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"I´m a Cortina enthusiast living in Sweden. My girlfriend is from northern Norway, and in the summer 1997 during our vacation I found a Cortina 1500 deluxe fourdoor. This model, both the 1500 engine and the fourdoor bodyshell, is a very rare model in Sweden, so I decided to buy the car, even if we were 2000(!!) kms from home. "The car had been parked at the seaside for 15 years, so I decided to collect the car on a trailer and brought it to my parents-in-law's house. I had go over the brakes and the ignition system and fill some fresh petrol before I started the engine. It started at once. The clutch slipped, but the brakes worked just fine. The octagon shaped tires, however, made the testdrive a bit hazardous to both me and others, so it wasn't a long run. I also had time to 'drive away' the exhaust system. Since the clutch slipped I decided to drive the car home next summer, after replacing the clutch. "Summer 98 and back we came. The clutch was swapped and a longer testdrive was performed. Nothing went wrong so I decided to drive the car the 2000 km home. It took 2 days, including an overnight stay after half the distance. The only thing that happened on the way home was a heater knob fell off. The traction also became worse during the ride, so the bottom balljoints had to be replaced when I got home. The car is now approved by the Swedish authorities and has got Swedish plates on it. (I had to go thru customs and all to get the car registered in Sweden.) The pic above was shot in northern Finland, about 100kms away from Santas village! The straight is 20km long, nothing compared to Australia I believe." |
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"The other car is a 1968 1600 deluxe 2 door. It was on it's way to the scrapyard when I found it. The former owner was selling his house, and the car had to go. Fortunately he put an ad in the newspaper, and I answered and bought the car the day before he would have scrapped the car. Luckily it was nearby home, but I still needed a trailer to collect. "It has only covered 110000 km and is in near mint condition, totally untouched and never welded. It had been garaged for 13 years when I bought it, so the hydraulics and brakes needed work. The front shocks were also worn out and were replaced with genuine 'fill fluid in strut' type dampers. "Both cars were used this summer and are now garaged during the winter. They put so much salt on the roads here during this season that a 5 year old car needs welding!" |
