This is us on my wedding day. It was great turning up to the church in this car.

In 1996 I got a job at Silverstone racing circuit working for a firm that makes performance cooling systems. I got to know a few aussie guys working there that happened to be Max fans aswell. I was always on about the cars and they kept telling me that Falcons were two a penny in Oz and I should import one, but that was just out of the question due to lack of necessary funds, so I opted to build a pursuit car from the nearestthing we have here in the UK, a Mk3 Ford Cortina. So the search was on to find a suitable car. After a few months of trawling through the Classic Ford magazine, nothing was suitable, then one evening I was looking on ebay and there it was, 27 minutes before the end of the auction a 1972 Mk3 Cortina in Daytona yellow, I couldn't believe my luck, so I had to have it.

The car was as original as the day it left the factory except for the paint, which was silver. Once I got it home, I started to look at how I was going to turn it into a pursuit car. I started on the net for informationand found John's site. I wanted to contact him but the email link wasn't working, but further down his page was a list of links to other people who had helped him with parts for his car. There I found Gordon Hayes page. was amazed to find that he sold all the parts needed to build a replica, so I emailed him to find out if the wheel arch flareswould fit the Cortina, but they were too big, so Gordon modified them and when they arrived they fitted perfectly, well almost. So that was a start. Next wasthe roof spoiler, the ones Gordon supplieswould have been too bigfor the Cortina, so I got Alan Kippen at Scorpio Composites to make me one.

The trial fit.

The next things I looked at were the wheels and engine. The original engine was a 1600cc crossflow and painfully slow, so I decided to get a 2.0l 'Pinto', so back on ebay and I got what I needed, a set of Weller 8 spokes and a 2.0l Pinto with 5 speed box.The engine turned out to be a 1800cc and was in bad condition, so off it went to Automotive Services in Northampton for a recondition. Meanwhile the wheels were shotblasted and repainted.

The finished items.

Looking good!!

The next job was the roof spoiler. Not being very good at filler work I decided to have a go anyway. I was quite pleased with the results and will be perfect when it's repainted.

Still needs more work.

Next thing was to start on the welding repairs. As you can imagine a 32 year old car is not going to be perfect and I was quite surprised how little needed doing.The front and rear valances, both sills and rear wheel arches and one door skin all needed replacing. A few weekends in the workshop and I had all the welding done, or so I thaught. A failed MOT found some more rot on the inner wings.

Repairing the rot.

While I was waiting for the engine to be finished, I decided to have a go at making the RVS radio. The pictures I found on the net weren't really too clear to build an exact replica, so I built it pretty much from memory.

Not bad eh!!

Since making this I have decided to put a CB radio into it for that extra added effect.

In the car!!

I finally got the engine back and got to work rebuilding it. I wanted to put a performance cam kit in it, but being a n 1800cc not many companies make a kit for it, but i found out that Piper CAMs do, so that's what went in it.

All nice and new.

Next I had to make the front spoiler. There was some damage and rot on the original steel wings preventing proper fitment of the spoiler, but as replacement wings were expensive I decide to buy fibreglass ones, BIG mistake as the fit was crap, so I decided to repair the original ones and used the fibreglass ones to make the spoiler.

Starting to take shape.

Twelve hours later and the spoiler was finished.

The next job was to fit the new engine.

Out with the old!!

The engine bay was also repainted, the crossmembr and wishbones were also shotblasted and powder coated.

I also had to get a new propshaftmade as the old one didn't fit the new gearbox.

The engine finally went in, but not without problems. The sump and the gearbox mounting had to be modified and the engine mounting brackets I got turned out to be wrong aswell, but luckily the original ones fitted. I made myself a new aluminium washer bottle, heater matrixand radiator and Earl's Performance Productssupplied me with enough offcuts to do all the pipe work and brake lines.

And in with the new!!

The exhaust system I made from stainless steel and it sounds great! I also have a set of lights, roof siren and some of the decals.

Just need to mount them!!

Roof light bar made now.

All I need now is a paint job and a few odds and sods.

After a wash!

Stripped back ready for painting

The finished car!

I have decided to call it Little Bopper due to the fact that the Cortina is a lot smaller than a Falcon.

Thanks goes to...
John, for all your help with pictures and putting my project on his site
Alan Docking for the use of the workshop
Gordon Hayes for the flares
Simon at Automotive Services for the engine
Alan Kippen at Scorpio Composites for the roof sopiler
All the guys at Earl's Performance Products for help with pipework and fittings
Louis at Multiview for the sirens
Premier Propshafts for the quick service
Boots at ACS Shotblasting and Paint N Powder also for their quick service
Darren and Kevin at "Paint WRX" for making my car beautiful again.
My wife Jo For putting up with the whole thing, even though she can't wait to drive it.