Beautifully restored Lotus Cortina up for auction

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Iconic Lotus Ford Cortina to be auctioned this month

Famed for dominating sports-saloon racing in the 1960s at the hands of icons like Jim Clark and Sir Jackie Stewart, the Lotus Ford Cortina is widely recognised as one of the great British racing cars.

And later this month you'll have the chance to buy an immaculate one yourself, as this car will be up for auction at the NEC Classic Motor Show this month.

It will star in the auction alongside a Lotus Elan once owner by actor Peter Sellers, a Ferrari that belonged to boxer Sir Henry Cooper and a Jaguar XJ220 owned by the Royal Family of Brunei.

 

Fully restored: Everything down to the green and white paint is as it was when it came out of the factory in 1965 

 

Having been crashed, repaired and owned by a member of the world's most notorious biker gang, the fantastic Lotus Cortina has a past that's almost as chequered as the flags it took in the 1960.

Estimated to achieve between $103,000 and $115,000 when it goes under the hammer, the condition of the car is described as 'simply stunning' and 'as clean underneath as it is on top'.

But this is far from a classic car that's had a privileged life being pampered in a museum or sheltered from the elements in a toasty garage.

In fact, it turns out this car has not only been crashed, it has been re-registered and then restored with a unique racing connection

It is declared on the current registration document as manufactured in 1966, but when the previous owner, a Mr P. Edwards, bought the car it was black with a brown vinyl roof and had 1977 etched onto the V5 document. 

The keeper before him happened to be a Hell's Angel by the name of 'Dusty' who swapped the Cortina for a Ford Anglia, a trike and cash.

However, it wasn't until the its new owner Mr Edwards began stripping the car down that he discovered this Lotus Cortina had a race-track heritage.

After finding the words '1989 Donington' chalked onto the chassis, inquiries to the Lotus Cortina register discovered the car was built at the end of 1965 - the 2,065th to be completed - but had been in an accident in 1977 and required a new shell as a result.

The shell, however, was not the same as the other homologated road cars. Instead, it was identified as a rare 'experimental' Ford racing shell, identifiable by it being painted red instead of white like the standard Lotus shells.

Now with a current mileage readout just below 65,000 miles, it comes with four large files of paperwork and a photographic timeline of the full restoration process. 

 -Daily Mail

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