;raham ilontgomerie, rechnical Editor, !rives a Ford :ortina 1600...
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This car joined the fleet in )nuary 1975 and has just ocked up 48,000 miles
Main point of interest in its record is the frequency of replacement for light bulbs. At nearly every service throughout its life, it has been necessary to replace at least one bulb and, on one occasion, three bulbs were necessary including a sealed beam headlamp unit.
Oil consumption has been negligible. For the first 40,000 miles, no oil was necessary between the 3,000-mile services, but recently, the odd pint has had to be added to maintain the recommended level.
Brake lining and tyre wear has been good. The car is used over varied routes with large proportions of motorway work coupled with the heavy traffic of central London. So far, two sets of front pads and one set of rear shoes have been required.
The tyre wear record was spoilt by incorrect steering alignment when the Cortina was delâ– vered. By the time this had been sorted out satisfactorily, two new front tyres were required, Since then, the tyre
wear has been more consistent. Two new casings were required at 35,000 miles due to wear, while a third replacement was necessary due to a four-inch long bolt ripping the tyre when on the motorway Petrol consumption has averaged 27mpg over the total mileage of the car. Heavy traffic has had the consumption up to around 18 mpg while A-road motoring under 40mph speed limits has improved the consumption to over 35mpg. Four-star petrol is essential as the four-cylinder engine does not take kindly to anything less.
Replacement parts have been confined to routine maintenance. When misfiring occurred under load, contact breaker points and sparking plugs have both been replaced twice which cured the problem. Otherwise, no untoward spare parts have been required and the car has never been off the road, The Cortina replaced my previous Avenger due mainly to lack of headroom in the Chrysler. Although, the Cortina is not perfect in this respect, it is a vast improvement over the Avenger.
My main requirement for a car is reliability and the Cortina has fulfilled this 100 per cent. It has never failed to start first time whatever the weather nor has it ever broken down on the move.
The only problem relating to spare parts has been the irritating regularity with which spare bulbs are required. On one occasion around dusk, I was informed by a policeman that my nearside side light was not functioning which was made all the more infuriating because the bulbs on the offside had only been replaced the previous day.
My only serious complaint about the Cortina concerns the steering which I find ridiculously heavy, especially at parking speeds. I have tried other Cortinas which do not have the same characteristic, but repeated checks have failed to reveal why mine should be any different.
Visibility from the driving seat is excellent and the car is reasonably comfortable on a long journey, although I would very much prefer to have cloth trim for the seats instead of the horrible sticky plastic fitted to my car.
Stability on the motorway at 70 mph can be a problem when there is a strong crosswind. The problem is not so much that the car weaves about but that it is inconsistent in doing so.
I don't suppose. anybody is ever completely satisfied with his fuel consumption figures and I am no exception. Under motorway conditions and on traffic-free A-roads, I have been perfectly satisfied with the ft., consumption -I even achievi 39mpg once_ But in hea. traffic, the Cortina consisteni returns only around 20mpg.
I have been more t1-1
satisfied with the cz particularly with its reliabilit For fleet car use, its very ba: front engine /rear-wheel dri concept has a lot to commei it. G.S.F