When I was a small boy, we had next door neighbours named John and Margaret. John loved his fast cars and one car in particular always had me rushing to look out of the front window when I heard it coming up the street. (Which also led me to being told off by my Mum for messing up her curtains!)
I loved the sound of it and I loved the look of it. I've loved them all my life, but never thought I'd ever be able to afford one.
They have always been way out of my price range and the only way that I would ever be able to own one was if a restoration project was to come up for sale. The trouble is, they are so desirable, that when they do come up for sale, they get snapped up straight away.
This time though, I'd had been lucky. I was told of a car in Harwich and made arrangements to go and look at it the same day that I heard about it. A deal was done and finally, finally, I had my dream car!
The object of my desire? A Lotus Cortina Mk1. A very special car indeed. The first 'Fast Ford' and one of only 3,306 Mk1's ever built. A famous car that was responsible the demise of the Mk2 Jaguar in saloon car racing (The Jags couldn't keep up with the Lotus!) and also becoming infamous as one was owned by master criminal Bruce Reynolds and used on reconnaissance prior to the Great Train Robbery. (In case he needed to make a quick getaway!)
So Sunday morning I drove up to good friend Colin Wake's place north of Colchester where we jumped into his Land Rover Discovery, hooked up his trailer and made the short journey to Harwich to collect the Lotus Cortina.
We loaded the twin cam engine first as it was out of the car, and then loaded the car backwards onto the trailer as most of the weight was in the boot. (Cylinder head, radiator, starter motor etc.)
The car has been used for rallying in its past, hence the black bonnet, wing tops and doors. However, it's also been off the road since 1977 which will present me with quite a challenge in getting it mobile again. Being built in 1966, it's only actually spent 11 years on the road, although it's still close on 60 years old, so there's a lot that will need replacing. (Plus, I suspect those 11 years were quite gruelling!)
We had a good drive from Harwich to my place where upon arrival, we had to move my other cars out of the way, so that we could get this one in the garage.
With this done and after some lunch and a cup of tea, we then loaded my four door Cortina onto the trailer as due to my lack of space, this is now going to live at Colin's for a little while.
