 The stiffening braces meant the spare wheel had to be moved from the standard
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cortina's wheel well and was bolted to the left side of the boot floor. The battery
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was also put in the boot behind the right wheelarch, both of these changes made
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big improvements to overall weight distribution.
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Another improvement the Lotus Cortina gained was the new braking system (9.5in
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front discs) which was built by brake specialist Girling, this system also was fitted
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to Cortina GT's but without a servo which was fitted in the Lotus Cortina engine
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bay. Firstly the engine's were built by J.A Prestwich of Tottenham and then Villiers
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of Wolverhampton this was done until 1966 when Lotus moved to Hethel in
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Norwich where they had there own engine building facilities
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The Lotus Cortina used a 8.0in diaphragm-spring clutch whereas Ford fitted coil-
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spring clutch's to the rest of the range. The rest of the gearbox was identical to the
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Elan. This led to a few problems because the ultra-close gear ratio's were perfect
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for the race track or open road, but the clutch was given a hard time in traffic, so
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the ratios were later changed. The early cars were very popular and earned some
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rave reviews, one magazine described the car as a tin-top version of a lotus 7. It
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was THE car for many enthusiast's who before had to settle for a Cortina GT or a
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Mini-Cooper S and it also amazed a lot of the public who were used to
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overweight 'sports cars' like the Austin-Healey 3000. The launch was not perfect
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however, the car was too specialist for some ford dealership's who did not understand
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the car, there are a few stories of incorrect parts being fitted at services.
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There were a few teething problems reported by the first batch of owners, (most
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of these problems show how quick the car was developed) some of the engines
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were down on power, the gear ratios were to close and the worst problem was the
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diff housing coming away from the casing. This problem was mainly caused by the
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high loads put on the axle because of the A bracket it was a integral part of the
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rear suspension. This was made even worse by the fact any oil lost from the axle
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worked its way on to the bush's of the A bracket. There were 4 main updates
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made to the mk1 Lotus during it's production to solve some of these problems.
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The first change was a swap to a two-piece prop shaft and the lighter alloy
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transmission casing were changed for standard Ford items this also included
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swapping the ultra close ratio gears for Cortina GT gear ratios, the main difference
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was 1st,2nd and reverse were much higher ratio's. It was also around this time in
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1964 that standard panels were used rather than the light alloy ones. You could
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however specify all the alloy items and ultra-close ratios when buying new, and
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many people went for these options. The 2nd main change came in late 1964 when
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the entire Cortina range had a facelift which included a full width front grille and
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aeroflow outlets in the rear quarters because the Lotus Cortina's also gained Ford's
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new ventilation system which also included a update to the interior.
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The 3rd and probably most important change came mid 1965 when the lotus rear
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suspension was changed for the leaf springs and radius arms of the Cortina GT.
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This replaced all the stiffening tubing as well. The last update also came in 1965
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when the rear drums were swapped for self adjusting items and also the famous
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2000E gearbox ratio's were used. These lowered 1st and reverse about halfway
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between the Cortina GT ratios and the ultra close ratio box.
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All these changes made the car's less specialized but far more reliable and all the
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special parts were still available for competition as well as to members of the public.
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The Lotus Cortina had by this time earned a awesome competition reputation. It
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was also being made in left hand drive when production finished around late 1966
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and the Mk2 took over.
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