Conon Bridge's 'oldest boy racer in town' makes 500-mile trip to Mk1 Ford Cortina Owners Club National Rally in Stratford
A 14-hour labour of love 500-mile trip to Stratford-upon-Avon involved car daft Neil Maclean (71) leaving his Conon home at 5.30am.
On the back of his trailer was the 1966 Lotus Cortina Mk1 replica in Alan Mann Racing colours that he had lavished countless hours of his time and thousands of pounds of cash into after buying it as an unfinished project back in 2018.
His destination was the Official Mk1 Ford Cortina Owners Club National Rally being held in the town best known as the birthplace of William Shakespeare.
The former bus driver and distillery worker has regarded the Cortina Mk1 as poetry in motion since first being given a spin in one in his teens.
Before his love affair with cars blossomed, he was building carts from old pram wheels and graduated to driving around back roads. He has changed his first engine before he was 18 and it wasn't long before, self-taught, he was building his own.
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Of his epic road trip – enduring some "horrendous" driving by fellow travellers on the M6 – he said: "It was the first time I was there with the car. I just wanted to be there – it's THE Cortina event."
Having handled the mechanics of the car himself, he admits to spending pretty much every spare minute keeping it in trim. Yet despite his immense pride, he insisted: "It's not a show queen by any means. I'm 71 now and you might say I'm the oldest boy racer in town! I enjoy driving it."
Mr Maclean, born at Mid Fearn in Easter Ross has worked at Glen Ord and Teaninich distilleries, said that joining the Cortina Owners' Club opened the door to fantastic mutual support and a source of hard-to-get spare parts.
Asked about the reaction of his family to his devotion, he joked: "It's an investment in a way. How much would you get from the money sitting in the bank?"
