Best of Both Worlds
Original Meets Modified
Thierry Seals’ 1967 1300 Deluxe
It’s 1987. The Southeast is ravished by a storm the forecasters said wasn’t going to happen, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) opens, Ford takes over Aston Martin, Fatal Attraction, Lethal Weapon & Dirty Dancing are all showing in cinemas across the country, and Thierry Seal finally gets to start work on the car he had always wanted.
Thierry grew up surrounded by old and interesting cars of one sort or another. His grandfather had something like 50 cars in his garden at one point and his uncle would take him to the big Ally Pally shows in a Ford Torino. It was inevitable Thierry would end up a petrol head and have something a bit different of his own one day too. After a long line of classic Fords that had included MkI and II Escorts and a couple of Capris too, it was 38 years ago in 1987 when the seeds of this project were sown. That was when Thierry inherited a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda with the Mopar 318cu.in engine (that’s 5.2 litres!!!) from his grandfather’s collection. 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 apart from an additional Escort fuel tank in the boot. Thierry had found his perfect base car to mate with that V8 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 and the bulkhead soon followed. Almost before he knew it, Thierry had the floors and inner wings removed too. A custom space frame chassis with an integrated 8 point roll cage was then built to fit under what was left of the bodyshell. The front clip comes from a Mk4/5 Cortina that has been modified to take custom coilover dampers from GAZ and has Hi-Spec billet 4 pot callipers with 255mm vented disks and alloy hubs fitted. At the rear you’ll find a Jaguar IRS axle fitted with a Powerlok LSD. The inboard brake disks were kept but has heavy duty halfshafts with the whole lot shortened by 6.5” to keep everything sitting under the original MkII Cortina wheel arches. GAZ also takes care of the rear damping with custom made coilovers again.
The brakes benefit from a floor mounted bias pedal box with two Wilwood brake master cylinders (front & rear) with an electric line lock on the front circuit. A fly off hydraulic handbrake has been fitted but the standard handbrake remains for MOT purposes as the Cortina will be road legal. The wheels are VMS Racing rims, 3.5”x15” up front, 10”x15” to the rear.
That V8 small block engine hasn’t been left standard either. There’s an Edelbrock Performer Inlet manifold with a 600 sec vac 4 barrel carb. A MSD Billet distributor with a Blaster coil and 6AL-2 programmable ignition controller. Patriot Performer headers connect to a custom made twin 2.25” Stainless exhaust system. Jaz Fuel cell with FRAM fuel filter and Holley pump. Cooling comes from a new alloy radiator and Aeroflow Trans Oil Cooler. A TCI 904 Torqueflite automatic drag gearbox with reverse shift pattern connects to the rear axle via a custom made propshaft. The gearbox is 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.
At the start of 2010 Thierry wrote in to Classic Ford Magazine about his amazing project in the hope it might be included in their regular “Grafters” feature. Editor Simon Woolley wasted no time in heading over to Thierry’s home in Wales for a professional photoshoot – but not for the Grafters column Thierry had contacted the magazine about. Simon was so taken with the V8 Cortina that it was to get its own full five page feature article and put the car on the front cover of the magazine too!
The Classic Ford feature showed a couple of Thierry’s other projects too. A MkII Escort that he had come runner up in the 2009 Old Skool Ford Drag Challenge, and another MkII Cortina, a late Series I 1600 Deluxe in Ermine White with a red interior that he still has today. It was as an unfinished project that Thierry had bought to strip for parts for the V8 car but he just couldn’t do it – Thierry had unwittingly found himself another restoration that turned out to be far bigger than he’d imagined. On the welding front it needed repairs to the inner and outer sills, wing and outriggers too. Mechanically, the engine was rebuilt and rebored to 1660 (giving 134bhp) and the springs & suspension were renewed. The steering got new bushes all round and the axle and brakes were refurbished. There were new rubber seals for the windows and doors inside and out as well new seat belts, headlamp bowls and light gaskets too. A full respray was complimented with new alloy wheels.
All photos © Thierry Seal.
