Meet the Owner – Lou Brisdon and his Ford Cortina 1600L

We recently wrote about Lou Brisdon’s Ford Cortina Ghia Mk. IV, but it was obvious that one Cortina just was not enough for his collection. So, he recently acquired the model that was the company car for countless sales representatives – the 1600L. With your suit jacket on a hanger attached to a rear grab handle, and a tin of travel sweets in the glove box, you would be set to conquer the world. Or, at least, complete that deal with the manager of a supermarket outside of Titchfield Common.

When Ford launched the Cortina Mk. IV in late 1976, all keen observers instantly knew the L was more than a cut above the entry-level ‘Base’. Your friendly local dealer – or fleet sales manager – would tell that every Mk. IV had a cigarette lighter, a heated rear window, reversing lamps, two-speed wipers, reversing lamps and a brake servo. The fact that Ford regarded the last-named as a sales feature makes 1976 seem impossibly remote.

A Cortina 1600 Base was £2,152.80, while the 1600L was £2,291.45, but its extra fittings were more than worth the additional cost.  For one, it had “bright window mouldings” and halogen headlamps. If that was not sufficient luxury, there was fabric upholstery, reclining front seats, two rear grab handles, an illuminated glove locker, a passenger vanity mirror, and a “trinket tray”. Of course, if you wanted a quartz clock, “sports road wheels”, a folding rear armrest and a radio, you needed to work hard and await the moment when the fleet manager finally issued you the keys to a Cortina GL.

And in 1976, job advertisements would entice recruits with a “Cortina Company Car”, such was the Ford’s popularity with business motorists.  The Mk. IV’s line-up was carefully graded to match a company hierarchy – only the Base and L were sold in two-door form and were available only in 1.3-litre guise. Dagenham thought that this format had the greatest appeal for the lower end of the fleet market, so there was no point in building a 1.6-litre two-door Cortina Mk. IV.

A Cortina 1600L was also cheaper than the rival Vauxhall Cavalier 1600L at £2, 325 and the Morris Marina 1.8 SDL at £2,224. The last of the Hillman-badged Hunters was £2,328, and looked very dated compared with the Cortina, while the £2,457 Chrysler Alpine was comparatively expensive, front-wheel-drive and a five-door hatchback. The Austin Maxi at £2,229 cost less than the Alpine but was also FWD and a hatchback, when many fleet buyers preferred the safer waters of rear-wheel-drive and a sperate boot.

Lou finds his 1600L “a lot more basic” than his Ghia, “but it drives rather similarly!”. The public reaction tends to be “the usual ‘Oh, my dad had one!’ or ‘I used to have one of those’”. As for the typical late 1970s driver of such a fine Cortina, readers of a certain age may remember Little Chef’s hilarious strip cartoon advertisement featuring one “Dave Dymo – Dynamic Sales Rep”. After a gammon grill and straightening his tie “in the smart Little Chef washroom”, our dynamic hero could “face that appointment tidy and well fed!” - and his company car waiting outside was almost certainly a Ford Cortina 1600L.

Sadly, there are no more Little Chefs, but to see Lou’s Cortina is to be reminded of a lost world of Olympic Breakfasts and Jubilee Pancakes. Not to mention when “Perforated Headlining” could distinguish an L from a mere Base.

With thanks to Lou Brisdon for his time.

With thanks to Lou Brisdon for the permission to use the images in this blog.