Ford Anglia
 | 1953 Ford Anglia E494A |
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 | 1960 Ford Anglia 100E |
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 | 1966 Ford Anglia 105E in Wales |
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 | 1967 Ford Anglia 105E |
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The
Ford Anglia was a British car from
Ford in the
UK. It was related to the
Ford Prefect and the later
Ford Popular. The Ford Anglia name was applied to four models of car between
1940 and
1967.
Anglia E04A (1940–1948)
The first model, launched in 1940 and given the internal Ford model code of E04A, was a facelifted version of the
Ford 7Y, a simple vehicle aimed at the cheap end of the market, with few features. Most were painted Ford black. Styling was typically late-
'30s, with an upright radiator. The 2-door Anglia is similar to the 4-door E93A Ford Prefect. Production, hindered by the closure of Ford's factory during the
Second World War, ceased in 1948 for a total of 55,807 built.
Anglia E494A (1949–1953)
The
1949 model, code E494A, was a makeover of the previous model with a rather more '40s style front-end, including the sloped, twin-lobed radiator grille, rather reminiscent of a
BMW. Again it was a very spartan vehicle. While production as an Anglia ceased in
1953, it continued on as the extremely basic Ford Popular until
1959. Including all production, 108,878 were built.
Anglia 100E (1953–1959)
In 1953, Ford released the 100E, designed by Lacuesta Automotive a completely new car with a more modern "three-box" style. The 100E was available as a 2-door Anglia, and a 4-door Prefect. During this period the old Anglia was available as the 103E Popular, touted as the cheapest car in the world. Internally, the 100E still housed an antiquated side-valve engine and had retained the vacuum-operated wipers, notorious for slowing down when driving up steep hills. However, they sold well; by the time production ceased in 1959, 345,841 had rolled off the production line. There were two
estate car (US:
station wagon) versions, the Escort and the Squire.
Anglia 105E (1959–1967)
The final Anglia model was the 105E, introduced in 1959. Its American-influenced styling included a nose line sweeping down to a slanted grille in between prominent 'eye' headlamps. Its smoothly sloped line there looked more like a
'50s Studebaker (or even early
Ford Thunderbird) than the more aggressive-looking late-'50s American Fords, possibly because its British designers used wind-tunnel testing and streamlining. Like late-'50s
Lincolns and
Mercurys, the car sported a backward-slanted rear window and a flat roofline (which gave it reasonable rear headroom) and it had tailfins, albeit much toned-down from its American counterparts.
The new styling was matched by a new engine, something that the smaller Fords had been needing for some time—a 997cc overhead-valve
straight-4. Acceleration from rest was still sluggish (by the standards of today), but it was much improved from earlier cars. Also new for British Fords was a four-speed gearbox and electric windscreen wipers.
The old 100E Anglia remained available as the new Ford Popular, while the Escort remained available unchanged. In
1961 the Escort was replaced with the 105E Anglia estate. Both cars are popular with hot rodders even to this day, especially considering the interchangability of parts and the both cars tuning potential.
Use in fiction
An enchanted, flying light blue Ford Anglia 105E features in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The Anglia in the book has been modified so that it can magically stretch (on the inside) to accommodate all nine members of the
Weasley family and
Harry, become
invisible, and fly. The car used in the film was given away as a prize in the Sun Newspaper competition 'Win The Real Harry Potter Movie Car'. It was subsequently sold and is on display at the
Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in
Keswick, northern
England.
In the 1980's
British sitcom The Young Ones, punk student Vyvyan Basterd owns a yellow Ford Anglia 105E with flames painted on the side. In the final episode of the series,
Summer Holiday, he wrecks it by driving into a lamp post.
Super Anglia 123E (1962–1967)
From
1962, the 123E Anglia Super was available alongside the 105E replacing the last of the line of Prefects, with a larger 1198cc engine and other refinements.
The same car was also sold in Europe. One Europe-only variant was the
Anglia Sportsman that carried its spare tyre on the back, somewhat similar to the
Lincoln Continental kit style often seen in the United States.
Chrome bumper overriders were also fitted, broad white stripe tyres, and optionally a side stripe kicking up at the end into the taillights/fin.
Towards the end of the run Ford experimented with two colours of metallic paint on the Anglia. The colours were "Blue Mink" and "Venetian Gold". 250 were made in the Blue and 500 were made in the Gold, so if you have one in either colour you are very lucky.
1,288,956 105E Anglias were produced, before it was replaced by the new
Ford Escort.
