Rare Ford dubbed ‘beautiful and wondrous’ by Jeremy Clarkson in iconic Grand Tour episode on sale at bargain price
A RARE Ford dubbed “beautiful and wondrous” by Jeremy Clarkson in an iconic episode of The Grand Tour has gone on sale at a bargain price.
The 1968 “Blue Mink” motor has undergone a full engine rebuild and is “ready to use”.
The gorgeous classic is a MkII Cortina 1600E, one of the most popular models of all time.
Indeed, the Cortina was Britain’s best-selling car of the 1970s, winning out in a fierce rivalry with British Leyland’s Morris Marina.
Production ran from 1962 to 1986, making this one of the earlier versions.
A 1600 E was also the car owned by the Clarkson family when famous petrolhead and Sun columnist Jeremy was a schoolboy.
Reviewing the model in an episode of The Grand Tour, in which he drove a Cortina around his home town of Doncaster, the host described it as “beautiful and wondrous”.
He said: “I remember very clearly coming out of that door one afternoon in 1969…and I noticed that parked over there was a 1600E.
“And in it was my dad, and that was impossible.
“The E was the absolute king of the hill.
“It was beautiful and wondrous and exciting beyond words.
“My knees actually buckled.”
However, despite its prestige and style, this particular Cortina is available for just £8,995.
The listing on Car & Classic reads: “It’s solid and perfectly useable but not a show winner for sure.
“We have the current V5 showing two previous owners, but not a lot of history with it.
“It’s showing 33000 miles on the clock but more likely to be 133, 000 or had a clock change.”
Nonetheless, the car will start first time and looks to be a desirable collector’s item or even an engaging mini-restoration project.
It comes after a set of iconic cars from a “golden era” of motoring were found rotting away in an old barn.