It’s a…not, it’s Cortina Estate Car. But why they didn’t call it “The Squire”, a name that Ford of England had been using for its top tier Anglia estate car is a bit of a puzzle. The Squire even had a bit of wood on its side, if not quite the DiNoc of this one.
Here’s “The Squire”:
Here’s The Squire I shot and wrote up here. Only the wood “surround” was used, and I think it was still genuine wood.
“For the man with a load on his mind”. A smallish load, hopefully.
This is “Merry Old England” after all. “Estate” seems to suffice, wouldn’t one say? If I had a load on my mind, I think that driving a convertible would be more my style for getting off my mind, not a little car that can hold three bags of groceries. Nice fun photos. Thanks.
This was the closest that I’ve been to a Cortina estate on this side of the pond..many moons ago.
Backside.
An easy restoration by the looks of it. No rust hence it all be snapped up on the other side of the, “pond”.
The high trim Thames van was and still is very rare here and thankfully so are woody MK1 Cortinas, regular Cortina estates are about though in reasonable numbers considering how rare they were when new.
The swoopy shape of the woodlike applique on the Cortina is typical of Mercury Colony Park wagons through the 1960’s instead of being like a Country Squire as you might expect. Here’s a 1963:
Sorry, but I’m missing the “swoopy sides” on the Cortina!
The wood inserts are remarkably alike, are you looking at the same photos?
I’ll try to answer Paul’s question…..
By the 1960s, “Squire” had acquired two meanings and uses – as the “Squire” who owned, had perhaps inherited, the country estate and was the seen as either a very important but officially powerless local worthy, or a remnant of an older time and attitude set that would not have chimed with a Cortina driver.
Alternatively, “Squire” was/is a term of address used by a trader to a potential customer – “What can I do for you, Squire?” – similar to “Mate” or “Guv”
Ford not using it for the Cortina estate makes perfect sense to me; the harder bit is explaining why just a few years earlier it was OK for the Escort.
Though this version only lasted two years (MY 1963 & 1964) it was immortalised by the Corgi model which had genuine ‘plastic wood’ inset into the diecast metal body. The revised Super estate just used more chrome trim.
I had the Corgi model, like this photo from https://sites.google.com/view/corgitoys/home. I thought it very cool with that wood grain effect.
I recall mine also had the golf set.
I’ve never seen a Cortina Estate…but think that is a super-cute car. I’d gladly have one. Then again, I’m also a fan of the Ford Country Squires from the same era.
As verbs, both ‘Squire’ and ‘Escort’ mean the same thing – to accompany someone.
I guess the reason that ‘Squire’ in whatever form was dropped was that it didn’t really match the more outward-looking Britain of the ‘60s. ‘Cortina’ conjured up exotic skiing holidays which were becoming more popular, as travelling to the European continent became more affordable.
Ford’s naming policy was a bit disjointed at that time in any case – I think the idea was to have a range of cars under the ‘Consul’ banner (Consul Classic, Capri and Cortina), but it didn’t work and lower spec Ford Granadas ended up being called Consuls too, later on.
Here’s the first part of a period advert showing the Cortina Estate’s versatility.
Groovy!
Floor shift too instead of the hated column change
The wagon in the film looks better than the Di-Noc one .
Why put a sail on the stern of a cabin cruiser ? .
-Nate
Re the sail – to keep it steady when mooring. It’s of no use once you’re underway.
Thank you Charles ! .
I know bupkis about boats although I sailed quite a bit in the 1960’s .
-Nate
Would love to know the name of the “seaside village” they traveled too. Back seat looked “curiously” roomy.
I understand it’s Looe, in Cornwall. I googled it and it hasn’t changed, much. There’s a part 2 to the film, in much the same vein.
At my grammar school, having a load on your mind meant you were a victim of avian incontinence.