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Re: The year, 1962

Posted by Bold Eagle (A) on March 11, 2007 at 19:06:44

In Reply to: Re: The year, 1962 posted by DaveInVA on March 11, 2007 at 13:57:18:

Dave,

One of my great mistakes was to buy a used '65 Ford Cortina GT. Very willing engine, but Lucas electricals (Lucas and electrical is almost a contradiction in terms, isn't it? Did they start out making candles?) and the same bullitt connectors. I remember wailing down a twisty road in CT, hitting a bump, and suddenly being without lights. They mounted the connector block on the radiator header, right up front in the weather.

I eventually had a brake failure and rolled the thing down a hillside. That solved the reliability problems once and for all.

The handling was really, really bad. God knows how the reviewers could give it high marks. It was plagued with roll oversteer. As the car rollled in a hard turn, the rear end steered out. That decreased the turning radius and increased the G loads inducing more roll and more rear end steering. The only fast way around a corner was to pretend you were on a dirt track and toss it into the turn with full opposite lock and steer with the right foot. Quite a trick with 1600 CC. It may have been unreliable, but at least it had treacherous handling.

Then there was my Giulietta. The handling was phenominal, even though it cornered on its door handles and you could see the whole underside of the car on hard turns. But it stuck like glue. The engine itself was unbreakable. I shimmed the valve springs and put in Super rod bolts and it would turn 8000 RPM in first and second gear. Mine also had an Abarth exhaust, a stiffer clutch, and a Weber 2 throat downdraft carb instead of the stock Solex. The previous owner had cobbled together the exhaust and it was really, really loud, but all high pitched, so it shrieked rather than roared. At 8000 RPM the sound was incredible. It was clearly audible for 1/2 mile over traffic noise. I took it to sports car club events for 2 years and nothing streetable ever was louder.

Jerry

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