1. Ford Prefect E493A.
Norman dropped me a line in February 2009, attaching this great photo of his father's old sidevalve Ford. He added: "I came across this photo from my Dad's stuff It belonged to WO II N.J.C. MacKillop in Singapore 1956-58. I thought it would look good on your Ford Prefect page He called it 'Betsie'". Thanks Norman!
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2. Ford Prefect E493A at Cheddar Gorge.
This early photograph shows the back end of an E493A Prefect, I think at Cheddar Gorge in Somerset (I'm sure someone will set me right if the location is different!).
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I've cropped the original photograph down a bit to get in the important details. Nearest the camera is Ford Prefect registration WMC 728, parked with its bootlid open, close to a No Waiting sign! The Ford has just been overtaken by a black saloon, which is heading down the road in the direction of another 1930s car. A few tourists in period clothing are stood to the right, near a sign advertising Wall's ice creams (mmmm).
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3. Another photo of a 1950s E493A Prefect turns up
The photo shown alongside turned up in 2008, and shows a smartly dressed lady back in the 1950s, stood next to a black E493A Ford Prefect.
The Prefect was always a cut above the contemporary Pop, featuring as it did four doors and a much smarter dash, made from Bakelite, similar in style to that found inside earlier E494A Anglias.
Some interesting photos of a similar Ford Prefect can also be found on this page, en route to Le Mans in the early 1950s.
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4. An Irish-registered Ford Prefect.
Fourth Prefect photo on this page shows an Irish-registered example - ZJ 1264 - parked in the driveway of a '50s bungalow. This registration series, allocated to the Dublin area, was only used for a short time between 1949 and 1950. The Prefect looks in good order, fitted with extra spotlamps and a slightly wonky-looking roof rack. It also has an adjustable spotlamp affixed to the driver's windscreen pillar, and just visible a car radio aerial next to it.
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5. The Australian A493A Prefect.
On the face of it, this Prefect looks like any other Prefect you'd have found in the UK. But a closer inspection reveals that the Australian version of the E493A Prefect, code name A493A, differed in a number of detail areas. The biggest single difference was the profile of the boot area, whereas UK Prefects had a flat sloping rear profile, the A493A had a small notchback bootlid, giving it a look not dissimilar to contemporary A40 Devons. The front doors also had a pronounced swage, unlike UK cars. Separate quarterlights were also fitted to these panels, and the roof was all steel, rather than steel and vinyl. The dashboard, rather than being all-bakelite, was partially steel with a wood-grain paint effect, same with the inner door window surrounds. The Prefect in Brian's photo led a hard life, every Friday it would be loaded up with passengers and luggage, and head off to Sydney some 350 miles away. Dirt roads predominated, and breakdowns were a common occurrence. He adds: "I can remember on one trip to Sydney, the Prefect's battery just went and mum and I sat in the car for about an hour, while dad walked and hitched to the nearest town and came back with a new battery in the middle of the night."
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6. An upright Ford Prefect in South Africa.
Herb kindly sent this next photo over, of a South African-registered E493A Prefect in Johannesburg. Evidently it was a fine day, the screen is wound fully open and the driver's door window is down. Whereas most pages in the gallery are filling up with UK-registered cars, curiously this isn't the case with the cars shown here - so far Prefects have been snapped in Singapore, Ireland, Australia and now South Africa, with just two of these classic Fords photographed in England up until now.
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7. A petrol stop at Wadham Brothers Limited, Waterlooville.
A number of photos taken of vehicles at Wadham Brothers Limited in Waterlooville, Hampshire, popped up on FB the other day. They were taken by Stephen Thorpe's late Father-in-Law who was Sales Manager at the garage, selling Ferguson tractors and agricultural machinery. With Stephen's permission, I'll be sharing these images on OCC. The first shows a Prefect E493A being topped up with Regent Benzole fuel, by a young lady wearing overalls. Two gents watch on from the shadows in the background.
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A fine selection of old petrol pumps are sited outside Wadham Bros., for various blends of Regent fuel. The pumps situated on the far left and right, look older than the
others. Two of the pumps have globes for Regent TT fitted. The most eye-catching feature of all though is the superb "Ferguson System" metal sign above the entrance to the garage workshop. Thanks for the photo Stephen!
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8. Parked Prefect.
Two young ladies - and another of slightly earlier vintage - are stood with the following Prefect in this next old photo.
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Back to Car Photographs Page 3.
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More Prefects on OCC.
To see photos of the later, 100E-type, Ford Prefect, visit this page, while a "special" built using some of the Prefect's running gear and seen competing in South Africa, can be seen here. Going back in time, to the late 1930s, are two photos of a very rare Prefect - the E93A drop-head coupe, while this page has snapshots of an early, 1938, E93A Prefect saloon.
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