1967 Ford Cortina Lotus MkII

1967 Ford Cortina Lotus MkII in Ford on Safari: East African Safari 1969, Documentary, 1969

Class: Cars, Sedan — Model origin:

00:11:15 Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase

Comments about this vehicle

Author	Message
dsl ◊ 2015-02-19 15:59	#19 Vic Preston Snr/Rob Gerrish, supposedly a private entry as Ford UK did not enter any official works cars, but it has a late 67 Boreham sequence plate (WVW 205F, although this is not recorded elsewhere as a known factory Lotus plate). Vic Preston Snr's last EAS as a driver - he never won but 69 was his closest failure - leading by 7 minutes until a very late crash. His son - Vic Preston Jnr (!!) also never won but came close a few times in the 1970s. Being co-driver was obviously an easy job, as he seems to have spent most of the rally filming with a cine-camera - all the in-car sequences in the film come from this Cortina.
dsl ◊ 2015-02-20 01:31	Comments from Mark Kempson @ http://www.lotuscortinainfo.com/ after I emailed "..... Is WVW 205F a known car - I'm assuming factory, possibly Boreham registered?? Given that Vic Preston was long-standing friend of Ford on EAS, was this actually a works entry in all but name, and therefore the last ever works Cortina??" Mark's reply "An interesting car for sure. I'm pretty sure that it was supplied by the works, if not built by them, and certainly not maintained by them on the Safari. At that time Boreham were flat out preparing and maintaining their Escort Twin Cam rally cars, and they won a lot of stuff in 1968 and 1969, so had little interest in the Mk 2 Lotus Cortina by then. Also remember that the London - Sydney Marathon had just been run at the end of 1968, which wasn't really a good result for the Lotus Cortina or for Boreham, who put a lot of work into the cars. Lots of engine failures! As you say Vic Preston was a good friend of Boreham, and my guess is that he twisted their arm to supply a car, maybe with the mods that they had learned to apply in previous Safaris, or showing him what should be done. I don't think it could be called an ex-works car, but it probably was 'touched' by the works in some way! A lot of rally cars built by Ford in this period were actually outsourced to Clark and Simpson to be built, so it could possibly be one of theirs." So the last official works Mk2 Lotus Cortina event remains the 68 London-Sydney Marathon.
dsl ◊ 2015-02-20 13:00	A follow-up from Mark: "I had a hunt through some Ford Sport mags and found a review of the Safari. A little snippet confirms the car as ex-Boreham... Quote 'Only one Boreham-prepared Cortina Lotus was entered - that driven by Vic Preston and Bob Gerrish, which was supported along with the two German built (Taunus) cars by the service network of Hughes Limited, the Kenyan Ford distributors.' So I think that you have found the last Lotus Cortina works car! I will update the site." So imcdb moves the boundaries of history forward again ...

Author

Message

dsl

◊ 2015-02-19 15:59

#19 Vic Preston Snr/Rob Gerrish, supposedly a private entry as Ford UK did not enter any official works cars, but it has a late 67 Boreham sequence plate (WVW 205F, although this is not recorded elsewhere as a known factory Lotus plate). Vic Preston Snr's last EAS as a driver - he never won but 69 was his closest failure - leading by 7 minutes until a very late crash. His son - Vic Preston Jnr (!!) also never won but came close a few times in the 1970s.

Being co-driver was obviously an easy job, as he seems to have spent most of the rally filming with a cine-camera - all the in-car sequences in the film come from this Cortina.

dsl

◊ 2015-02-20 01:31

Comments from Mark Kempson @ http://www.lotuscortinainfo.com/ after I emailed "..... Is WVW 205F a known car - I'm assuming factory, possibly Boreham registered?? Given that Vic Preston was long-standing friend of Ford on EAS, was this actually a works entry in all but name, and therefore the last ever works Cortina??"

Mark's reply "An interesting car for sure. I'm pretty sure that it was supplied by the works, if not built by them, and certainly not maintained by them on the Safari. At that time Boreham were flat out preparing and maintaining their Escort Twin Cam rally cars, and they won a lot of stuff in 1968 and 1969, so had little interest in the Mk 2 Lotus Cortina by then. Also remember that the London - Sydney Marathon had just been run at the end of 1968, which wasn't really a good result for the Lotus Cortina or for Boreham, who put a lot of work into the cars. Lots of engine failures!

As you say Vic Preston was a good friend of Boreham, and my guess is that he twisted their arm to supply a car, maybe with the mods that they had learned to apply in previous Safaris, or showing him what should be done. I don't think it could be called an ex-works car, but it probably was 'touched' by the works in some way! A lot of rally cars built by Ford in this period were actually outsourced to Clark and Simpson to be built, so it could possibly be one of theirs."

So the last official works Mk2 Lotus Cortina event remains the 68 London-Sydney Marathon.

dsl

◊ 2015-02-20 13:00

A follow-up from Mark:

"I had a hunt through some Ford Sport mags and found a review of the Safari. A little snippet confirms the car as ex-Boreham...

Quote 'Only one Boreham-prepared Cortina Lotus was entered - that driven by Vic Preston and Bob Gerrish, which was supported along with the two German built (Taunus) cars by the service network of Hughes Limited, the Kenyan Ford distributors.'

So I think that you have found the last Lotus Cortina works car! I will update the site."

So imcdb moves the boundaries of history forward again ...

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1967 Ford Cortina Lotus MkII