Hot Rods Where'd all the Anglias come from?

I'm talking mid 60's gasser stuff. From what I understand Willys were made here and a lot of the racers dragged them out of wrecking yards and such because they were cheap and plentiful. So where'd all the Anglias, Austins, Thames etc come from? I can't see racers wasting money importing these bodies just to build race cars, and I don't think those cars were sold here then like import cars are now. What am I missing?

 

Maybe it was because the automotive industry started to embrace the compact car in the early 60s. To combat the growing popularity of the VW Beetle they imported Anglias, Simcas, Datsuns, etc. until they could tool up Corvairs, Falcons, and Valiants. That stop-gap measure plus the exposure of many GIs to them in foreign countries while stationed there might be two reasons.

 

OK-the mommy Anglia and the Daddy Anglia REALLLLY love each other, and....

 

belair,
Regardless of other forthcoming responses your answer will be my favorite - short and sweet. Also funny.

 

This site can shed some light on that question, http://www.angliaobsolete.com/page1.html

 

I owned one and still have a dozen strangers phone numbers who found out I owned one. The community is a close and dedicated one. They are passed around, never lost.....

 

Remember them well. I grew up seeing a lot of them at the Chelsea Cruise in London last Saturday of each month back in the 70s and 80s. We used to call them all "sit up and beg" Ford Pops although I think the earlier Anglias became known as Pops (Ford Popular) in the early 50s.

They were certainly the UK car of choice when someone wanted a 'hot rod' but couldn't stretch to a Deuce etc.

 

I always understood it to be, 2 doors were Anglias and 4 doors were Pops.

 

England?

There were actually a lot of British Lealand dealerships in the US in the '50s and '60s. you could no doubt buy them from a dealership. I know that the Thames freighter was a popular work truck for smaller businesses in the later '50s and earlier '60s, like grocery stores and flower shops for instance.

 

I know Pops were 2-doors too, remember sitting in one at Santa Pod. I think it is a year thing. Like maybe earlier were Anglias and later were Pops. Again, this is my area of expertise (not sure I even have one!) so happy to be set straight.

 

Back in the sixties we went to the drags in Canada a lot. Anglias were sitting around all over the place and they were cheap. Wish I had bought a few.

 

I thought the Anglias were two-doors, the Prefects were four-doors, and both were 'Pops' for short. I could very well be wrong, and if so will delete my post to stop the spread of misinformation.

 

From what I ever heard of them; Gotgas is right on the money. Never saw any on the street in my neck of the woods,did see a couple as drag cars when I was young at Maple and US30.

 

Loved this It is true and they where from english decent. But I agree where were the dealerships??

 

After WWII, pretty much all the European countries were after foreign exchange and encouraging exports was an easy way to get it. Tax breaks were offered to help. Ford of Britain solicited Ford dealers in the US, offering theirs to combat the influx of Hillmans, Austins, Renaults and even the VW. Most of the British makers faded quickly (Austin in particular), with Hillman hanging in there until the late fifties/early sixties. The one major exception was the various sports cars. A lot of these were brought here by returning servicemen. Ford corporate never really got behind the import of these, and after the introduction of the Falcon pretty much abandoned the British Fords. The Cortina was the last car imported in any numbers (and not many of them) until Mercury brought in the German Capri for a Pinto substitute until they got their 'Bobcat' variant.

I owned a couple of Anglias (a '58 and '60) in '67, and Ford had virtually no parts available through their dealer network.

 

I owned a 42 bull nose Anglia once.
I was told up to 53, they were called Anglia's, and Pops or Popular after 53. Four doors were Prefects.

Oh yeah, they come from England

 

Bull nose was pre-WWII, and from 45-49 they still build them. Then the build the E49, the early anglia, still flathead for banger 38ish hp.
When the new model came out it 53-57 the E100, they updated the E49, and the old anglia became a Popular. And they follow along for
With better brakes, more power 40ish, still a flathead. And maybe deleted chrome to keep cheap.
The E49 anglia.


And this is the E101 anglia.


They did the same thing with the E101.
Now updating the mill at some point to the Pre-cross flow kent engine, like the next generation anglia E105 Harry potter car. The changed dash and two gone interior, called E107.

New knew why they was popular on your side, but I know they ware here.
And I truly get why the became the drag car for its day. The next Willys.

 

a lot of Anglia's were imported as economy cars along with the Triumphs,MG's and Jags.

Remember,very few VW's were imported in the United States until the mid 50's. HRP

 

...which instantly reminded me of the movie Tin Men...

 

Our local Ford dealer sold one or two right after WW2. I assume other dealers did too.

 

They were sold here though select Ford Dealers. In the US they were advertised as English Fords, and in Canada it was British Fords. many of these same dealers later sold Cortina's. Mine was a daily driver for a lady that was literally a Little Old Lady From Pasadena. She sold it to Danny Roberts who was one of the countermen at Blair's Speed Shop for very little money. Danny sold it to Jay Lindsley, who kept only the body and the rest as they say is history as it went on to claim it's rightful place in Gasser Lore

 

You are right. I had a brain fart.

 

Grouch, they come from "Los Anglias", and I wish one of them would wander into my drive way/garage!

 

The way I understand it, the Popular name, as it pertains to the body style we are talking about, came out when the original Anglia E494A (2 door), Thames (2 door sedan delivery) and Prefect (4 door) went out of production in 1953 (they came out in 48) and was replaced by the more modern Anglia 100E. There was still a market for the basic car, so they put the larger 1172cc motor from the Prefect (the Anglia had a 933cc motor) in the old Anglia body, eliminated some trim, put on smaller headlights and the Popular 103E was born. They made them from 54-59. It was England's cheapest car. The Pop name had been used previously for the Model Y and later for both Escorts and Fiesta's but there was never an "Anglia Popular"
The original Anglia was only tested from 0-50 MPH (38.3 seconds) because it wouldn't go 60 MPH. There were 108,878 of the Anglia's built and 155,340 Popular's - so you can see why so many became racers, even if only around 8,000 or so were imported officially to the US

 

Oh, and Groucho, remember also that a mold was made off my car and many of them were fiberglass, including the Supercharged A/Gas Blair's car, the Flip top Fireball Shores car and many more, not to mention the Thames glass bodies as well.

 

Dick,

Thanks for the link! Brought back memories from when I was a kid working on the farm. Nephew of the farmers campaigned an Anglia/small block Chevy locally in the 60's at CT Dragway and kept/repaired it in their garage. Often saw the car in the garage there and a couple of times on the strip.

Pete

 

You are absolutely right! But the guy in post #17 at least had pictures. ️

 

There was no British Leyland in the 50s. It was BMC. They were the Austin/Morris group. They would not have sold Anglias as they are a Ford product. Sorta like going to a Chevy dealer to buy a Ford

 

There were anglias, prefects and Populars. None were the same as each other.
Anglias and Populars were 2 door. Prefects were 4 door.

 

It is actually a 100E being RHD , the 101E was LHD