Photos by Lorena Juárez.
In recent months, my wife and I have been talking about moving closer to her workplace on the outskirts of San Salvador. We both occasionally engage in this task, I online and her on the ground; she strolling the ‘hoods around her workplace.
She was on one of such roamings when she texted me about some “curbside classics” she had found and wondered if they would be of my interest. Only one way to find out, of course: “Sure, send them over… let’s see what you got!”
First was a Willys Wagon, in a version I wasn’t aware had arrived in El Salvador. Yes, we had Willys here in Central America by the bucketloads back in the day, though most being of US provenance.
Instead, this is the Brazilian-built version, with a production run that lasted from 1958 to 1977 in that nation. Christened as the “Rural”, the model was a Willys do Brasil product until ’67, when Ford took over the operations. It would remain a Ford product until its end of the run, with updated hardware courtesy of the new administration.
The face you see was a styling update given to the model in 1960 or so, exclusive to these South American models. A pickup version also existed, which has been covered previously at CC detailing the model’s specs.
While there isn’t much badging left on this surviving one, I’ll venture we’re looking at the Willys version here; so a ’60-’67 model. The Fords, as in corporate custom, had easily identifiable blue ovals. Discreet, but still noticeable.
Further down the street, she had found a 4-door Cortina. Just a couple of weeks ago I wondered, how many Cortinas can there still be in the wild? A few is the answer. And while it doesn’t seem apparent, this one actually runs.
A true “curbside classic”: worn, and far from pristine. Missing trim, reflective tape instead of working lights, and so on. And that homemade (?) thick black matte paint! Such a low-rent Mad Max look!
And best of all, it still does regular service. Or so I think, since this is the Cortina I believe I’ve seen near a burger joint I frequent.
To think Cortinas were actually somewhat common in this city once upon a time. And now they’re such rare sights… I paid my homage to them a while ago, including in that post just about every nonrunning one I found in San Salvador then.
Oh, about the neighborhood… Well, my wife didn’t care for it in the end. Which is just as fine, we’ll find a new place eventually. In the meantime, her stroll was worthwhile in a curbivore sort of way. Let’s see if future home hunting proves just as fruitful curbside hunting wise; and yes, a new home to find would be good too.
Related CC reading:
Cohort Outtake: Brazilian Ford F-75 Pickup – Yes, It Started Out As A Willys
Carshow Classic: 1975 Ford Cortina 1600XL – The Swiss Army Knife Car
The Cortina was a car with class and prestige.
It’s a shame not to have had an equivalent in the US.
Oh dear sir, the Cortina an exceptionally lovely-looking machine, and a posh model told the neighbours one was doing well, but as a car, it was simply awful. Ford somehow took perfectly decent underpinnings and made of them an ill-handling, ill-riding, vague-steering-wandery (and also wind-screaming) disaster.
To me, they’re proof that good looks can sell anything.
Wonderful find! The parallel wipers caught my attention. The US version kept opposing wipers until the end in 1962. Brazil must have modernized them at some point, along with restyling.
I had a mk11 Cortina, with a 1.6 litre Pinto engine, a very basic car in the UK
It was a roomy if sluggish car, reliable but the void bushes in the back axle lasted about 6 months then the handling was like mush so they had to be replaced at every annual inspection (MOT), and at not much more than 100, 000 miles the camshaft started to knock.
Overall, I preferred and had better use out of the BL cars I owned. despite what others say about BL cars, they had much superior handling and ride comfort as well as more resistant to rust (Front wheel drive and much more advanced suspension). I speak from having owned both makes and used them as everyday cars, admittedly for British driving conditions
Looking at the detail differences in the Brazilian Willys is fascinating .
This one looks like a simple body explosion , stripping and respraying would make it look very good indeed in spite of the bumps & bruises .
The front bumper looks to be from something else as it’s far too wide .
Cortinas always had a faithful following here stateside, mostly coupes .
I wonder how is life in San Salvador these days ? .
Will you be buying a place or what ? .
I nearly bought a house in Guatemala, I wonder how that would have turned out .
-Nate
Even for 1960, the nose on the Willys, does not look well-conceived.
I’m wondering how you get into the Dagenham Dustbin, it doesn’t seem to have door handles.
The missing letters in the ‘FORD’ badging remind me of my brother’s Escort of a similar vintage. He used most of an old fridge for the metal he needed to weld it up so the bonnet badge read FOOD.
“How you get in”, you say? Into a Cortina? You just don’t.
The modification seems terribly sensible to me.
That Cortina looks to have been a pre-facelift GT or GXL (assuming British trim levels), as it has the four round headlights (lower trims had two seven-inchers) and the ornate boot trim panel (here painted over for some reason) and the rubber bumper strip. Also I see the remains of some window surround chrome mine didn’t have. I have to say I like the square tube bumper/towbar, as the original was mounted so close to the body as to be merely decorative. I slotted the mounts on mine to space it out a bit further from the body, but this solution would be more effective! Something looks off about the taillights too, but as good ones were hard to source/expensive here in Australia thirty years ago where they were widely sold, I’ll put that down the Salvadoran ingenuity and resourcefulness Rich so often shows us.
Here’s my ’74 L (Australian base trim) just after I took the plates off, showing the plain untrimmed boot lid and early tail lights; later ones had smaller reversing lights/ larger indicators. Mine is wearing the bumper from an XLE, originally it wouldn’t have had the rubber strip, which should have gone around the corners.
Such a fine-looking car, yet with so many other “f” prefixed words to describe the rest.
(Sorry, Pete. I’ve a genuine irrational dislike of the Corty, and I think it’s because it always really annoyed me that the essentials of it simply should not have resulted in such a poorly behaved car. And if CC folk could understand how incredibly awful – if incredibly fast – our 4.1 litre Falcon-engined six version was, they might have some sympathy!)
“The face you see was a styling update given to the model in 1960 or so…” Yikes, that’s a face only a mother could love.
That trim level of Cortinny is the GT 2.0 pinto 4 speed, Willys wagons were always rare over here but that one is different.
Yes Justy the Cortina 6 was a mistake but they kept making it, MK3 Tinas were govt fleet or rep cars in NZ mostly, rare now.