thinkin of buying a mk1 lotus cortina-
Discussion
Lowdrag... you know the old saying " if you can see them you can't buy them", ive found a few classics sitting in gardens ect, a nice old shelby gt and an e-type roadster, over 15 yrs ago mind , but when i knocked on the door i was told to p%$& off on both occasions......good luck you never know, til you have a go ?
This one is sitting quietly in the back of a racing workshop though and the owners have moved on to Lolas etc. It was actually hard to spot behind other cars and piles of wheels and tyres. I understand it hasn't turned in anger for at least 8 years and it is the garage owner who is asking on my behalf. Fingers crossed.
lowdrag said:
This one is sitting quietly in the back of a racing workshop though and the owners have moved on to Lolas etc. It was actually hard to spot behind other cars and piles of wheels and tyres. I understand it hasn't turned in anger for at least 8 years and it is the garage owner who is asking on my behalf. Fingers crossed.
If it is the garage owner asking the questions, he can also start casually dropping comments into the conversation along the lines of "Oh and then there is the cost of 8 years storage..." Hope you manage to sort out something on this new toy, even if it isn't a Jag. :-)
DAVEPRICE said:
mk1 lotus cortina owner now, happy but skint ,
Welcome to classic car ownership.The day you aren't skint, either the car will develop a new and terminally expensive fault so you'll go back to being skint again. Or you'll convince yourself that you need another classic and you'll be back to being skint again.
DAVEPRICE said:
now ive got the mk1 i want it to drive a bit better , any suggestions on suspension tyres ect ?
cheers in advance for any help .
Drive better than what....??cheers in advance for any help .
The best Lotus-Cortina I've driven was a bog stock restoration.
Drove a modded one and it was cack.....would have been great on a circuit but it was bloody awful on the road.
IMHO....if it's stock, leave it that way, and don't put modern sticky tyres on it either.
Agreed, stick with the 165 tyres and good condition standard suspension setup, the only thing I'd think of doing would be a limited slip diff.
The best Lotus-Cortina I've driven was a bog stock restoration.
Drove a modded one and it was cack.....would have been great on a circuit but it was bloody awful on the road.
IMHO....if it's stock, leave it that way, and don't put modern sticky tyres on it either.
aeropilot said:
DAVEPRICE said:
now ive got the mk1 i want it to drive a bit better , any suggestions on suspension tyres ect ?
cheers in advance for any help .
Drive better than what....??cheers in advance for any help .
The best Lotus-Cortina I've driven was a bog stock restoration.
Drove a modded one and it was cack.....would have been great on a circuit but it was bloody awful on the road.
IMHO....if it's stock, leave it that way, and don't put modern sticky tyres on it either.
I had a 1965 Lotus Cortina in the late 60's. I fitted 185 70's, Goodyear GP's or something like that when the original tyres wore out. They gave more grip but less fun and tramlining. Went back to the 165's as soon as possible.
Chapman went for handing ahead of absolute grip, Elans had 145 section tyres!
Chapman went for handing ahead of absolute grip, Elans had 145 section tyres!
AJAX50 said:
I had a 1965 Lotus Cortina in the late 60's. I fitted 185 70's, Goodyear GP's or something like that when the original tyres wore out. They gave more grip but less fun and tramlining.
165 was standard on the early Escort Twin Cam, RS16's and Mex's as well, but 175/70 was a factory option at the time as it was on late Mk2 Cortina-Lotus/1600E/GT's IIRC?Back in the very early 80's when I had my first Mk1 RS2000, my car had been retro fitted with 185/70 tyres, (as most were) but the car was so much nicer to drive when I replaced them with proper 175/70 tyres.
Gassing Station | Classic Cars and Yesterday's Heroes | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff