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.