This page is taken in part from the Bonhams auction at Quail Lodge in 2013.
The car is probably the most original Lotus Cortina in existence, and is certainly worth recording here!
Bonhams Write-up
Retrieved from the late Stan Hallinan’s magical storage barn concurrently with this remarkably discerning enthusiast’s stunning Lister-Chevrolet (Lot 163) and Shelby AC Cobra Roadster (Lot 161), this Lotus Cortina sports saloon is one of the most incredible ‘time machine’ cars that our experienced team have ever had the privilege to handle.
Hallinan purchased his Cortina new from Grappone Ford, of Concord, New Hampshire, where incidentally he worked at the time. The date of his purchase was recorded as November 22nd, 1968. He drove it sparingly over the course of the next few summers, accumulating just over 6,000 miles before the Cortina was parked and carefully stored for the next 40+ years.
Opening a door one finds an almost unmarked, amazingly well preserved while charmingly patinated interior which is being passed down to us from the era of the 1960s. The effect is as if the ’70s-80s-90s-noughties have never happened. Or if they really have happened to the rest of us mere mortals, then this magnificent Lotus-Cortina played no part in them. It is – as with the other Stan Hallinan Collection cars – a machine which time passed by.
Only very, very rarely today do untouched as-original motor cars emerge onto the open market. There is an ever-diminishing world treasury of unrestored, unsullied cars surviving. As this number diminishes, and as appreciation of such treasures grows within the automobile fraternity worldwide, so customer demand is outstripping supply. Originality, once lost, can never be regained.
So here we are privileged to offer the most remarkably attractive Ford Lotus Cortina – or Lotus Type 28 – that our hugely experienced team has ever had the delight to encounter. For us the relationship in recent months with this amazing time-warp Lotus-Cortina has been memorable. For a discerning connoisseur of all things Ford, or Lotus,
Lot 162
The Stan Hallinan Collection,1966 Lotus Cortina MkI Chassis no. BA74FT59409
Sold for US$ 115,500 (£77,760) inc. premium