Cortina GT500

[zefarelly]

and my ( sad) eagle eye spots the Cortina GT500 in the background, which is on my shopping list when I've got a few thousand quid to spare !!!

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by zefarelly

and my ( sad) eagle eye spots the Cortina GT500 in the background, which is on my shopping list when I've got a few thousand quid to spare !!!

Hey Zef....my next door neighbour bought one new....nice little marketing execise....only came in Silver??....only in Australia....right ???

[zefarelly]

It was Australian built for their home market, it was a homologation special for Bathurst . .and won, it came in white, and a few metallic colours as well I think

twin tanks and light weight

[johnh875]

You certainly know your Cortinas zef, very well spotted! Out of curiosity how did you pick it as a GT500? Cortina GTs won in 1963 and 64, but for 1965 110 were built after it was noted there was a much smaller number required for locally built cars (later increased). The Lotus Cortina was too expensive, so Harry Firth developed a package and did the conversions for Ford in his workshop - in batches of 6 as that was how many fit on a truck.

The package consisted of a Weber carb, bigger cam, ported cylinder head, additional fuel tank with twin fillers for 16-17 gal total capacity (which saved a pit stop in the 500 mile race), alloy brake cooling ducts & scoops, suspension lowered by 2 inches, harder brake pads and linings, exhaust and locked diff. Output was stated at 98hp (vs 83 for a normal GT), the engine would pull 7000rpm. They used the gear clusters from the Lotus Cortina. A nice dodge of the rules was that the air cleaner was an optional extra so the cars could race without it, and the cars were fitted with a restrictor rather than a thermostat - they did give you one to fit for road use though.

Harry Firth was not allowed to race one of the GT500s to avoid conflict of interest, instead he raced an ordinary Cortina 220 and won class A. Classes were based on the price of the vehicle in those days - 65 was a bit of a romp for the Cortinas, winning A, B and D (GT500s). Things were different in those days, the winning car (as with most) was road registered, and was tested by one of the magazines shortly afterwards.

Harry Firth had quite a few left over spares and parts, and it is rumoured that more cars were built after the race. My Dad had a GT500 engine fitted to his 4 door Cortina by Harry at the time, it was quite a rocket by the standards of the day.

This is an original low-mileage car I saw at a show last month. The second shot shows the twin fuel fillers - the second tank is directly underneath, and the normal filler point was covered with a tin plate. These days they are worth about the same money as a Lotus Cortina.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by roger saretski

hello 1500 gt fans. ...............................etc

Roger, no advertising, please; this breaches website rules! On the basis that is a genuine one off and that racers maybe interested in, I've sent your post to the 'Racers Classified' Forum.

[johnh875]

For reference now this thread has been separated, here is the original image of the Bathurst racing museum that zefarelly was referring to:


The red coloured Cortina in the background was the winning car (Cortina GT) from 1963. The 1964 winner was white with red-yellow-red Shell racing stripes over the centre of the car.

The car on the right in the photo above is the 1965 winning GT500. During the race half the registration plate was covered and read "ARM 500" as a reference to the race sponsor Armstrong.


Here is a photo showing the brake duct scoops - certainly an unusual fitment on a road car in the mid sixties!

[zefarelly]

heres me at the museum last January

http://www.throbnozzle-racing.co.uk/.../Bathurst.html

[johnh875]

Ah, no wonder you were able to identify the car from just the corner in the photo!