Here’s some pix of the 1951 Ford Anglia E494A I owned for three years. I couldn’t drive it for one of those three years as I was banned from driving cos I am a hopeless alcoholic. Or acted stoopid at the time. Or both.
The black & white pictures I took shortly after buying it from a fella in Stoke Newington in 1982, taking in all the cosmetic faults that I intended to take care of. I did actually repair and make good a few of them.
All the b & w pix were scanned at 1200dpi from 35mm negatives, I don’t recall the camera used but it wouldn’t have been anything fancy.
I used the car a lot, even done parcel delivery in it for six months in central London. Twas a good conversation opener with customers. I was never once stopped by the police.
It done about 55mph flat out, 60mph downhill or with a good supporting wind; had three gears; a bakelite dashboard; rod/drum brakes; an 800cc sidevalve flathead engine; a plywood floor (which I replaced with 18mm marine ply with 6 coats of marine varnish); no heater; a six volt electrical system which didn’t make for good headlamps; aileron indicators (little orange illuminated arms that popped up from the side of the car); leather seats; windscreen wipers that worked on a vacuum tank which meant that when you drove the car uphill the wipers almost stopped working.
It blew a few head gaskets so I had the head sand blasted by a Hells Angel at his Chatham, Kent, workshop and then skimmed by Tipler Engineering in the Old Kent Road, who’ve been there since probably 1910 or something and are still there today. After that it didn’t blow anymore gaskets. I was surprised that 31 years after it’s manufacture head gaskets were still available over the counter.
Just as well as it to be de-coked quite regularly (about once every nine months). It also needed regular servicing with a grease gun and a regular oil change. De-coking was dead easy though, just undo about 16 bolts, take off the head and get cleaning.
I also ground in the valves a couple of times.
The pic that may be hard to work out is the boot well which was quite badly rusted, it was a weak point in these cars. I can’t remember whether the classic car status road tax exemption was in force back then but it may have been. It passed the MOT with no problems three times in a row.
The last two pix are from the day I sold it, the guy drove it down the road and out of my life.
I do regret selling it, loved that car, but we’d just bought our first jointly owned property so funds were tight, I’d only just started work after a 15 month lay off, we’d just bought a newer modern car and two cars seemed like a luxury, so I sold the Anglia. It was 34 years old when I sold it, if it still survives then it is now 60 years old.
The fella in the photos is me, the female is my ex second wife and the young lad is Paul, the first born of my nieces and nephews. I had high hopes for Paul, he was a bright boy but today he still lives with his parents and is an alcoholic who can’t hold down a job. Such is life.
The old stately building in one of the pix is Knole House in Knole Park at Sevenoaks, Kent, which has some history but I don’t remember what history.
Have also posted some pix from the manual for the car, as you can see from the dashboard layout pic I clearly didn’t have the deluxe version of the Anglia, just the basic one. It seemed strange having to turn the ignition key on then pull a small button to start the engine. I remember the early mini’s had the same thing.
Here’s the pix: