Ford of Britain built a large range of 4 cylinder cars primarily for the European market, though some, including this example, were also sold in the United States by Ford dealers.  The Cortina was originally introduced in 1962, designed by Roy Brown Jr, who was also responsible for the design of the failed Edsel, the car was a small lightweight unibody family car, designed to be cheap to manufacture and was available as a 2 door, 4 door, or wagon variants.  The Cortinas were originally fitted with a 1.2 liter 3 main bearing engine, but later a 5 main bearing 1.5 liter engine became an option.  The engines were in the Ford Kent engine line and were a pre-crossflow design. From more pedestrian origins, a couple of high performance models were created, one being the GT, as seen in this car, which had a 78 horsepower version of the 1.5 liter engine fitted along with lowered and improved suspension, additional gauges on the dash, and updated trim and badging.  The other rarer and more significant performance model was the Lotus Cortina, which featured many of the same features as the GT, however, with some body panels made of aluminum.  Its most significant difference, however was the Lotus designed twincam engine which was based on the Cortina’s 1498cc block,  upgraded to 1558ccs and putting out 105 Horsepower and 108 lb-ft of torque.  The Lotus Cortina proved very successful in saloon car racing and are easily identifiable by their white paint with the scallop on the rear fenders painted in green.  The drivetrain for the Cortina is very reliable and was often a parts source for many of the low production car manufacturers in Britain in the 1960s, with Lotus, TVR, Morgan, Marcos, Cateram, Turner, and many others borrowing