Ford Popular 103E

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The Ford 103E is best known to most enthusiasts as the ‘sit up and beg’ Popular.

Launched in 1953 as a budget addition to the Anglia and Prefect range, it hit the market at the perfect time as second-hand cars were virtually unobtainable. It was powered by Ford’s trusty old side-valve four-cylinder engine, now in 1175cc capacity, which gave it a 61mph top speed with 35mpg economy.

For sale alongside the more modern three-box monocoque Prefect/Anglia it won many friends for its unpretentious basic design which, despite a lack of such luxuries as a heater or passenger windscreen wiper, performed sterling service with considerable charm.

This Pop was bought new by one William Moore in 1954 from his local Ford garage in Wolverhampton. In 1971 he became ill and the car was parked up in an outbuilding, placed on blocks, covered up and left there for the next 43 years.

Recently exhumed, it is said to be in totally untouched and original condition and would be a fine candidate for a straightforward restoration. Supplied with the original buff log book and a more modern V5, KNT 824 shows only 56,000 miles on the clock which is almost certainly genuine.

Being offered here at no reserve, it now needs a second owner to sympathetically restore it to a condition that William Moore would recognise from when he last drove it over four decades ago.