(Word’s by Scott Liggett) This video is fantastic! It shows a pair of 1960’s Fords battling hard for the St. Mary’s Trophy this year at the Goodwood Revival. The big American tank is the 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 XL with its giant 427 V8 battling it out on the road course with the British legendary Mark I Ford Cortina Saloon.

Not only does this video shows the huge contrast in cars built for different markets in the 1960’s by Ford, but also the huge contrast in how they raced. The US is a big country with big, wide streets and highways. Gas was also cheap. Americans bought up these big Galaxies to the tune of nearly 1 million sales per year from 1963 to 1974 of the different versions. The Ford Cortina showed up in 1962 and was an immediate success for Ford overseas. Total production was near 3 million sold. Of the British people I have talked to over the years, the car was every bit of a loved road machine as the Galaxie is to Americans. The Mark I Cortinas were available with three four cylinder engines through their production between 1962-66, a 1.2 ltr 60 hp, 1.5 ltr rated at 78 hp, and the Lotus built 1.6 ltr twin cam version making a whopping 105 hp that we see in this video.

On the track, the monster American Galaxie was too big to go flying into the corners  They needed to brake hard and early in order to stay on the track in the corners, then used that 427 FE’s big power to power it down the straights. The Cortina’s lightweight and better handling meant it could take the corners with far more speed, then wind up that 4 cylinder to build speed. In this video, these two icons battle hard for position. The racing here seems far more than just an exhibition to show old iron back out on the track. These two drivers are going at it hard,even trading paint a couple times.