19 Sep 02
The Ford Cortina, 40 years old this month, won't be remembered for its ground-breaking technology or trend-setting style, but as a clever example of marketing expertise and good timing. In the Cortina, Ford repackaged an ordinary concept with a veneer of suburban glamour that appealed to a more image-conscious generation - and created a new class of top-selling family saloons to which the opposition could only lamely respond. From basic 1200 to 2.3 Ghia via 1600E, the Cortina's 20-year development plotted changes in British society and its swiftly changing consumer expectations. The car also transformed Ford's image in Britain: after the Cortina, Dagenham was no longer a maker of parochial stodge but a true international player.
The key to the Cortina's success was its lightweight, cleverly engineered yet generously large bodyshell. Here was the first Ford to be properly stress-engineered using aircraft industry techniques so that all excess flab could be pared off without compromising strength. Ford's engineers didn't allow themselves to be intimidated by the fashionable, high-technology image of BMC's rival front-drive 1100 range, but instead went for a rigorously conventional and mercilessly costed-out drivetrain and suspension. Bigger engines, better brakes and more luxury followed later, because Ford couldn't be sure how successful the car would be. As things turned out, the company vastly under-estimated the success of the Mk1 Cortina: more than 1 million would be sold before the introduction of the reskinned (and rather handsome) Mk2 in 1966. More than four million would be sold by the time production finished in 1982.
Suburban Britain embraced the Cortina with rare enthusiasm. Here was a medium-sized car at a small car price (£639 for the basic model in 1962) with a neat, contemporary look, brisk performance and a handy feel. It was an acknowledgement, in the face of increasingly sophisticated opposition, that most buyers didn't necessarily care much about what went on under the skin; they wanted a car that was thrifty, easy to handle, roomy and convenient but which also looked substantial and impressive rather than austere and penny-pinching. In fact, the Cortina was penny-pinched, but mostly in places you couldn't see, making it a dramatically profitable car for Ford in Britain and the cornerstone for Ford's future dominance of the market.
The Cortina set the agenda well into the '70s in a British market where import duty made the majority of otherwise competitive foreign-built family cars largely irrelevant. Increasingly, it would be the business user who looked to this slick new saloon rather than private buyers. Cheap, durable and blessed with an uncommonly large boot, the Cortina became the quintessential repmobile of the age, and Ford gained a steely stranglehold on fleet business which didn't slacken until the first of the controversial Sierras in 1982.
Here's how the range developed...
