Ford Cortina MkI 440 - today's tempter

By: Unique Cars magazine

Date: 28.04.2021

Ford Cortina MkI 440

Ford Cortina MkI 440

Restomod with a long local history

When was the last time you saw a first-gen Cortina 440 getting about? Usually it's the Colin Chapman Lotus versions that get all the attention, while the 'family' versions are overlooked.

Unique Cars magazine columnist Rob Blackbourn has commented recently that these cars deserve a more prominent place in Ford's history, given their success.

He wrote: "It was quite something when Ford of Britain decided that the ordinary British motorist would warm to a new family car named after an Italian ski resort town that was first (obviously) foreign, and second associated with a holiday activity for the elites. These were folk long accustomed to buying vehicle models named after familiar geographical features of Blighty, like Anglia, Oxford, Vauxhall, Cambridge, Thames, and Bristol.

"But this courageously-named Ford scored. Big time! During a 20-year production run, involving five model generations, Ford sold more than 2.8 million Cortinas in the UK, topping British sales charts as best-seller for many of those years. The global sales figure was around 4.3 million."

See the full column here. 

This 1966 440 is an upmarket variant of the car and has had a few mods done over time. That includes a Kent Crossflow engine taken out to 1750cc and a four-speed Capri transmission. 

Located at Carrum near Melbourne, it's priced at $23,500.

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