The history of the Lotus Cortina began in 1961. Colin Chapman had been wishing to build his own engines for Lotus, mainly because the Coventry Climax unit was so expensive. Colin Chapman's chance came when he commissioned Harry Mundy (a close friend and designer of the Coventry Climax engine and technical editor for Autocar) to design a twin-cam version of the Ford Kent engine. Most of the development of the engine was done on the 997cc and 1,340cc bottom end, but in 1962 Ford released the 116E five bearing 1,499 cc engine and work centred on this. Keith Duckworth, from Cosworth, played an important part in tuning of the engine. The engine's first appearance was in 1962 at the Nurburgring in a Lotus 23 driven by Jim Clark. Almost as soon as the engine appeared in production cars (Lotus Elan), it was recalled and replaced with a larger capacity unit (82.55 mm bore to give 1,558 cc). This was in order to get the car closer to the 1.6 litre capacity class in motorsport. Whilst the engine was being developed, Walter Hayes (Ford) asked Colin Chapman if he would fit the engine to 1,000 Ford saloons for Group 2 homologation. Chapman quickly accepted, although it must have been very busy in the Cheshunt plant, with the Elan about to be launched. The Type 28 or Lotus-Cortina or Cortina-Lotus (as Ford liked to call it) was duly launched. Ford supplied the 2-door Cortina bodyshells and took care of all the marketing and selling of the cars, whilst Lotus did all the mechanical and cosmetic changes. The major changes involved installing the 1,558 cc (105 bhp (78 kW; 106 PS)) engine, together with the same close-ratio gearbox as the Elan. The rear suspension was drastically altered and lightweight alloy panels were used for doors, bonnet and boot. Lightweight casings were fitted to gearbox and differential. All the Lotus factory cars were painted white with a green stripe (although Ford built some for racing in red, and one customer had a dark blue stripe due to being superstitious about green). The cars also received front quarter bumpers and round Lotus badges were fitted to rear wings and to the right side of the radiator panel (from the driver's position). Interior modifications were limited to a centre console designed to accommodate the new gear lever position, different seats and the later style dashboard, featuring tachometer, speedometer, oil pressure, water temperature and fuel level gauges. A wood-rimmed steering wheel was fitted. The suspension changes to the car were quite extensive; the car received shorter struts up front, forged track control arms and 5.5J by 13 steel wheel rims. The rear was even more radical with vertical coil spring/dampers replacing the leaf springs and two trailing arms with a A- bracket (which connected to the differential housing and brackets near the trailing arm pivots) sorting out axle location. To support this set-up, further braces were put behind the rear seat and from the rear wheelarch down to chassis in the boot. The stiffening braces meant that the spare wheel had to be moved from the standard Cortina's wheel well and was bolted to the left side of the boot floor. The battery was also relocated to the boot, behind the right wheelarch. Both of these changes made big improvements to overall weight distribution. Another improvement the Lotus Cortina gained was the new braking system (9.5 in (240 mm) front discs) which were built by brake specialist Girling. This system also was fitted to Cortina GT's but without a servo, which was fitted in the Lotus Cortina engine bay. Initially, the engines were built by J. A Prestwich of Tottenham and then Villiers of Wolverhampton. In 1966, Lotus moved to Hethel in Norwich where they had their own engine building facilities. The Lotus Cortina used a 8.0 in (200 mm) diaphragm-spring clutch, whereas Ford fitted coil-spring clutches to the rest of the range. The remainder of the gearbox was identical to the Lotus Elan. This led to a few problems because although the ultra-close gear ratios were perfect for the race track or open road, the clutch was given a hard time in traffic. The ratios were later changed. The early cars were very popular and earned some rave reviews; one magazine described the car as a tin-top version of a Lotus 7. It was 'THE car' for many enthusiasts who before had to settle for a Cortina GT or a Mini-Cooper and it also amazed a lot of the public who were used to overweight 'sports cars' like the Austin-Healey 3000. The launch was not perfect however, the car was too specialist for some Ford dealerships who did not understand the car; there are a few stories of incorrect parts being fitted at services. There were a few teething problems reported by the first batch of owners, (most of these problems show how quickly the car was developed) some of the engines were down on power, the gear ratios were too close and the worst problem was the differential housing coming away from the casing. This problem was mainl

2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD. I recently added another truck to our Company Stable. We purchased this truck after selling the Diesal(F-250 Super DutyQuad Cab 4x4). IMO, the Diesel was having to many mechanical issues in the 09. Still have the 2004 4x4 Ranger Edge & the Black 2003 Edge, both Ext. Cabs. My Brother and I then came up with the idea to purchase to new Mustang GT 5.0L's. One being shipped to the dealer; having the Dealer perform the "Make Ready", Pull the Protective Plastics off the interior and exterior, and doing what 99% of the misinformed population does. That's going to purchase a car, signing the documents, and having the Salesmen say "Congats, I'll have it shined up an out front in no time"! The Second Mustang will be transported my way, which is a "DO NOT TOUCH THIS CAR" order. This is what all of my clients now do; but there are more cars in the world than I have clients, so unless the rest have a professional looking out for them; they're getting burned. There's even fees for them ripping the plastic off the seats and washing the car that are basically hidden. The objective of this is to show the average and even the more educated car people what you get when you let a dealer touch your car. No offense; I mean, a lot of my own Family doesn't even believe that a dealer could inflict that much damage to a new car. When my Mustang arrived; my point was proven just at first site.(Many times it takes a closer look to see the damage; and I can't seem to recall how my car became the "Dealer Test Car" and my Brother drew the "Our Way and Process" Car. It didn't really matter because I know I can fix whatever they butcher; even though they burned right through the paint on the Edge of the hood scoop, and left a pneumatic or electric D/A sander on the hood to long. There's actual 6" circles of paint on the hood that they burned and are sanded to s dull charcoal look. Keep an eye out for this little experiment; which will happen in about 3 weeks when the 2nd GT arrives.