Brochures suggested the Cortina 2000E Estate was a car 'for those in the Pony Club income bracket'In 1975, the E (for Executive) suffix on a Ford Cortina implied its driver belonged to a world of expense-account lunches at the Golden Egg grill chain and cocktail cabinets stocked with Blue Nun white wine. Today Bruce di Mario owns one of the very few surviving 2000E Estates.The Cortina Mk3 was facelifted in autumn 1973 after three years on sale, to consolidate its position as the UK's best-selling car. It gained anti-roll bars front and rear, improved sound insulation and a revised facia. There was also a new flagship model, the 2000 replacing the GXL as the ultimate Cortina.When Ford introduced the Mk3 in 1970, many drivers thought the GXL lacked the cachet of the outgoing top-of-the-range Cortina Mk2, the famed 1600E. Resale values of that Mk2 model remained high and the 2000E was its belated heir, featuring a vinyl roof (essential for any 1970s executive car), a radio, a centre console with a clock, "carpet that extends up to the doors" and Savannah cloth trim.Drivers of the base-model Cortina 1600, which even lacked grab handles, could only marvel at the 2000E's luxury.The Cortina 2000E's plush interior featured a genuine wood-veneer dashboard and door cappingsA dealer might also point out that the GXL's "wood-grain" plastic trim had been replaced with a genuine wood-veneer dashboard and door cappings. Di Mario says: "I have owned four Cortina GXLs and the 2000E is so much better trimmed; the carpets, the higher standard of upholstery and the real wood."The Telegraph regarded the latest Mk3 as a significantly better car and the 2000E's timber fittings as "a great improvement on the crude yellowish stuff used on earlier cars". By 1974 Ford told this newspaper the 2000E had marginally increased its share of the Cortina market. "It seems that quite a few motorists have forsaken bigger and more expensive cars in favour of the 2000E," said The Telegraph.An estate version of the Cortina 2000E was also introduced in 1974. Ford GB then held almost 40 per cent of the UK estate car market; the 2000E was for the senior manager who wanted to appear at home in the local point-to-point meeting. By 1975 the Cortina 2000E cost £2,255 and its sole domestic rival was the £2,251 Humber Sceptre Estate, with styling that harked back to 1966, while British Leyland never offered an "executive" version of the 1.8-litre Morris Marina Estate.The brochure suggested the 2000E Estate was a car for those in the Pony Club income bracket. Autocar saw it as "the final nail in the coffin of the myth that 'it's only a Ford'".The equipment list included tinted glass, a rear wiper/washer and a choice of a black or tobacco-coloured vinyl roof, while the 1,993cc, 98bhp engine gave a top speed of 104mph.The Cortina 2000E had an executive feel, but also appealed to large familiesFord boasted that it could carry "three times as many cases as the saloon, even with five intrepid explorers aboard". Yes, the 2000E Estate was the car for those who crave the wide open spaces of Epping Forest.The estate version of the Cortina 2000E marked the end of a line of E-badged Fords that began with the 1965 Executive Zodiac Mk3, as 1974 was the year when the top-of-the-range Capri Mk2 and Granada wore Ghia badges. When the Cortina Mk4 replaced the Mk3 in 1976 after 1,126,559 units, the flagship model also bore the Ghia shield.Di Mario is a Ford Cortina collector of many years' standing and his fleet now includes seven models. He believes "only about half a dozen 2000E Estates remain on the road. I had been looking for one for about 20 years, when I found this example in 2025." The vendor was an ex-Hendy Ford of Southampton mechanic, who had bought the Cortina from a long-term customer.This example has covered only 60,000 miles from new and has the optional automatic gearbox – di Mario prefers a manual gearbox but has no complaints about 2000E motoring. "It is very comfortable, with those plush seats, and no squeaks or rattles thanks to the extra sound deadening."Bruce di Mario's surviving 2000E Estate is a very comfortable vehicleReactions to di Mario's Cortina vary. "Some members of the older generation do not realise that Ford made a 2000E Estate," he says. One gentleman on social media, that haven of good manners, irately accused him of using AI to create fake images of an upmarket Cortina Estate.But a 2000E Estate owner has no need to stoop so low. After all, they possess a car primed for adventure beyond "a foray to supermarket and a mission to the launderette".We use the fascinating https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/ for figures of surviving examples but some cars present more of a challenge than others, so the figures are rarely authoritative. Some pre-1974 records were lost before the DVLA centralised the process, while some cars have their model type misnamed on the V5 registration documents. A further issue is the omission of the exact model name or generation, or distinction between saloon and estate bodystyles.Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.