Kiwis and Cortinas

There was a time when every New Zealander either owned a Ford Cortina or had a parent, sister, brother, grandparent or friend who did. While we can't claim these hugely popular cars as our own, the Cortina's place in New Zealand motoring history makes it something of a Kiwi cultural icon.

This book celebrates the Cortina in many guises, from survivor cars to pristine originals, historic racers to thoughtfully modified examples. While cars' stories differ hugely, the Cortinas featured here have one thing in common - they are cherished by the people who are proud to own and drive them.

Gordon Campbell has been a car and motorcycle enthusiast for almost as long as he can remember. He began writing for New Zealand Classic Car magazine in the late 1990s, and for Classic Driver from 2016. During that time, he published biographies of two prominent motor racing mechanics from that time. Although he's owned many different cars over the years, he'd never had a Cortina. That changed in 2022, when he bought a Mark II GT Savage replica, clearly influenced by the wonderful people he met while writing this book.

Hardcover.