Best of Both Worlds
Old Meets New
Pete Fisher’s 1967 2 door 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 always was MkII Cortinas, Pete thinks there must have been at least 10 of them over the years.
The first MkII arrived in 1978, a 1968 1600GT that he owned for about 4 years. During that time Pete rebuilt the engine and had it repainted by a coach painter for the grand sum of £25, the finish was so good it was difficult to tell it had been hand painted. Next up was Pete’s first 1600E, an original Aquatic Jade car, before another 1600E that became his everyday car for 10 years or so. This one was Roman Bronze when bought and had previously been converted with a 3 litre Essex V6 engine. Pete kept the V6 engine in place but had returned it to the original Light Orchid before eventually selling it to good friend. The Essex V6 bug had well and truly bitten though so along with the 3 litre Capris he went on to chase down a MkII Cortina Savage in 1999. Most Savages were built around the 1600E but not Pete’s, this is one of the very rare GT based 2dr examples. He restored it soon after buying it back in 1999 but a few rust patches and some micro blistering in the paint its next on the list for another refresh soon.
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 a garden near Preston but it was in quite a poor state. It was rotten, the front wings were falling off and the inner wings completely rusted through. It was the same for the sills, the A posts, jacking points and rear wheel tubs etc – all the usual places MkIIs suffer in fact. Dave had wasted no time in starting to stripe it and had already removed the interior, engine and Lotus 5.5J wheels when Pete came to it’s rescue. Why? Because it was a 2dr that had previously been modified with things like the rack and pinion steering and the gearbox tunnel adapted for a Sierra type 9 5 speed gearbox. With the right work, Pete knew it could be a great car again.
It took Pete a few years but the plan to save the Super eventually emerged. He started by investing in a rollover jig and then spent every spare evening and weekend he could find over the next 18 months welding the rotten body shell. The front wings, both doors, bonnet and boot lid were all replaced with good second hand parts and there were many of the panels needed he made himself as he went along.
The body was then stripped to bare metal, epoxy primed, 2pk primed inside and out, flatted and painted in 2pk. Underside stripped and painted in Bondaprimer then black Raptor. Instead of the original Silver Fox, Pete choose Pompadour Blue (a 1960s Ford colour) and Ford Ermine White for the roof.
With the bodyshell completed Pete turned his attention to making the Super a running driving car again, and brought the previous modifications a bit more up to date while he was at it. Thankfully his son just happened to have a terminally rusty Focus ST170 laying around so that was to donate its engine to the project, there were plenty of parts that needed adding or replacing to make it fit the Cortina though.
Pete made up his own engine mounts and added Mikuni quad carbs and manifold from DanST together with an ME 101 ECU, and a second hand exhaust manifold. A Facet petrol pump was mounted near the tank, feeding the carbs via a Filter King regulator under the engine bay. A flywheel and full clutch were sourced from eBay, and the front bowl sump was supplied by Retroford. The cooling system needed a new water rail from Raceline, with a Revotec electric fan up front mounted on a 4 row Coolex aluminium radiator.
The original steering box has been replaced with the rack & pinion system used by the MkI/II Escort and has new Wilwood 4 pot callipers and vented discs added, a servo is fitted under the dashboard. At the back end, a 1600E/Twincam axle with anti-tramp bars & brackets is mounted on single leaf springs which has been fitted with a 3.77:1 diff. This is connected to the engine via a Sierra type 9 5speed gearbox and a custom built propshaft. The wheels are new Lotus steel copies from Midland Wheels, 5 1/2J on the front and 6J on the read but all with 185/70 tyres.
Inside the Super you’ll find the front seats have been fitted from the ST170 with the early MkII centre console with the arm rest in between. To make room for the centre console the MkII dash mounted handbrake was fitted, together with the extra dials in the high-top crash pad from the series I GT/E/Twincam too. Pete dismantled the dials to change to magnolia faces with black digits that he had a local sign company cut from adhesive vinyl. A GT loom was used but Pete modified this to suit the ST170 engine and added fuses and twin speed wipers with a variable delay too. The carpets and headlining were replaced with new and a rear parcel shelf was made from MDF to mount speakers behind grills. Pedals modified to accept Clutch cable and accelerator cable.
All photos © Pete Fisher & Cortina MkII Owners Club LTD.
