Ford Cortina Mk2 Owners Club

Over 30 years ago, in the autumn of 1988, Alan and Clare Nightingale, Steve Hawkins, and Pete and Lynn Pascoe got together with Mark Blows and set up what was to become known as the Ford Cortina MkII Owners Club.

It all came about because they had been refused entry to any other club. At the time, if you had a 1600E or a Lotus, a Crayford or a Savage, you were well catered for, but if you had a GT as Alan and Steve did, or a deluxe as Pete and Mark did, there was nothing open to you.

The club they formed in response was initially split in two. One half, the Ford GT Owners Club, was aimed at the '60s Ford carrying the GT badging, cars such as MkI and MkII Cortinas, also the Corsair and Consul Classic/Capri etc. The other half, known as the MkII Cortina Register, was for all other MkII Cortinas. There was clearly a great need for such a club for it grew very quickly and there were soon over 150 members. However, of these 150, only 6 had anything other than MkII Cortinas and it wasn't long before the format was changed.  The two groups were amalgamated and the Ford Cortina MkII Owners Club had arrived.

We had become the first club to cater for every single model of MkII Cortina, not just for the 2dr, 4dr, and estate versions of the models that Ford had made – the base or fleet, the Deluxe, the Super, the GT, the 1600E, and of course the Lotus Twincam – but also for the numerous after market conversions such as those from Crayford Auto Developments (convertibles, cabriolets and V6s), Race Proved (V6 Savage), Superspeed (V6), LuMo (Lotus twincam engined 1600Es), Allard (superchager conversions). etc.

We pride ourselves on a high level of informality and camaraderie, our mission statement has to be “Friendship above all else”. Over the years our membership has steadily increased all over the world, with members right across Europe, Scandinavia and as far away as America and Australia to complement our solid base in the UK.

We are a volunteer led club set up as a non-profit private company limited by guarantee. We are members of the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC), registered with the DVLA, and while recognised by the Ford Motor Company, we are completely independent.