The Ford Cortina is beloved by South Africans because its a family car that you could race on the weekend.
Timeless lines, chrome finishes and a shape cognizant of the iconic 50’s and 60’s era of cars.
Ford enthusiast Rajesh Raghubar has kept the classic line but added some of his own spice to the Mk1.

Big but subtle changes
The most noticeable change is the bright red/orangey paint job. Its a hue that hits your eyes like snow capped peaks in the summer, blinding anyone within a 100m radius.
Rajesh said the colour code he was given by his panel beater is ” bright Red” with an orange flip tone.
The dashboard is the same colour and compliments the darker details of the cluster, steering wheel and centre gauges.

From the outside, its still old school as hell, I mean its even rocking white wall wheels for Christ sake. How much more do you want to throw it back?
The inside, surprisingly, feels like a 90’s sports car with the amount of gauges. The feel of the Cortina steering wheel makes you want to plant your right foot and hope something spins.
The interior was reupholstered and kept all black leather, with a fine pattern to detail it.

The Ole’ gal still got it
The Ford 1600 Kent AX motor does give it a bit of vroom, but Rajesh said the car was for cruising mostly and very seldom did he “hit it”.
Its also spotting Dual Weber 40mm side drafts and bigger cams to help with the responsiveness.

Rajesh said the car is meticulously maintained and frequents the open road to keep her reliable and running smooth 80 years after she left the factory floor.
“We drove the car from Durban to central Drakensberg last year for the Ford Fest. It was about 625km return trip,” Rajesh said.

If you ever get tired of hearing the Kent motor roar on the open road, there’s also a banger sound system in the boot.
Its enough to keep a party alive and make your neighbours call the cops on you.
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