My 1975 Ford TD Cortina

[Danniielle]

My first car was a 1975 Ford TD XLE Cortina wagon. I purchased it in the late '80s and had it for almost two decades.
It was a two litre, four cylinder auto when I got it but it didn't take me long to start customising it. The first mod was a four speed manual conversion followed closely by a rebuilt engine with dual 45mm side draft Solex carburetors, tuned extractors, two inch stainless steel exhaust with hotdog mufflers, beefed up and lowered suspension, deep dish Hotwire mags, better brakes, TC front grille, 500 watt high beam aircraft landing lights and bigger radiator.
I drove it with that configuration for a couple of years until the motor threw a rod (cue Blues Brothers quotes here!)
The aircraft landing lights were absolutely amazing for country driving on open roads. Someone stole them at one point which is why the front grille has empty spaces in these photos.

At that point, I purchased another TD Cortina with a 4.1 litre, 250 cubic inch engine and running gear. I transplanted the engine, gearbox, diff, brakes, radiator and a few other things from that one to my wagon. It was around this time that one of my uncles who is a panel beater and custom hotrod builder flared the guards to keep the wider wheels inside the panels.

One of my other uncles is a retired mechanic and he taught me much of what I know about cars. Most of my rebuilding and modding work was done in his workshop. After we'd completed the six cylinder upgrade, I did some mods to the engine, added extractors and a larger exhaust, re-jetted the stock carburetor, added electronic ignition and high energy Bosch GT40 coil and we power tuned it on the dyno.

It went pretty fast for a six cylinder with quarter mile times in the 13 second range.

I did a lot of other customisations too. Things like a SAAS sports steering wheel, digital tachometer which I built, custom battery charge and voltage guages which I built using FM tuning and signal strength meters from an old HiFi system, custom alarm system which I also built and a huge stereo system with Rockford Fosgate subwoofers, Alpine 3544 power amplifier, Pioneer removable stereo, three way, split speaker system and a much bigger Bosch alternator to run everything.

I loved that car! I miss it and wish I'd kept it now.

While going through some of my stuff here today, I found two of the six cylinder badges, two inside door handle trims and one of the ignition keys and that inspired me to make this post.

[Ian Anderson]

I'm trying to remember the last time I saw ANY Cortina on the road, been along time.
I've had a strange soft spot for the TE Cortina wagons, the wagon bit isn't a surprise since all but a handful of my cars have been either a wagon, people mover or an SUV. Only 2 sedans, 1 hatchback and 1 ute in nearly 30 years, probably only 20 odd cars though.

[Danniielle]

That's about 17 more cars than I've owned Ian!! I did have my Cortina for almost two decades though.

My cousin had a TE sedan. It got written off in an accident and the center console from it found its way into my TD.

I really wanted to do something like this with mine but never had the funds.