A few cars have popped up recently on craigslist in the rural township of Washington, Maine. They all seem to share the same garage space and are in need of restoration, but more interesting examples like this 1966 Cortina GT here on craigslist paint a picture of a particular collector who likely has a life story as interesting as the cars he chose to squirrel away. 

The Cortina GT remains a desirable car today, without being quite the investment piece as the genuine Lotus cars. The GT packed a 1500 motor with a dual barrel carb, a new camshaft profile, increased compression ratio and more. To put it simply, it, too, was a hotted up version of Ford’s bread-and-butter Cortina but it wasn’t quite at the level of the Lotus cars. Still, it represented good value considering it could hit 95 m.p.h. while pulling down 25 m.p.g.’s.

The engine is missing, the interior is missing and the floors are quite rusty. This will not be an easy restoration to attempt, but I have little doubt this Cortina will find its way to a high-end restoration shop shortly after it is purchased. The seller is quite limited on the details, only mentioning that there is no engine and that it is a rare find in the USA. That’s somewhat true, I guess, but we’ve seen more than a few on this very website.

In addition to the missing engine and interior, this angular Ford is not without its cosmetic issues as well. There does appear to be rust in multiple places, but the seller does not address the corrosion issues that are clearly evident in photos. My guess? He’s counting on someone who’s been hunting for a Cortina project to scoop this up without asking too many questions. For $1,000, would you?