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Reader Ride: 1972 Ford TC Cortina

The Unique Cars team caught up with Steve, Cortnie, Alex and Max Snell and found out the story behind their 1972 Ford TC Cortina at the Cortina Nationals in 2025.

When I was little, Dad was into MkI and MkII transit vans, with the old 250 crossflow and pre-crossflow motors in them. He did a few motors and gearboxes in his time and used to wreck Cortinas to get the engines and gearboxes out of them. Back when we were kids, we used to have these cars siting around and we would play in them.

I found this car for sale in Perth for $7500, about 12 years ago. It was rough but pretty original. The paint was crazed and sunburnt, however, the vinyl roof and interior were still good. I bought it and slowly did it up.

It’s got the 250 six in it, with the three-speed automatic. It’s good on the highway – we drove it across from Albany in WA.

We have aftermarket suspension in it and it travels well – certainly better than standard.

The distinctive two tone design of the TC Cortina. Image: Unique Cars

We go to a lot of events in it. I have a couple of Cortinas. One is a TE wagon with a 250 four-speed, that’s my daily driver. The missus has another I’m slowly restoring – that’s a TE Ghia, factory manual. It’s got all the options, including power steering and air-conditioning.

The fourth is an ultra-rare car: it’s a TF S-Pak station wagon. It’s a factory 250 with auto and air-conditioning. I’m doing it up at the moment and keeping it as original as I can.

The TC is a low-kay car. One of its previous owners was a lady who parked it up for a decade. It’s pretty original – you pull the door cards off and the plastic is still in behind them. The wiring harness has all the tags.

We gave it a coat of paint and used it as our wedding car. The bumpers needed re-chroming.

The motors are very reliable. When I pulled off the head and reconditioned it, we had a look at the pistons and they were the originals. We left them alone. I pulled the motor out and painted it, and put it back in again.

It’s very smooth and comfortable to drive – it’s like being in a big lounge chair.

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