The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show

We’ve said goodbye to the 2025 show season in style with another amazing weekend at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC.

It was great to see everyone who stopped by to say hello, club members past and present, our friends in other clubs, and all the other show visitors too.

Our thanks to Pete, Thierry, and Chris for bringing along their fantastic cars. Thanks also to Eddie, Robert, and the Grahams B & O! for helping to looking after the stand, to Adrian for getting everything sorted and making our display happen, and of course to Alison and her show organising team at Clarion Events.

Best of Both Worlds

Old Meets New

BFT 879E – Pete Fisher’s 1500 Super

It’s often said of old Ford enthusiasts they have blue blood and if you cut them in half you’ll find F O R D lettering written right through like a stick of Brighton Rock. Well we reckon it might just be true in the case of Pete Fisher. The cars he can remember having over the last 50 years or so include a couple of Corsairs, a Mk2 Zephyr, a MkIII Zodiac, a MkI Fiesta, a 2000GT and a 3000GT MkI Capri, as well as a 3000E MkI Capri that he still has today. However, the main love was always MkII Cortinas and Pete thinks there must have been at least 10 of them over the years.

It was in 2015 when Pete got hold of BTF 879E, an early 1500 Super in Silver Fox. Good friend Dave Baglow had found it in quite a poor state and had started to strip it by the time Pete came to its rescue. It took Pete a few years but the plan to save the Super eventually emerged. He would spend every spare evening and weekend he could find over the next 18 months welding the rotten body shell, making many of the panels needed himself as he went along before painting the Super in Pompadour Blue with an Ermine white roof.

With the bodyshell complete Pete could turn his attention to making the Super a running driving car again. His son just happened to have a terminally rusty Focus ST170 laying around so that was to donate its engine though Pete still needed many parts to fit it into the Cortina. Much of these were available from various suppliers but Pete still made up his own engine mounts. Behind it sits a Sierra type 9 5speed gearbox and a custom built propshaft. Up front, there’s Escort rack & pinion steering with Wilwood 4 pot callipers and vented discs added and a servo is fitted under the dashboard. At the back end anti-tramp bars come courtesy of a 1600E/Twincam axle thats been fitted with a 3.77:1 diff.

Inside the Super Pete used the front seats from the ST170 with a Series I interior from the sportier MkII models. Pete dismantled the dials to change to magnolia faces with black digits that he had a local sign company cut from adhesive vinyl.

To see more about Pete and his ST170 powered MkII Cortina click HERE.

Original Meets Modified

HDW 171E – Thierry Seal’s 1300 Deluxe

It was all the way back in 1987 when Thierry inherited a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda with the Mopar 318cu.in engine (that’s 5.2 litres!!!) from his grandfather. It only had 55K miles on the clock so mechanically it was all in good order but the body had suffered over the years and needed a great deal of work. With a heavy heart Thierry sold the rolling shell on but kept the engine back for another day. It was around this time that Thierry spotted a MkII Cortina for sale, an early 4dr 1300 precrossflow Deluxe from 1967 in Seafoam Blue. It was a little tired, and a bit frilly around the edges, but it was also very original, Thierry had found his perfect base car to mate with that Barracuda engine.

Fitting a small block V8 into the engine bay of a MkII Cortina is not an easy task and involves a lot of cutting. The slam panel, front valence and crossmember were the first to go, the inner wings, bulkhead and floors soon followed. A custom space frame chassis with an integrated 8 point roll cage was then built to fit under what was left of the bodyshell. There’s modified Mk4/5 Cortina front suspension combined with a a shortened Jaguar IRS rear axle. The engine has been treated to a pile of performance add ons and is mated to a Torqueflite automatic drag gearbox fitted with a B&M ratchet shifter and has a Hughes performance torque converter.

For the bodywork there are GRP boot lid, front wings, and front valance. The doors and a custom bonnet with cowl is still to be made in GRP. GRP headlamp bowls will follow too. All new metal floors and firewall have bead rolling incorporated for extra strength while the roof gutter removal is also in progress. There are Halo LED headlights and indicators on the front and custom sequential LEDs have been incorporated into the rear lights.

Inside car there are Cobra Monaco S seats with TRS 3” 4 point harnesses and a Lifeline 4kg fire extinguisher system has been plumbed in. The dashboard is custom made and uses Autometer gauges, switches and touch pad. The steering column is also custom made in stainless steel with a 13” quick release steering wheel. All new wiring looms are custom made too.

Click HERE to see the full story on Thierry’s V8 powered MkII Cortina.

Performance Meets Practicality

DTC 144E – Chris Seymour’s 1300 Deluxe

It was all the way back in 1977 when Chris got his first car, a MkII Cortina 1600 Super. He kept it for around 5 years before moving on to a MkIII. Chris had never really thought about getting another until visiting the Lancaster Classic Motor Show at the NEC in 2022.

He stumbled upon our display of MkIIs that had taken part in the 60th anniversary Cortinas to Cortina run to Italy earlier that year, and the love for his first car was rekindled. He had to get another, but this time it needed a lot more performance than his first car from all those years ago.

The search eventually led him to DTC 144E, an early 2dr with quite an impressive spec, Chris just had to have it.

It has a YB Cosworth which has been rebored to 2.1 litres and benefits from a fully ported head, forged pistons, Cosworth crankshaft, hydraulic high lift camshafts, Jenvey throttle bodies and a Simpson manifold with a full stainless steel exhaust system.

It has a modern lightweight Edge alternator and is mated to a quick shift 5spd gearbox. To cope with the extra power the steering box has been replaced with rack and pinion and coil over suspension from GAZ has been added.

Up front there are larger Willwood front brakes and at the rear there’s a 3:3.1 LSD with heavy duty half shafts with the original drum brakes being replaced with a disk conversion. It has also been completely rewired too to allow for the ECU, adding in a fusebox and umpteen relays at the same time.

On the inside, the dashboard resembles a series I GT but all the dials have been upgraded with new Speedhut gauges with a GPS speedometer. The front seats are from an Audi MKI TT and a retro style DAB radio has also been added. Outside there are 15 inch Minilite style wheels complimented by what is believed to be Audi Dakota Grey paintwork.

Click HERE to see more about Chris and his Cosworth powered MkII Cortina

Sheldon Nichols was quite taken with Petes Super and its ST170 engine when he made a quick visit to our stand late on Sunday.

And over in Hall 1, Meguiar’s were celebrating the 20th anniversary of their Club Showcase.

They were featuring 14 of the very best classic cars in the UK, including Steve Hill’s superb Silver Fox 1600E. Not only was Steve able to reunite the MkII with its original owner, but he also won 1st prize in the Concours – taking more points than any other car has in the previous two decades!

Congratulations Steve!

See you next year!

All photos and video © Cortina MkII Owners Club LTD.