One of the best selling cars of the 1960s was Ford's 105E Anglia, just like the one shown above. 45 SFM is seen parked in a typical British driveway. It looks to be in very clean condition, with just a few oily marks on the drive to suggest that it had already covered a few miles. Any fears of a breakdown were mitigated by the re-assurance of the RAC breakdown badge, plastic type, fitted to the Anglia's grille.
As well as being a popular 2 door saloon for family buyers (they never marketed a 4 door version of the 105E), the 105E also leant itself to tuning, with many "boy racers" learning about the art of tuning on the Anglia's four cylinder engine. A photo of just such a tweaked Anglia can be seen on this page.
I'm interested in comparing views of an area, separated by the years, to identify differences that have taken place. I wonder what this British road scene looks like now, assuming it hasn't been cleared for a road development!? Most metal window frames will have been replaced with PVC double glazed units, and houses will have sprouted TV and satellite aerials no doubt. The road shows no signs of painted markings, what's the betting that single yellow lines, and awful speed-humps, now spoil this view?
The 105E Anglia went on sale late in 1959, as a replacement for the rather outdated, if still popular (!), 100E. The 997cc OHV engine was also used in the 107E, a curious addition to the Ford catalogue that was also introduced in 1959, but only lasted 18 months. It employed the 105E's engine yet retained the 100Es boxy styling. Perhaps Ford were hedging their bets, in case their traditional buyers were put off by the 105Es flashier styling - more likely it was just a stop-gap model.
Two versions of the Anglia were initially available, the poverty-spec base 105E, and the two tone Deluxe, which is the model shown above. A couple of years later the 105E cars were joined by the estate car, and 5/7cwt vans known as the Thames 307E.
In '62 the 'bees knees' of Anglias was launched, the Super. This employed the Cortina's 1198cc four pot, and came with two tone paint, more opulent interior trim, and extra chrome as standard. Production of the 105E lasted 'til late in 1967, by which time the all-new Escort Mk1 was ready to hit the dealerships. No performance version of the Anglia was built at Dagenham, but many people took the opportunity to breath on their own vehicles, with an industry building up to support these enthusiastic modifiers (just as happened with BMC's new car for '59, the Mini, although they did go on to produce performance versions of the Min at the factory).
In recent years interest in the Anglia was given a further boost by it appearing in one of the popular Harry Potter children's books. Legions of Anglia fans ensure that most of the cars around today will be preserved, either in standard or modified form. Various clubs cater for the Anglia, including the Ford Anglia 105E owner's club, and finding parts is helped enormously by the number of specialists that supply parts for these Fords. If modifying Anglias is your thing, take a look at 105speed.com for information on some interesting engine upgrades.
2. A 1964 example.
My thank to John for permitting me to share a few of his Anglia photographs. The first shows EEV 466B stopped during a driving holiday to Spain in the mid-1960s, well laden, as befits a car being used for a continental excursion. He adds:
"We drove from London to Tarragona (Spain) via France and Andorra with four people on board and that huge frame tent on the roof, plus a boot full of luggage and camping equipment. All on 900+ cc. It struggled for breath over Andorra .... they don't make cars like that nowadays."
Click to view:
In 2015, a couple of years after I uploaded the above photograph, John posted a b/w photo of the self same Anglia to the OCC Facebook page. Again, it's shown on its European road trip (England to Spain via France & Andorra). Even today, so long as an older car is maintained in good order, there's no reason why trips like this couldn't be re-enacted some 40+ years later.
John's third snapshot of the 1964 105E sees the car back in its more usual setting, sporting a fine array of motoring badges. One is a rare-ish RAC Motor Sport Member example, while another is for the Police Motor Club, useful to avoid parking tickets he says (until they were all stolen that is....). Thanks again for the pictures!
3. A twin-cam racing 105E Anglia in Kirkistown, Northern Ireland.
Visitor to OCC Julian Massey marshalled at the Kirkistown racing circuit in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s, and fortunately had the camera with him while roaming around the paddock areas between races. As a result he has some excellent photographs of race-prepared cars that he's happy for me to share on the site (thanks!). The Anglebox shown below, prepared for racing, was one of a pair run by Lindsay Cars Limited of Lisburn, as Julian explains:
"In 1970 Lindsay Ford ran two identical Anglias for David and Nicky Lindsay, both equipped with 1558cc twin-cams units. They just about had the legs on Jim McClements (1400cc Downton Riley Elf) and Joey Greenan (1310cc Janspeed Mini), but were trounced at Kirkistown in April by Andy O'Keefe's brand new Escort Twin-Cam, which benefited from a 180bhp motor. The lovely Anglias disappeared from the Northern Irish scene at the end of 1970. As for the Escorts, in 1972 Mattie McNamara and Rosemary Smith ran the Norman Abbott (Pink Panther) re-liveried Amoco Ireland car that was powered by a 1594cc FVA unit. It won at Phoenix Park, but I don't think it ever faced down the wonderful 4300cc Bill Shaw V8 Rover/Traco Oldsmobile of Alec Poole." [As it happens, period photos of the Traco-Olds P6 may be found on this page, RJ]
Rear view of the David Lindsay twin-cam Anglia added.
Julian sent over another photo of Castrol-sponsored car number 77, David Lindsay's twin-cam-engined 105E Anglia, looking mighty purposeful and ready for some serious track action. Lindsay's second car can just be seen over to the right in this photograph. I wonder if either of his Anglias survive?
4. A much-modified Anglia at the 1970 RAC Sprint, RNAS Yeovilton.
Julian also sent over this in-period photo of a modified 1,650cc (pre-crossflow) pushrod-engined Anglia, enjoying a moment's rest at the RAC Sprint held at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton in 1970. Other cars in shot include a Mk1 Cortina parked alongside the Anglebox, plus a Vauxhall Victor and a maroon Minor, and another much-altered 105E in the background (with a 1,930cc engine powering its gigantic rear wheels). A line-up of other competition cars, including a TVR, is shown just behind the red Anglia.
5. Topping up with fuel at a Shell garage.
Who remembers when attended service at a petrol station was the norm? It hardly ever happens nowadays. Saying that, at a remote garage earlier this year somewhere in Cumbria, we stumbled across a tiny garage where someone came out to operate the pump for us. I just wished I was behind the wheel of something equally mid-20th Century as this unusually-encountered, but very welcome, level of service.
This photo from the early 1960s is one of two provided by David H. King (thanks), of cars being filled up with fuel at the Granville Garage on Gosbecks Road, Colchester, in Essex (the other is on the Wolseley 1500 photo page, photo number five). In this picture, a friend of David's (also called David) is posed filling up the tank of a dark-coloured 105E Anglia with Shell fuel. The kiosk in the background is festooned with period advertising signs, for companies such as Michelin, Redex, and of course Shell. The adverts for tobacco products vie for attention with a stern warning that petroleum is highly inflammable, so "NO SMOKING". Wise words.
The garage building survives, but is no longer used for fuel: Streetview
6. A Lotus twin-cam-powered Anglia, Spelga Hillclimb 1970.
Back to Julian's collection of photos featuring race-prepared Anglias, and this time it's the turn of a 105E powered by a Lotus twin-cam, belonging to Eamonn Harvey. The location is the Spelga Hillclimb, the date is March 1970. It certainly looks the part, with its bubble arches, Minilite wheels, and an oil cooler hung out the front of it. Judging by the leather straps close to the screen, it has a fibreglass flip-front. I assume it had already done at least one run by the time of this photograph, due to the absence of one headlight. Thanks for the photo Julian.
More 105E Anglia photos can be found elsewhere in the image archive, including on this page. Photos of many classic saloons, including Anglias, can also be found in the following photo compilation:
