Ford Anglia 100E 2-Door Saloon

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The new Ford Anglia was unveiled to the British public in 1953, a full five years after Morris had set the benchmark with their brilliant new Minor.

Prior to that, Ford had been competing with their antiquated sit-up-and-beg models, which basically had to sell on price alone. The new model was styed by Lacuesta Automotive Consultancy and was a fresh and elegant design mirroring the lines of the recently introduced Ford Consul. Ford’s first monocoque body offering in their budget car range, its outdated predecessor, the confusingly titled 103E Popular, continued to be sold alongside the new model, boasting that it was the cheapest car in the world.

The new car used a greatly improved version of the 1,172cc side-valve engine and offered such lavish standard equipment as two windscreen wipers. The number of grease nipples requiring weekly maintenance had been halved which no doubt boosted its popularity, some 350,000 finding new homes before it was replaced by the all new Anglia in 1959 with its radical reverse-slope rear screen.

Early models were fitted with an attractive three-bar grill, later models getting a simplified mesh affair which was probably cheaper to produce, but sadly looked like it too! An Anglia saloon tested by the British Motor magazine in 1954 had a top speed of just over 70mph and could reach 60mph in under 30 seconds - just.

This smart Ford Anglia offered today dates from 1954 and therefore has the desirable three-bar front grill and small back window common to the early models. It has been upgraded with an alternator conversion and electric windscreen wipers which replace the asthmatic vacuum system supplied by the factory which only worked efficiently going downhill. The original owner must have splashed out on a factory heater which by all accounts is surprisingly effective and seatbelts have been added to the front, with one additional one fitted in the rear for one passenger or to secure a child seat.

The V5C shows that it has had three previous owners, the vendor confirming that it is a ready and eager starter and has proved perfectly reliable since he acquired it last year. This September ’54 registered example is both tax and MOT exempt although it’s encouraging to see that an MOT test was passed as recently as September 2015, the current ticket remaining current until September of this year.