IT WAS a solemn announcement made by Trevor McDonald on the Ten O’Clock News.

Bong! Ford will end production of the Cortina and introduce a new model at the British Motor Show.

Panic hit middle Britain. Throughout the 1970s the Cortina had been the backbone of our transport needs.

Every other driveway was occupied by one of the boxy saloons with their brown vinyl interiors and optional tinted windows.

The situation didn’t improve for Ford when its replacement appeared to a blob from outer space.

The Sierra was radically different to the Cortina. Where Dagenham’s finest was square, this was round, unconventional and, well, ugly.

Available as a hatchback only, it quickly earned the nickname “Jellymould” and Ford bosses had kittens when sales bombed amid reports the car was unstable in a cross wind.

At one stage it was reported the Cortina was to be reintroduced with the Sierra becoming as big a white elephant for the company as the Edsel had been in the US in the late1950s.

Fighting a rearguard action, Ford said “fear not, it’s still a Cortina underneath.” Sure enough, the trusty old Cortina engines were still there including the gutless 1.3 litre and the sales rep’s favourite 1.6.

But the fleet managers – representing the backbone of Ford’s sales – weren’t convinced, especially when they could pick up a nice boxy Vauxhall Cavalier saloon for less.

Back to the drawing board went Ford and after a quick bit of chiselling came up with an alternative that wasn’t a rounded lump at all. In fact, the Sierra Sapphire was a boxy saloon with a nice boot and four doors. In other words, a Cortina.

Everybody breathed a sigh of relief, normal service was resumed, even if the initiative had been handed to General Motors.

It still had plenty of problems from heavy steering to – and I can personally vouch for this – pouring steam and smoke out of the radiator at the end of every journey.

I eventually flogged it for £90 to a friend of a friend who immediately blew it up on the motorway.

By 1992 the Sierra had become the Mondeo and Ford was back at the top of the sales charts.

Fortunately for them, there aren’t many surviving examples of this mis-shapen blot on their history.