To me, the Mk1 Cortina is a fascinating mix of old, current and future design themes. The front end is basically a 1962 update on the 1952 Ford. Both have high set prominent headlights surrounded by tube sheet metal that extends back along the body. The grille is wide and simple with indicator lights, placed directly under the headlights, and large enough to be considered as second headlights. At the rear, the 1962 Fairlane’s small fins are replicated in a much cheaper fashion into the sheet metal of the Cortina. It is the roof line which influenced the future, but not at Ford. The tapered C pillar, wider at the top than the bottom, was used time and time again by Elwood Engel, Chrysler’s design boss (and a former high level Ford design manager) on his cars in the mid to late 1960s. Cortina designer Roy Brown and Engel both worked on the Edsel.