On the 24th August 1979 Ford launched the final iteration of it’s Cortina model that had dominated the British sales charts every year since 1972 except 1976, when the more economical Ford Escort Mk II took the top spot.

Developed under the project name Teresa the Mk V Cortina featured new front wings, bonnet and grill, new bumpers with fashionable plastic end caps, side trim and the saloon / sedan had new larger fear light clusters.

The rear of the Mk V Estate / Wagon, which accounted for 20% of Cortina sales, was identical to the Mk IV apart from the bumpers, stiffer suspension and lower gearing also differentiated the two variants.

One contemporary report sumarised the 1’6 GL Estate as “an honest no nonsense workhorse” that was “also surprisingly refined and agile.”

On the 22nd July 1982 the last Cortina rolled off the production line at Dagenham when the model was replaced by the Sierra, nearly two months later on the 17th of September 1982 today’s featured 1.6L estate / wagon was registered for it’s first owner, helping to make the Cortina the UK market’s second best selling car of 1982 when the sales charts were topped by the Ford Escort Mk III.

Thanks for joining me on this “Honest No Nonsense Teresa” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a limited edition hot rod. Don’t forget to come back now !