Adrian Bell’s 1973 Ford Cortina TC: The Original Cortina Sixpack Made Perfect
Adrian Bell has owned this beautifully original TC Cortina for 13 years. He spent years searching for the right car, which he eventually found in his home state of South Australia. Between them, the two previous custodians had covered just 24,000 miles, so even back then this could be considered a rare survivor example, especially considering it was a 4.1-litre six-cylinder variant (referred to as 250 cubic inches in the day), so many of which had been turned into drag racers or generally modified in extreme fashion.
Indeed, the previous owner of this example had plans to transform it into a drag car but, says Adrian, could not quite bring himself to cut it up; I’m sure Shannons Club members will be very pleased to hear this!
(Image: Andrey Moisseyev)
Adrian was determined to improve the mechanicals of his Cortina while preserving the standard appearance. He has succeeded magnificently; at first glimpse of the photos, I was transported right back to 1971 when the TC Cortina was released. The Summer Gold paintwork and Saddle interior says early 1970s in the best possible way. This was actually an XA Falcon colour, which was available as a special order option on the TC. Vibrant non-metallic pastel colours such as this were all the rage in the early 1970s.
Revisiting my collection of Wheels magazines, I found that outspoken editor Peter Robinson waxed far more enthusiastic over the TC Cortina than either of the other two major new Australian car releases to date in 1971, the VH Valiant and HQ Holden. He noted in his November 1971 road test that the 2.0-litre four-cylinder version – the 250 cubic-inch (4.1-litre) six did not appear until the following year: ‘…the 2000 shows muscle power which has nothing to fear from the normal Torana Sixes or anything else in the same class.’
Phenomenally for 1971, when an HQ Holden 202 auto struggled to better 85mph, the Cortina reached 109.5, covering the standard 400m in 17.4, 10mph and a whole second quicker than the twin cam Fiat 125 launched here just three years earlier, which along with the Datsun 1600 rewrote the performance book for affordable four-cylinder sedans. Indeed, the Cortina’s acceleration was marginally superior to the 1.8-litre Alfetta’s.
‘Robbo’ opened his report thus:
TC Cortina is not so much a British car as a German car. It’s the result of a project masterminded by Ford of Europe for an international market but a dominant continental influence overwhelms the subdued British touches.
And it is a better car for it.
If it wasn’t for the low price tag and Ford badges, you’d swear the Cortina 2000 was another of those very pleasant, but expensive middle-class European sports sedans. The size is right and so is the performance, accommodation and styling.
In conclusion, he wrote:
Ford has a winner in the new Cortina. It is a clear class leader and could be the success car of the year.
And who knows? It might have been Wheels Car of the Year had Chrysler Australia not introduced the Charger late in the year.
Adrian reckons (like most of us) that he has always been into cars and his first was – you probably guessed it – a Cortina, a 1975 TD. His daily driver is a 2021 Mitsubishi Pajero Sports Exceed. He also owns an XE Falcon Interceptor.
So, it is understandable that the mature Adrian Bell looked back with nostalgia and wanted to secure himself another TC or TD Cortina.
Adrian began his working life as a mechanic working mostly on competition cars. ‘We built HQ race cars, put a 4.4-litre Rover V8 into an MGB GT, did hillclimb cars,’ he says.
Even though he works in local government these days, all that experience came to the fore when he turned his attention to the Cortina. He ported and polished the cylinder head and fitted larger valves. He also chose a sportier cam and fitted electronic ignition. While Adrian doesn’t drive the car hard, he says that with its aftermarket tachometer registering 5500rpm, the engine is still smooth.
Unsurprisingly, the Cortina is quick even by today’s standards and has copious torque from quite low in the rpm range. He modestly describes his car as ‘really responsive’.
According to Adrian (who seems highly knowledgeable on all things Cortina), comparatively few TCs were equipped with the C4 automatic but his is one – the Borg Warner 35 being much more common.
He sorted the suspension with a set of King’s springs and Koni Sports dampers and the car exhibits none of the nose-heaviness and front-end sag for which the six-cylinder Cortinas were notorious.
So, Adrian has re-created the best of all TC Cortina worlds!
The paintwork is about 90 per cent original, which is astonishing for a car that is well past its half century! He had some trouble finding the paint code but once he had done so, he successfully repaired the few flaws.
Adrian redid the interior and installed Dynamat sound-deadening and heat-reducing material under the original style loop-pile carpet. The stereo looks period correct but has a built-in MP3 player and is hands-free.
He has won four trophies and is a proud member of the Cortina/Capri Club, which has been around for some 30 years. He says there are four or five other TC/TD Cortinas in the club but his is the only sixpack.
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