Today's video is on the car which has appeared in Harry Potter, Heartbeat...and The Young Ones: it's the Ford Anglia 105e!

The video is sponsored by adrian flux insurance and you can get yourself a decent quote or find out by more, by clicking this link:

Today's video walkaround text is below perfect if you're a bit deaf like me!

t’s funny, because filming this video took twice as long as usual because every time we stopped, somebody would come over and say ‘I had one of those!’ in a way that I haven’t experienced with any other car we’ve tested in ages.

Which shows the pull the Anglia has on people, because the car was only manufactured from 1959 to 1967 in the UK, Australia and South Africa, with just over one million units sold.

In fact, it was so popular, it set new records for Ford Dagenham when in the first full year of production, 1960, just over 191,000 cars left the factory. A production volume record.

The car was sold under the streamline ‘the world’s most exciting light car’, which wasn’t an exaggeration and it gave, certainly the UK buying audience, a car which wasn’t really like anything else they’d been offered from the competitors.

With Ford having American roots, it’s not surprise to see the car took styling cues from across the pond with detailing like the backward slanted window which had been something the late 50s Lincolns and Mercurys used although it’s a design feature you might’ve also spotted on the Citroen Ami.

It’s also got those fins to the rear, although they’re a lot more conservative than the likes of the Plymouth Fury we took out earlier this year!

It was certainly a world away from what war weary Brits had been used to seeing. For context, rationing had only ended 5 years prior in UK and many families were still trying to rebuild lives which had been ravaged by war.

As a nation in the 50s, we were far more reserved than our friends across the pond in America and with that, our cars were a lot more reserved too. The Anglia got the ratio of US automotive excitement to British sensibility just right in a way that really, no other car taking American styling cues did.

Going back to the strap line of the world’s most exciting car, it didn’t stop at the styling and in fact, the base engine for the car, the 997cc was designed for the Anglia and it was an overhead valve, straight four engine , pre cross flow which became known as the Kent.

The 1198cc engine, which was introduced in 1962, featured a longer stroke and was brought to market as an option in line with the launch of the MK1 Cortina.

Interestingly, Ford stuck by the Kent engine for a lot longer than you may think and with variations and modifications to the injection and fuelling, it was used all the way up to 2002 in the KA and Fiesta.

The car we’re testing today has the later 1198cc engine the original 997cc is long gone!

The newness continued to the transmission unit and British Ford at this point introduced a four speed manual box which had synchro on the top three forward gears, but if you’d chosen one of the 1198 cars from 1962 onwards, you would’ve got a full synchro box.

If you want to see an example of an earlier Ford gearbox in action, I did do a video with a Zephyr last year which explains the three speed box in more detail.

When we look back at these cars, it’s no wonder they were popular. Not only at time of launch did they really bring something new to market in the UK, they were economical and quick too.

An independently tested 997cc car in 1959 produced a top speed of 73.8 mph, an acceleration speed of 060 in 26.9 seconds and a fuel consumption of over 40 miles per gallon.

Which put its performance slightly above popular competitor family car, the Morris Minor, which at this point only had the 948cc engine.

The car was made accessible for new car purchasers in a way Ford hadn’t done as well before too, with three clear options. You had the standard, deluxe and from 1962, the Super.

Standard featured no exterior chrome, no glovebox lid and the rear windows didn’t open, they were fixed glass. The grille was steel body coloured instead of chrome in addition to other small differences.

Deluxe featured exterior chrome, including the chrome grille. There was chrome trim on the dash and glovebox lid and opening rear windows. I believe, but haven’t been able to fully confirm, the heater was an optional extra at least in the early days.

The super, available from 1962, had padded dash, rear arm rests with added exterior chrome and of course, the 1198cc engine and fully synchro box.

There was also the ability to upgrade your deluxe to a super, retaining the deluxe trim or keeping the deluxe mechanicals of the non fully synchro box with a super trim, but this was rarely an option taken up.

#fordanglia #fordanglia105e #60sford #classicford #retroford #fomoco