Rarity / Ford / Cortina

Ford Cortina: how many are still registered?

8,412still registered

Ford Cortina cars still registered with DVLA (licensed or SORN), across 58 recorded variants.

Most recorded on UK roads at once: 119,778 (1994 Q4) - 7.0% of that peak survives.

The decline has levelled off - survivor numbers have held steady over the last five years.

3,395 of the survivors (40.3%) are declared off-road (SORN) rather than taxed.

7.0% survives 1994 Q4 peak: 119,778

Declared off-road (SORN)3,395 · 40.3%

Derivatives

DVLA also registers other body types under the Ford Cortina nameplate. Each is counted on its own page, so every figure on this one is cars only.

Ford Cortina vans132still reg.Ford Cortina lorries1still reg.Ford Cortina buses and coaches1still reg.

By year

All 8,412 surviving Ford Cortina cars, by the year each was built - not how many were on the road at the time. DVLA records a build year for only 3,948 of them; the rest are registered without one and cannot be placed on the year-built bars.

Year built1973 → 1983
8004000
19731974197519761977197819791980198119821983
Point at a year for the numbers

On the road over time

Total Ford Cortina cars registered (licensed or SORN) at the end of each year.

119,778
1994log scale2026: 8,189
Point at the line for a year

Engine size and fuel

What is on the road now: the surviving Ford Cortina cars split by engine capacity and by fuel, as recorded 2025. Engine sizes are DVLA's own bands and cover only the cars it holds a capacity for.

Engine size

1101cc to 1200cc542 cars · 6.4%
1201cc to 1300cc462 cars · 5.4%
1301cc to 1400cc147 cars · 1.7%
1401cc to 1500cc1,028 cars · 12.2%
1501cc to 1600cc3,188 cars · 37.9%
1601cc to 1700cc865 cars · 10.2%
1901cc to 2000cc1,002 cars · 11.9%
2001cc to 2100cc504 cars · 5.9%
2201cc to 2300cc182 cars · 2.1%
2901cc to 3000cc118 cars · 1.4%
3001cc to 3100cc90 cars · 1.0%
3501cc to 3600cc60 cars · 0.7%
Other sizes (42)223 cars · 2.6%

Fuel

Petrol8,397 · 99.8%
Other fuels (3)15 · 0.1%

Own or buying a Ford Cortina? Get its free DVLA tax and MOT history - and the paid report's own rarity figures for the exact variant - in seconds.

Check a reg free

Source: DVLA vehicle licensing statistics (DfT). Counts as of 2025, licensed and SORN vehicles both included. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Survivor counts are national registration figures, not a guarantee any particular car exists or is roadworthy - check a specific reg free.