Ford had a close relationship with Lotus during the 1960s which ultimately led to the Ford-Cosworth engined Lotus 49 F1 car that Jim Clark took to victory on its debut in the 1967 Dutch GP. In the same year a new high-performance Lotus version of the Mk2 Cortina was announced but, unlike the Mk1 which had been partially assembled by Lotus, it was built entirely by Ford who fitted the Lotus engine and other components on their production line at Dagenham. This meant that the car could be ordered in a wider range of Ford colours and the vehicle modelled is believed to be one of only four produced in Fern Green metallic.
This example was first registered in August 1969 and, although little is known about its early history, when purchased by Midlands-based Lotus Cortina specialists Lotus Outlaws in 2011 it was still complete with all its original ‘matching number’ components present. Lotus Outlaws and close collaborators EFD Restos, then carried out a bare shell rotisserie restoration to concours standard in 2014-16 which addressed every aspect of the car.
They exhibited it at the NEC Classic Car Show in November 2016 where the unusual original colour scheme and superb restoration created a great deal of interest. It was sold to a new owner in 2017 and in 2021 was purchased by fast Ford enthusiast and collector Stephen Gillies who imported the car to his native Australia.
