England's 1970 World Cup stars were given a Ford Cortina... but there was a twist

IN 1970 something incredible happened.

Not only had England qualified for the World Cup in Mexico as defending champions, Ford loaned every squad member the greatest saloon car in the world.

From Gordon Banks in goal, captain Bobby Moore, to Geoff Hurst up front and Les Cocker on the backroom staff, all got a Ford Cortina 1600E.

For a football and car mad then ten-year-old, this was an incredible coming together of both sport and motors.

After all, they were the best English footballers and Ford had built the most charismatic car in their plant in Dagenham.

The Cortina 1600E was cool and stylish. Well into the 1970s, this was a particular version of the Mark II Cortina.

It had flashy Rostyle wheels, an upmarket walnut dashboard, prestigious ‘Executive’ badging, lower Lotus suspension and a rorty 1600cc engine.

If you had a 1600E you were going places, not just to Mexico, but probably as a regional manager for a supermarket.

The 1600E was aspirational, which is why every player was happy to pick up their car at the twin towers togged out in their club colours.

We know what happened in Mexico in 1970, but I always wondered what happened to those Cortinas.

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There were thirty cars, all registered sequentially GWC which stood for Great World Cup, which it wasn’t for England.

They also stood out because on the front wings were the crossed flags of Mexico and the Union flag, not the Cross of St George.

On the doors was a logo that bore the legend ‘Chosen for England’.

Stung by their failure to make any money out of the 1966 victory, the squad had a plan that included singing ‘Back Home’ on Top of the Pops and sponsorship by other companies, including Findus Frozen Food.

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For me, if anything symbolised just how much football had changed over the decades, it was the cars players drove.

Once upon a time they got the bus or tram with the fans, or like Manchester United’s Duncan Edwards, rode his pushbike to Old Trafford and then tied it to a drainpipe with string.

Abolition of the maximum wage in 1961 meant that players were paid a wage that reflected their footballing and negotiating skills.

Some of the England regulars may have owned Jaguars, but if you read the player profiles in Shoot! magazine their cars really were Cortinas, Capris, Escorts, and Austin 1100s.

It was a working class game played by working class blokes who drove the same cars as our mums and dads.

So I wondered just how many World Cup Cortinas survived?

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority computer will tell you that Bobby Moore’s GWC 1H number plate is now attached to a Mercedes, but most are unlicensed or there is no record so were probably scrapped.

After a year of talking to Cortina owners and travelling thousands of miles, I concluded that there were just five of the World Cup cars left.

Three belonged to a reclusive collector who had Geoff Hurst’s, Martin Peters’s and Peter Osgood’s Cortinas.

In Crewe, Nobby Stiles car was parked forlornly in a back garden and covered in green algae.

Finally, I went to Greater Manchester and found the only roadworthy World Cup 1600E.

This had been bought by Francis Lee after the loan period was up and run by his then wife.

I happened to mention what I was doing to a BBC producer and it became part of The One Show.

Francis Lee was going to be reunited with his Cortina at the Oulton Park race circuit.

It was great to meet an England legend, who was so pleased to see his old car again.

“This was a top car at the time. When the year was up I recall paying around £600-£700 for it," Lee revealed.

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