David McMullan and Jeffrey Smith founded Crayford Engineering at Westerham in Kent in 1962. Their first project was a convertible Mini, soon followed by a Wolseley Hornet convertible which was ordered by HJ Heinz for a competition and 57 were delivered in 1966. In 1964 Crayfords exhibited a convertible based on the Ford Cortina MkI, and promptly received an order for 30 of these to go to Bermuda; a further dozen or so were sold in the UK. Crayfords went on to build 400 Cortina MkII convertibles, and then converted 400 MkIII 'coke bottle' Cortinas with a 'Sunshine Conversion' which retained all the side windows. Crayford also converted the Cortina MkIV, but only a small quantity were sold. When the Cortina 80 was announced, Crayford started work on a convertible form of that, but after exhibiting a prototype at the 1980 Motor Show, Crayford passed the project onto Carbodies but it was not a sales success.