Prud

Hey,

As some of you know, Ive been working on a 1969 MkII Cortina 440 for about 4 years now. So its big news that I now have a Cortina with a set of number plates.

Only thing is, its not the Cortina Ive been working on...

This week, I started work on removing the firewall. The idea was to replace it with a nice flat one, about 2-3 inches further back. So I was sitting on the crossmember, wire brush in the drill, taking paint off. And it became apparent that the bottom 4-6 inches of the firewall was more rust than steel. No biggie, as it was going to be thrown far from the car as soon as it was out.

Curiousity got the better of me, and I turned the wire brush to the bottom of the inner guards, and most importantly, the chassis rails. The lower 3-4 inches of the inner guards were cheese. But the chassis rails were an interesting mix of bog and rust. To be honest, I have no idea how the car didnt snap at the firewall.

So I climb out of the engine bay, and Ali hands me a "My-cars-dead-I-need-a-beer" beer. About halfway through said beer, Alis phone rang. Turns out a less than savoury character had run himself into legal bother, and needed to free up cash to purchase the services of a lawyer. And he just happened to have a MkII Cortina for sale to assist this aim.

So we went round to have a look, and it turned out to be a Cortina we resprayed about 12 months ago. I crawled over and under and inside it, and it was still in that "old boys" condition that it was in last I saw it. Having no money to purchase said car, I left.

Later that night I got a phone call from Ali.

Turns out that the boys from the shop were rather upset with my discovery of bogged chassis rails. To the point where they all put in their hard earned and bought the car. So theres a new, better MkII Cortina sitting in my driveway. It drives really well, does everything right. Its rego'd to October, has new tyres, a nice set of Rostyles, new brakes, new suspension and fresh paint. The only downside is that its a 4 speed column shift 1300 Xflow, but I do have a nice 1600 and a 2L sitting around the shed.

So instead of slaving through a ton of bodywork, I have a running road legal Cortina - that cost me nothing. Now its just a case of 2L v 1600...

Pics will arrive as soon...

Cheers,
Prud

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