Noble Sisters: Ford Cortina Lotus

At the beginning of the 1960s, the American car manufacturer Ford sought greater visibility in key European markets. The Blue Oval’s cars were seen as unsophisticated and slow family vehicles. Giving the brand a younger and sportier image was no small task, but the idea of Walter Hayes, the new head of Ford UK's public relations, proved to be spot-on: invest in motorsports. A personal friend of Colin Chapman, Hayes enlisted the brilliant British engineer, famous for his groundbreaking Formula 1 cars, to produce around 1,000 special versions of the first-generation Cortina, a mid-sized Ford sedan of the time, for participation in "Prepared Touring Car" races.

Ford provided the suitably lightened body shells—Chapman was always focused on reducing weight—and handled the cars’ marketing, while Lotus concentrated on mechanical and aesthetic modifications. In 1963, the Ford Cortina Lotus debuted, equipped with the 1558cc, 105hp inline-four engine from the Lotus Elan S1 launched the previous year, paired with a 4-speed manual transmission. Even the suspension was heavily modified, leaving very little of the original Ford Cortina.