It’s hard to imagine now – what it would have been like wrestling a 1960s Ford Cortina down Conrod Straight, decades before they put in The Chase to slow things down.
There you are in a bare-bones tintop, the 1500cc inline-four screaming at 7000rpm, topping 100mph, you’re on skinny five-inch wheels and contemplating how in hell you’re going to slow the thing down enough to lurch through the sharp left-hander, on to the front straight.
Let’s just call it character-building…
Without doubt the key player in the early days of the Mount Panorama / Armstrong 500 endurance race was Ford’s mighty MkI Cortina, which in various forms held a tight grip on the winner’s rostrum for three years: 1963, ’64 and ’65.
That was no mean feat, given the fierce competition for line honours in what was a classic production car race that potentially had an immediate impact on sales. Yep, the old win on Sunday, sell on Monday scheme was alive and well.
Given the ever-rising abilities of their rivals, there was no guarantee that Cortinas could hold the line in 1965. That’s when star driver and now Ford competition manager Harry Firth stepped in to develop what was the nation’s first ‘Bathurst special’ – the GT500.
As was typical for Firth, the makeover for the new model was comprehensive. A basic 220 two-door would be delivered to his workshop and the work began. Engine, transmission and differential would all be tweaked for more performance.
Front suspension was modified to allow changes of camber. The backing plates for the front disc brakes were removed and special air scoops fitted to keep the stoppers cool. Out back, the car scored two interconnected fuel tanks measuring 8.25 plus 8.75 gallons, or a total of 77 litres – near double the original capacity.
Highlighting Firth’s wily thinking were the twin fuel fillers now mounted behind the rear screen. In the days of handheld fuel churns, this meant two pit crew could fuel the car at the same time, which was quicker and avoided losing precious race time.
The owner of the GT500, Brant Weily, remembers the cars in their heyday and is an admirer of Firth’s work. “Harry, the fox he was, built a good engine and they survived. It was his knowledge and expertise went into that Ford.
“The scoops on the front, the fuel tank, close-ratio gearbox, 2.5 first gear and Weber carburettor with bigger chokes. At the end of the day, it was a very good package that revved out to 7000rpm.
“That particular engine is amazing – the bore and stroke are oversquare, which allows it to go pretty well.
“With Harry, everything he did worked – that was his secret. He was a genius in that area.
“They had to build 250 cars for homologation. I don’t think they ever got to that number. I suspect Harry got up to something!”
Regardless of how many were built, the survival numbers are low. Once they’d outlived their usefulness, they were seen as just another old race car that got worn out and then scrapped. Brant reckons around 50 to 60 GT500s may have survived.
He spotted this example for sale in Newcastle, some way from his home in Orange.
“I asked ‘was the car okay to drive, was there anything wrong with it?’ And, of course, the reaction was everything was okay.
“I pulled into the service station to fill it and all of a sudden I’m looking down and there’s fuel running everywhere. There was a hole in the tank, so he only ever half-filled it.
“We got further down to around Windsor and went to have some lunch, and I went to put it into reverse gear and there wasn’t one. That was no drama. We pushed it on to a parking spot, had lunch and drove it home from there.”
Somehow they hobbled home and Brant got straight to work on the restoration. A mechanic by trade, he was perfectly capable of handling the driveline.
“I did my time as a motor mechanic in the sixties and worked at a Rootes Group garage here in Orange. At the time they were Humber, Hillman, Commer, and later Chrysler took them over, so we started into Valiants and Dodge,” he says.
However he was happy to hand over the bodywork to a local expert, Brian Keegan. “He’s well-known in drag racing,” explains Brant, “and is a top panel beater.
“The front driver-side chassis member was replaced, plus the A-pillar. He didn’t have any racks sitting on it. It was all done with stringline and by eye.
“Rust was present in the doors, beaver panel, and there were a few dents here and there, some of which had been bogged over. It was all cleaned out and beaten in to shape – there’s no bog now. He’s a perfectionist.”
As is often the case, it’s the little details that caused the most work.
“The exterior chrome mouldings were for a variant they built in South Africa, the Deluxe model. These chrome moulds became very rare. I spent hours and hours tapping them out, rubbing them back and polishing them.”
One detail you might notice is the GT500 is sitting on slightly wider rims than stock – they are in fact a set of Lotus Cortina rims. And yes, he has one of those in the shed as well!
What’s it like to drive?
“It’s really good,” says Brant. “It cruises along effortlessly at 60mph, so it’s easy to do long days. It’s got a beautiful cam in it. You know the motor is working at its optimum and is good on fuel. We did a Targa Tasmania tour with it, then drove off the boat and 11 hours straight home. I’d be quite happy to jump in it now and go anywhere.”
So, Brant, how about a quick lap of the Mountain?
Mt Panorama Racers
The National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, currently hosts two Mark I Cortina racers.
The first red car (number 20) is a GT and a replica of the machine taken to a Class C and outright win in the 1963 Armstrong 500 – the year the event moved from Phillip Island to the mountain.
It was the third consecutive victory in the endurance event for team-mates Bob Jane and Harry Firth. (In 1962 they won with an XL Falcon and in 1961 with a Mercedes-Benz 220SE.)
Cars at this time were split in to classes according to price, and the main competitor from Holden was the EH S4.
This GT is a replica built by the staff at the Bathurst Council workshop.
The white GT500 (number 11) is the winner of Class D and outright line honours in 1965 with Bo Seton and Midge Bosworth at the wheel.
Harry Firth was by now Ford’s competition manager and a fleet of 10 Cortinas had entered the race, with six finishing.
Though a private entry, the Seton/Bosworth car beat the factory teams and ended up enjoying a two-minute lead. Another Cortina, driven by Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland, claimed second outright.
It’s now part of the museum’s own collection.