
When I worked at Lotus the company bought a batch of Mk3 Cortina 1600L's as company cars, delivered on 1 Han 1973. They were just awful!
Particularly bad was the car allocated as pool car for my department (Purchasing) was particularly bad. The first person to use it took it to London to visit a supplier. Being January, it was dark for the return so he switched on the lights - nothing! It transpired that the earth wasn't attached to anything; that was just the start. Another Buyer got caught-out by having it cut-out as he was overtaking trucks in the rain - it happened to him twice. We used to stand it in the sun for an hour with the bonnet open to encourage it into life in the mornings. We kept a box in the boot for all the badges, knobs & bits of trim that fell off.
The MD got fed-up with hearing about the car & it was sent off to Spruce Howlett's in Norwich to service it & sort it out. After about a week they called to say it was ready, so somebody went to collect it; it broke-down on the way back to Hethel...
I can't imagine it has survived, but if UEX 557L is still out there, give it a wide berth!! It wasn't just BL building lemons in the '70s.