Ford were pretty pleased with the lift in their performance image the Mk.I Lotus-Cortina gave them, but not so pleased what it did for their reputation for reliability, so the Mk.II Lotus-Cortina was put together in Dagenham, where a closer eye could be kept on how things were bolted together. For the new car to be built on the Dagenham line it had to be even less modified than the last of the Mk.Is. The first cars were assembled in February 1967.

The new Mk.II was available in a range of colours, and the colour flash down the side was an optional extra available from dealers. Most cars were sold without the side flash, which didn't really suit the styling of the MK.II as well anyway, and so this made it a little harder to pick; what you had to look out for was a blacked-out front grille, wide steel wheels, and Lotus badges on the tail panel and rear quarters (no badge appeared on the grille).

An extra 4 bhp had been squeezed out of the engine, pushing it up to 109 bhp, but the greater weight of the new body shell meant that it was a fractionally slower car than its predecessor. It was an all-round more reliable and refined car, and probably, to be honest, more of a pleasure to own and drive, but fans of sporting cars are a perverse bunch, who place a lot of weight on the exciting raw feel of the Mk.I Lotus-Cortina, and so the Mk.II Lotus-Cortina has never had the reputation or value of the Mk.I.

The 109 bhp engine was actually the Special Equipment engine you could get as an option on the original Lotus-Cortina. The visual differences under the bonnet were a big air intake mounted diagonally across the camshaft covers, and the brake servo living next to the radiator instead of in front of the driver on the firewall. The battery remained in the boot.

The car continued to use the same 8" diaphragm-spring clutch and 2000E gear ratios as in the Mk.I, but used the remote control shifter from the Mk.II GT, and used a 3.77:1 final-drive ratio, as opposed to the 3.90:1 ratio used in the GT and in the Mk.I Lotus-Cortina. The driveshaft connecting the two was now a two-piece design. Rims were still 5.5", but of a different design to suit the wider track of the Mk.II, and 165/13 radial-ply tyres were standard. A vacuum-servo boosted the GT-based braking system. All the interior trim and instrumentation were also near-identical to that fitted in the GT model, and a special steering wheel was no longer fitted.

When the Mk.II Lotus-Cortina went on sale in the UK it set you back £1068, compared with a two-door GT which cost £841. The 1600E, which appeared later in the year, was £982. A left-hand-drive version was available, and was marketed in the USA. The Mk.II Lotus-Cortina did a lot for Ford's image, but its role as Ford's performance flagship faded during its model life as first the Escort Twin-Cam and then the RS1600 were introduced.

An interesting read is the list of optional extras available for the Lotus-Cortina from the Competitions Department of Ford. This list appears in an article in 'Motor Sport', October 1967:

1. Ventilated cast electron high performance wheels.
2. Long-distance touring seats.
3. Close-ratio gearbox.
4. Sump shield.
5. Fuel tank protective shield.
6. Auxiliary touring fuel tank.
7. Extra long-range fuel tank.
8. Alternative axle ratios: 3.9:1, 4.1:1, 4.4:1, 4.7:1.
9. Limited slip differential.
10. Lightweight differential casting.
11. Lightweight clutch housing.
12. Lightweight gearbox extensions.
13. High-ratio steering box.
14. Heavy-duty front suspension.
15. Adjustable rear shock-absorbers.
16. High-performance brake pads and linings.
17. Oil cooler unit.
18. High-performance exhaust system.
19. Fuel injection.
20. High-performance connecting rods, pistons, camshafts, valves, oil pump.
21. Lightweight alloy body panels for doors, bonnet and boot lid.

The basic recipe was pretty much right from the start, so the Mk.II Lotus-Cortina didn't change much, but a few changes were made. The Lotus badges disappeared in August 1967, replaced by a 'Twin-Cam' badge, underneath the 'Cortina' script badge on the boot lid. This was the same badge later used on the Escort Twin-Cams. The interiors also came in for a new centre console and clock, as fitted to the GT. These changes coincided with when the rest of the Cortina range was getting crossflow engines.

FORD LOTUS-CORTINA 'Motoring News', April 20 1967

In October 1968 a new facia/dash was fitted, as in the GTs, which had the auxiliary instruments mounted in the main panel, instead of a binnacle above the dash. A padded leather-covered steering wheel was also fitted, and a centre console similar to the one in the 1600E. The handbrake was also moved, from under the dash to behind the gearshift. A single-rail gearshift mechanism was introduced. Reclining front seats became an option. New features were an internal bonnet-release and a fully fused electrical system.

Even though Ford weren't paying too much attention to the Lotus-Cortina due to the Escort Twin-Cam, the car was never dropped as it continued to sell relatively well, and actually even sold better after the Escort Twin-Cam was released. However, sales did take a bit of a dive after the RS1600 appeared, and the last car was built in July 1970, by which time it cost £1316. By this time it had also racked up production figures of 4032 cars, including 862 exported cars.

Roger Clark won the Scottish Rally for the third time in 1967, in a Mk.II Lotus-Cortina, and in the process spent almost as much time travelling vertically as horizontally, leaving him with a car with curved stripes. Bengt Soderstrom won the Jant Rally, and in the same car Ove Andersson won the Gulf London. I'm sure Andersson was pretty happy about that, but I'm sure Ford were a bit disappointed when new cars fitted with Tecalemit-Jackson fuel-injection and Roger Clark and Soderstrom did nothing much. To brown Ford off some more, just when they'd lined up Graham Hill to drive one of these new cars in the RAC Rally, it was cancelled due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the UK. How would you be?

The last hurrah of the Lotus-Cortina, albeit a stifled one, was the London to Sydney marathon in November and December of 1968. The Lotus-Cortina was chosen by Ford to compete instead of the Escort Twin-Cam, as there was more faith in its durability, and five cars were entered, driven by Roger Clark, Bengt Soderstrom, Eric Jackson, Rosemary Smith, and Nick Brittan. Clark, with Ove Andersson, was leading by 9 minutes by Bombay. The race restarted in Perth, Western Australia, with the cars to race across the harsh Australian interior to Sydney, on the east coast of Australia. Nearing Quorn, north of Adelaide, South Australia, Clark's car broke an engine valve and wrecked a piston. He took Eric Jackson's head (from his car, that is), but then lost his rear axle further along the way.

So the Lotus-Cortina made way for the Escort in rather sorry circumstances, and the success of the car is rather overshadowed by the raging success of the Escort as a rally car, but the Escort could not have been such a success without the development of the Lotus-Cortina.

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