Ex-works Lotus Cortina FETCHES £168,750 at auction

An ex-works 1966 Lotus Cortina – one of only three ‘Group 5’ works cars – has sold for an impressive £168,750 at Silverstone Auctions.

Back in November we reported that a 1966 Lotus Cortina was going up for auction at Silverstone Auctions, and that it was expected to fetch £180-200k. Which seems an awful lot for a Lotus Cortina.

But this wasn’t just any old Lotus Cortina, but one of just three ex-works ‘Group 5’ cars ever built, and one which comes with a pretty impressive provenance.

It was driven in period by Jim Clark and Graham Hill, with its first ever outing at Oulton Park in the hands of the legendary Jim Clark, after which it got a fuel injection system fitted before it did more.

Just a year later the competition road ended for the Lotus Cortina, but as a bookend to Jim Clark at the start of its outings you couldn’t do much better than having Graham Hill behind the wheel at the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, where it finished first in class, at the end.

Lost for a while in Africa but returned to the UK in recent years and subject to a sympathetic restoration, the Lotus Cortina went for a slightly disappointing £168,750.

Still, it’s a chunk of money for an old 1960s Ford, even one as special as this Lotus Cortina. Keep you eyes peeled for it this summer at Goodwood, we wouldn’t mind betting.