Ford TE Cortina 6 Ghia - Big power in a small car

Here is an all original Ford TE Cortina 6 Ghia, fitted with the six cylinder engine. While in England these models had 1.3 and 1.6 litre engines and maybe a 2 litre on occasion, in Australia the 2 litre was considered the “small” engine and many were fitted with the 3.3 litre pr 4.1 litre six cylinder engine. A manual six cylinder car had plenty of straight line go power but handling was somewhat challenged with understeer in corners. A veritable “lead tipped arrow”. What do you think of the Australian six cylinder Cortinas? I would be keen to hear from some UK viewers too. Please 👍 give the video a thumbs up, Share, Comment and subscribe. Thanks for watching.

[markbehr]

I saw this immaculate all original Ford Cortina Ghia with the 6 cylinder engine. Lady owner. Very nice example that you never see these days. Please give her a Thumbs Up 👍. Please Like, Share, Comment and Subscribe for more old car videos. Thanks for watching. Cheers!

[Shaun-]

Hi Mark, not just in England we also had them in Wales. We called this model the MK 4 1976-79 we had 1.3 ohv cross flow and 1.6, 2.0 ohc pinto and a 6 cylinder 2.3 V6. models were base, L, GL, S, Ghia.a 2 door on base and L with 1.3 and 4 door on 1.3, 1.6, 2.0 and 2.3 there is a 5 door estate no 1.3 on the estate. The Cortina was a popular car from 1962 to 1982 and the estate til early 1983 (I think March/April) ruffly the same time that Australian band was in the UK music charts, land down under, Men at work. My dad had a MK 1 Cortina (1964 model) great little video. Regards Shaun from Wrexham. WALES.

[dtengineering]

I had a 2L TE Ghia as my second car (TD 2L was my first). A mate bought a 4.1L TF and it would shred it's Pirelli's just by waving your right foot over the pedal! LOL. I got a ticket for "Excessive noise due to manner of operation" once whilst driving that car.

[craigkennedy]

What a beauty. I remember my father bringing a brand new white Cortina TE Ghia X-Pack as work car home in 1979. It had factory spot lights and the 4.1 Lire Cross Flow. Good looking car and went like a rocket. I was a kid at the time but I loved that Cortina. I saw one practically the same in amongst some other Ford Falcons and other classics a few years ago. But I think I was the only one there that was really interested in the Cortina. Brings back memories. Thanks for posting.

[phillipm]

My dad bough new a td cortina in red pepper with a fawn vinyl roof 4.1 auto in xle trim, beutiful car went like stink but not the greatest of handlers and the build quality was a little loose. A very under rated car its a shame we no longer have cars like this, the size I mean not the build or dynamics quality.

[dalesideroadclassiccarwork]

The cortina mk4 came in engine sizes from 1.3, 1.6 and 2.0 litres in England. The 1.3 was stupidly under powered but was a really cool 2 door version.

[WorksOnMyComputer]

Still have a soft spot for my old TF Cortina 4 with the S pack, but I suspect a few days actually driving it and I would be happy to go back to my more modern cars. I still remember how much of a revelation my KF Laser S was in comparison to the old Cordie. Still nice to see a TE that made it through the wars. Must have been garaged most of its life to look like that.

[TheKnobCalledTone.]

If it wasn't such a clean original example, I'd suggest a Barra swap. A Cortina with a Barra would be a missile.

[gmarshall]

My first 2 car's 4.1 liter or 250 ci 4 speed cortina a couple of mods went like a rocket

[jasoncarpp]

G'day Mark. Beautiful looking car. For some reason that I'll never understand, the Ford Cortina never sold well here in the USA. At least I've never seen.

[markoastler]

Was a shame that Ford Australia never got on top of the build quality issues with these cars because the 4.1-litre six version was a pretty quick car. I remember Colin Bond led the 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial field into Perth in one of these, but a crash and other mishaps ruined any chance of upsetting Brocky’s HDT Commodore juggernaut from there.

[billmago]

I knew a salesman at Noel Schmutter Ford dealer in Blaktown 1977 he had a 250 ci Ghia as a demo . He took me for a drive to Coonamble on weekend in it most of the way at 100 mph, great car, heaps of power....made up for promising me he could get hold of an XC coup Noel told him he would kill himself in a 351😅😅😅 i think he might have been right on that one

[j-]

Owned 4-1 auto on tickle gas . Most fun I ever had 😎

[arkhsm]

As you probably know Mark, us NZers had Pommie ones and some Aussie ones. The 4s were mainly Pom, but we also got the baby 2.3 Cologne V6 Ghia. The "big dawg" though was the Aussie 4.1 Ghia, and we never stuffed around with the lower trim levels. I had a Pom basic '82 Mk5 2.0 L model for a time, it was red, but had somehow ended up with a blue grill that came colour co-ordinated on the Sport model; therefore always knew which one was mine !!

[Hahehhwgajshah..]

I had a te, tf ghia 4.1 and a Td xle wish I had them all still.

[bossdog]

I had 2 of these. A 4.1 4 speed wagon which did sterling service for years as a paint wagon. I did ZERO maintenance on it apart from a spray can paintjob and a rebuilt starter motor.
The other was an extremely rare, (so I'm told), X Pack, which had air conditioning and power steering? Unfortunately, it never got the make over and care I wanted to give it.

[dazmac]

Australia got good examples of small car big motor.
I also liked the Chrysler Centura, boxy car with 245 hemi6 🤙🏄‍♀️

[EdmundSampson-pdvi]

These where the ultimate sleeper in the day, like you said with the 4.1 in a light chassis bit like the Torana a9x

[noelgibson]

They're probably worth $20, 000 these days, and to were no good when they were new, let alone now. They were good looking, but the looks didn't match the quality.
The TF was probably a better car, but as so few of them were made, we'll never really know. The press just stopped talking about them.

[jamesfrench]

Very modern car for the time. Trust the Germans who set the trend for car design along with Italy.
Can't believe they were sold with the XC. They looked two generations ahead.
A 4.1 iron six was rediculous. The 2.3 V6 in he UK versions made much more sense. They had 1.3 fours in them over there.
My 89 KE Meteor Ghia has a bigger engine than some of those and 14" alloys!