Date: 2024-10-19 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00024956 | |||||||||
UK AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY
THE FORD ANGLIA AND PREFECT OF THE EARLY 1950s A bit of the history of the British Dagenham Ford Anglia and Prefect cars Original article: http://www.angliaobsolete.com/100e.html Peter Burgess COMMENTARY Peter Burgess | |||||||||
The Next Generation
A look at the 100E and 300E Series Ford Anglia, Prefect, Squire and Thames By Dean Kirsten In October of 1953, Ford at Dagenham, England, announced thefirst of what was hoped to be tens of thousands of new vehiclesfeaturing the Anglia, Prefect, Squire and Thames name plates.For the first time since the end of World War II, Ford had completelyretooled their factory to bring their fleet up to date with therest of the automotive world. What would be considered a 1954model, the new version of the famed Anglia and Prefect would nowbe constructed in a whole new way, using the unibody design. Longgone was a body lowered onto a stamped chassis then riveted andwelded together. Ford was now building a much stronger and moremodern car and van, that offered a MacPherson front suspension,leaf spring rear suspension and a solid roof design. Long-gonewas the fabric top that was created solely to simplify the constructionof the body. I know some of you thought it was done to createan open top sunroof, but that was not the case. These new Fordwould carry the model numbers 100E for the passenger vehicles,and 300E for the vans and Squire. Believe it or not, the wheelbase of the 100E/300Es was actuallyshorter than the earlier models; 87-inches compared to 90-inches,which seems strange today. Even the engine, transmission and rearends were changed, although the engine size remained the same1172cc, but contained numerous changes inside and out. Horsepowerwas posted at 36hp, which was considered to be 'Lively at that time'. When new, these cars went for about $1500, andwere sold by selected Ford dealers across the country. Unlike the early Thames panel, the newer 300E still featured wood floors, but framing was now all steel, which finally got away from using woodto hold the backend together. During the five years of productionof this (new) model, about the only changes made to the exteriorwas the grille design, and rear taillight assemblies. The beauty of this new model design was that both the 2-door Anglia and the 4-door Prefect used the same basic body platform,other than the side panels that contained the doorframes. Thereis a fun tale that has been tossed around for decades that oneday, during the 1954 production, a passenger vehicle came offthe assembly line with an Anglia left panel, and a Prefect rightpanel. In other words, it had one door on the left and two doorson the right! I don't know what actually happened to his 3-door 'Angfect', but it's funny to think about what couldhave happen at the factory.
My parents bought a 4-door Ford Anglia in the early 1950s. We had been on a 'waiting list' for about four years and eventually a car was available for us. Up to this point we were driving a 1930's Ford 8 which did yeoman service for about 20 years. My parents bought the old car for £105 in 1935 and sold it 20 years later for £100! I think the new Ford Anglia cost £400 in early 1953 but I may be wrong. |