1971 Ford Cortina Estate Standard MkIII

1971 Ford Cortina Estate MkIII in Diamonds, Movie, 1975

Class: Cars, Wagon — Model origin: — Made for:

01:35:47 Minor action vehicle or used in only a short scene

Author	Message
s13a ◊ 2023-06-30 02:27	Others :
dsl ◊ 2023-06-30 03:45	Israel used Cortinas as police cars until Mk5.
electra225 ◊ 2023-06-30 13:18	I am almost sure such Fords were assembled in Israel. I clearly remember when I lived in the Middle East that Ford had been "punished" by the Arab league in the way that for a quite long way (I would say by the late 60s to the mid 80s but I am not sure... but I remember many Taunus P2, P3 and P5 in Syria and Jordan, but not a single Escort or Knudsen-Taunus) Ford imports in the Arab countries were banned. -- Last edit: 2023-06-30 15:05:26
dsl ◊ 2023-06-30 14:32	The only solid claim I've seen for Israel Ford builds is Escort from 1968 to about 1981 (Mk1-3) - nothing for Cortinas (or Transits, which seem to have been popular there). I guess the link was always with Ford UK rather than Germany - one unusual consequence was LHD Cortina Mk5s for Israel which I don't think happened anywhere else from European Mk4/5 production (even though these may well have been rebadged TC2/3s from Genk rather than Dagenham builds) apart from Portugal which assembled both Mk4/5. Some bits of Europe got LHD Mk3s, but I don't think there were many places or high numbers. (cheap Altaya partwork from a few years ago) Also noted that captured Mk3 has no grille badge so poverty base spec - no luxuries for the Israeli police!