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1962 Cortina 113E 2 Door, 4 Door, Estate car
The classic first appeared as a Consul Classic, and the Cortina as a Consul Cortina, meeting an obscure concern in the marketing department that no body would know what it was. The Consul on the bonnet was soon dropped. The Cortina never needed spin-doctoring. It was one of the most successful Fords ever and outshone more technically adventurous competitors. It even outshone a front wheel drive that rival Ford Germany was developing jointly with Detroit, codenamed the Cardinal.
The Cortina was developed in Britain under the codename Archbishop, and was a straight forword front-engined rear-drive and 3-box. Its highest-tech feature was the monocoque shell designed to new heights of aerospace excellence, calculating stress requirements so precisely that surplus metal, and thus surplus weight, could be discarded. The process saved some 150lbs (68kg), making the Cortina cheaper faster and more economical that anything in its class. It was claimed that the weight saved was the equivalant to the weight of an adult occupant. Roy Brown was responcible for the shape (as he was for the mk3 Zephyr) and got proportions right.
The Cortina was Auto Universum's car of the year. Priced at the level of many 1-litre cars, and as roomy as lots of 1.5-litre cars (it was analogous with the classic), the 1.2 cortina 2-door was a revelation. It could seat 6 with the optional bench seat and the ingenious cable operated steering cloumn gearshift, even thogh most buyers preferred this on the floor. Introduced with a rather severe onterior of painted metal and rubber covered floor it was not long before the Cortina moved up-market with better furnishings at a higher price. | 
