1959 Ford Anglia
I bought the red Anglia in 1967 as my wife's first car and ran it until
about 1980. It was one of the first made and had the high axle
ratio
which together with the very over-square engine meant easy motorway
cruising
and good fuel consumption - 40mpg overall. It started off
Platinum
Grey but by 1973 it was getting a bit scruffy so I completely rebuilt
the
"chassis" and repaired all other rust, repainting it bright red.
In all the time we had it there were no mechanical problems and nothing
was ever repaired apart from routine services.
From 1965 to 1969 I had several Anglias as company transport (one of
these is shown on the right) and used to travel up and down the
M1
motorway a lot. I would pull onto the motorway stuff my foot to
the
boards and hold it there for 150 miles - the speedo needle would be
jammed
against the stop for the whole journey. The average mpg was still
about 40 and they would use no oil between 6,000 mile services. The
Anglias
were always supplied with cross-ply tyres but I used to replace them
with
Pirelli Cinturatos which radically improved the already good road
holding
and gave about 40,000 miles so long as they were rotated diagonally
every
6,000.
- 4 cyl. 997cc. OHV. Cast iron.
-
Bore and Stroke - 3.1875in x 1.906in
-
39 bhp at 5,000rpm
-
Independent front suspension by Mcpherson struts.
-
Semi-eliptic rear springs and live axle.