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AxlesofEvil

1978 Cortina Ghia

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84241882.jpg.5bf3795d259fe67cd5ea01e3578c01e8.jpgJust Curious...does anyone know anything about this Mk4 Cortina Ghia XEX 185S...came originally from Norfolk?

 

Because I just bought it here in the USA :0

Edited by AxlesofEvil
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What an interesting story, did you import the car? Good luck, I hope you get some background information.

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Nice looking MK4 Ghia. Right Hand Drive in the USA, thats got to be rare.Is it possible a returning USAF guy took it home afetr been UK based? There are / were quite a few USAF bases in Norfolk and Suffolk. :cheers:

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8 hours ago, Lobby said:

What an interesting story, did you import the car? Good luck, I hope you get some background information.

It is interesting to say the least. I grew up in the UK and worked in the repair shop as a light vehicle mechanic for a main Ford dealership (Knutsford Motors in Northwich, Cheshire) from 1976 through 1981. So I am used to these as I worked on them and all other Fords at that time, including PDI for the new cars that were sold. 

 

Where did this come from? As far as I can tell, It has been in Norfolk its entire life up until 2006 which is the last tax disc I have for it. When it was brought here, I dont know as there is no V5, but it now has a US title from Missouri which is the equivalent of the UK V5 log book.

 

Why did I buy it? Apart from the nostalgic part of owning a part of the past that I was very familiar with, the condition of this particular car is...quite unreal. I will post pictures of the underside, which I cant quite grasp as being real, but it is. No body rust or damage...it looks like a car that is about 6 months old....exactly as I remember them as I have worked on so many....

84241949.jpg

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7 minutes ago, AxlesofEvil said:

It is interesting to say the least. I grew up in the UK and worked in the repair shop as a light vehicle mechanic for a main Ford dealership (Knutsford Motors in Northwich, Cheshire) from 1976 through 1981. So I am used to these as I worked on them and all other Fords at that time, including PDI for the new cars that were sold. 

 

Where did this come from? As far as I can tell, It has been in Norfolk its entire life up until 2006 which is the last tax disc I have for it. When it was brought here, I dont know as there is no V5, but it now has a US title from Missouri which is the equivalent of the UK V5 log book.

 

Why did I buy it? Apart from the nostalgic part of owning a part of the past that I was very familiar with, the condition of this particular car is...quite unreal. I will post pictures of the underside, which I cant quite grasp as being real, but it is. No body rust or damage...it looks like a car that is about 6 months old....exactly as I remember them as I have worked on so many....

84241949.jpg

 

Amazing! :)

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2 hours ago, AxlesofEvil said:

It is interesting to say the least. I grew up in the UK and worked in the repair shop as a light vehicle mechanic for a main Ford dealership (Knutsford Motors in Northwich, Cheshire) from 1976 through 1981. So I am used to these as I worked on them and all other Fords at that time, including PDI for the new cars that were sold. 

 

Where did this come from? As far as I can tell, It has been in Norfolk its entire life up until 2006 which is the last tax disc I have for it. When it was brought here, I dont know as there is no V5, but it now has a US title from Missouri which is the equivalent of the UK V5 log book.

 

Why did I buy it? Apart from the nostalgic part of owning a part of the past that I was very familiar with, the condition of this particular car is...quite unreal. I will post pictures of the underside, which I cant quite grasp as being real, but it is. No body rust or damage...it looks like a car that is about 6 months old....exactly as I remember them as I have worked on so many....

84241949.jpg

That has got to be one of the cleanest Cortina Underbodies I have seen if not the best. :magic:

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What a car. The underside is incredible. I assume it has very low miles and has been garaged all its life!

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Just had another look. When was the last time you saw a pair of chassis rails that don't have a crease or a dent in them ??

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14 hours ago, AxlesofEvil said:

 

84241949.jpg

 

So that's what it's meant to look like ?!!    :shocking:

 

Amazing.

 

Are you able to display the original plate on the front because only a rear plate is mandatory in Missouri ??  (or is the plate on just for the picture?!)

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Although it has a US title, log book...there are no signs it ever had US license plates attached or placed on it. I suspect the title change was just to register it officially as being in the US. Anyways, I have no plans to alter it in any way, or even remove the plates. Due to the condition, I wont be running it often, but just enough to keep things working and if I do need to run it on the roads, I can obtain a temporary permit to do that along with the normal US insurance requirements....that's, easy to do here.

 

I would like to get some additional history info just for curiosity sake, I was hoping someone would recognize it from this forum. I have no idea when it actually came here to the States, or who brought it over or even why. What I cannot fathom is the overall condition of the car, more so the underneath....how the heck is this possible?? it currently has 36,900 miles on the clock, and was at 36,300 or so for its last MOT 15 years ago...so it has been "somewhere" in hibernation, but again....no history other than what we have here. I wanted to share this story with y'all as I am sure its as fascinating to you as it is to me and if a back story is ever discovered on it, I would sure like to know myself.

 

On another note of possible interest....In 2003 I bought a 1974 Ford Escort Mk1 1300E (Purple Velvet) from a chap in Lancashire which was almost in the same pristine condition as this, with a documented 28,000 miles on the clock (all MOT's to prove). Exported it to the US at that time and put it in storage. However, now that I am closer to retirement, I brought it out of storage and now in the process of a full restoration. The shell is perfect, no rust and it has a full history. At some point I suppose due to fading or weather, it was repainted, and they did a good job, but currently the paintwork has a few age related blemishes now, so I decided to strip it down to the bare shell for a full 'factory finish' repaint (not too shiny, not too dull but as close as we can get to the original 'out the factory door' paint job) and then build it back up to specification with original parts, and any parts that are slightly off will be replaced with NOS...which is not much. I have collected a lot of NOS parts for the Escort over the years, so I have a lot of cosmetic bits that will be going back on it. Knowing what these were like when new allows me to apply the details of originality to it so that it will be as close to looking like new as possible. I hope the only thing missing would be that original new ford car smell which I recall well, but trying to replicate that....well....doubtful. The closest thing I ran across for that new car smell is....silicon rubber conditioner spray....its close, but not quite (for all you detail fans).

 

Eventually, I will probably loan my cars to the Henry Ford museum in Michigan for display so they can be enjoyed by others....although by "others" of my generation are getting up in age...so at least the younger ones can see how real cars were built back in Ol' Blighty :)

Edited by AxlesofEvil
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