Ford Cortina MkII Owners Club celebrating 50 years of the MkII Ford Cortina

1966 – 2016

On October 18th 2016, we came together to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launch of the MkII Cortina at the Earls Court Motor Show with three events in one day. First stop, a visit to the Whitewebbs Museum of Transport in Enfield, North London.

From Enfield, we broke in to smaller groups to make a visit to the Ford Heritage Collection, based in one of the older buildings on the same Dagenham site where most MkII Cortinas were manufactured between 1966 and 1970.

It was great to catch up with WEV 26F again, the ex press Super that Ford used to launch the new crossflow engine range in 1967 that we had on display a few weeks ago at our National Rally at Stratford Upon Avon. See HERE for photos from the weekend.

From Dagenham we moved on to The Hare, near Chelmsford for a very special evening reception with some very special guests: Harry Calton, the ex Ford Public Affairs guru who helped launch the MkII Cortina, Ron Quested, an engine test bed engineer who worked on the Kent range of engines, and Roy Haynes, chief stylist for the MkII Cortina.

Members were very happy to give Roy Haynes are quick tour around their MkIIs

After some well needed food, it was quiz time, 50 MkII related questions for 50 years of MkII Cortina.

Well done to Jason Sibson who won, beating club spares man Rod Smith in to second place. Chairman Eddie came joint third with member Simon Parrot. After the quiz it was time to hear from our guests, Harry Calton, Ron Quested, and Roy Haynes.

And then it was cake time!

Our thanks to everyone who came along, especially to Harry, Ron and Roy. It was a fantastic day that we will remember for a long time to come.

All photos © MkII Cortina Owners Club LTD