Ford Pop.

The Ford Popular, often called the Ford Pop, was produced by Ford in England between 1953 and 1962. When launched, it was Britain’s lowest priced car.

When production of the older Ford Anglia and Ford Prefect stopped in 1953 the Popular was developed as a budget alternative, based on the old, pre-war style E494A Anglia. It was powered by a Ford Sidevalve 1172 cc, 30 bhp (22 kW), four-cylinder engine.
The car was very basic. It had a single vacuum-powered wiper, no heater, vinyl trim, and very little chrome. Even the bumpers were painted. More than 150,000 Populars were produced.

This car proved successful because, while on paper it was a sensible alternative to a clean, late-model used car, in practice there were no clean late-model used cars available in postwar Britain owing to the six-year halt in production caused by the Second World War. This problem was compounded by stringent export quotas that made obtaining a new car in the late 1940s and into the early 1950s difficult, and covenants forbidding new-car buyers from selling for up to three years after delivery. Unless the purchaser could pay the extra £100 or so for an Anglia 100E, Austin A30 or Morris Minor, the choice was the Popular or a pre-war car.

A car tested by The Motor magazine in 1954 had a top speed of 60.3 mph (97.0 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-50 mph (80 km/h) in 24.1 seconds. A fuel consumption of 36.4 miles per imperial gallon (7.76 L/100 km; 30.3 mpg-US) was recorded. The test car cost £390 including taxes.

The Popular 103E was introduced into the Australian market in 1953 but not with the British two-door saloon body style. Instead, it was offered as a two-door tourer, a two-door roadster utility and as a two-door coupé utility. The tourer was a re-badged Anglia 103E tourer and the roadster utility, which featured a step-side body, was called a Plumber’s Utility.

In 1959 the old Popular was replaced by a new version that was in production until 1962. Like the previous version it used a superseded Anglia’s body shell, this time that of the 100E, and it was powered by a strengthened 1172 cc sidevalve engine producing 36 bhp. The brakes were now hydraulic with 8 in (203 mm) drums all round. The new Popular offered 1,000 miles (1,500km) service intervals. The basic model stripped out many fittings from the Anglia but there was a large list of extras available and also a De Luxe version which supplied many of these extras as standard.

In later years, these cars became popular as hot rods. Since the late 1950s people started drag racing them due to their lightweight construction. Ironically this started in the United States but became the definitive British hot rod, which it still is today.

The Motor magazine tested a 100E in 1960 and found it to have a top speed of 69.9 mph (112.5 km/h), acceleration from 0–50 mph (80 km/h) in 19.6 seconds and a fuel consumption of 33.2 miles per imperial gallon (8.51 L/100 km; 27.6 mpg-US). The test car cost £494 including taxes with a comment that it was the lowest-priced orthodox saloon on the British Market.

In 1960, the manufacturer’s recommended retail price of £494 was equivalent to 26 weeks’ worth of the average UK wage. The £100 charged in 1935 and the £1,299 charged for the Ford Escort Popular in 1975 both also amounted to 26 weeks’ worth of average wage for the years in question. In the 1950s, however, the country had been undergoing a period of above average austerity. In 1953 the car’s £390 sticker price represented 40 weeks’ worth of the average UK wage!

In 1975 the Popular name was revived as a base trim level of the newly released Ford Escort Mk2. This model featured a standard 1.1 litre OHV Kent engine, 12-inch wheels with cross ply tyres and drum brakes all round. The 1975 Ford Escort Popular was the first Ford to carry the Popular name that also featured a heater as standard equipment. The “Popular” trim level proved long-standing across the Ford range, featuring on later Escorts and the Fiesta, from 1980 to 1991.

In 1970, a 1954 Ford Popular-based kit car, the Siva Edwardian (MTR 5), was used by Jon Pertwee to become “Bessie”, the Doctor’s sprightly Edwardian roadster on the long-running science-fiction television show, Doctor Who. A black Ford Popular 103E (EBW 343) was also used in the Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris’ Ford Popular. In a spoof of epic journeys, the Norrises (Michael Palin as Brian Norris and Graham Chapman in drag as Betty Norris) set out to see if the journey from Surbiton to Hounslow was possible; they were thwarted by the Thames and had to finish the trek by rail. Between 1992 and 1997, two black Ford Populars were used in Heartbeat as Oscar Blaketon’s car.

These days they are seen at various classic events as well as competition all around the world. They are still very popular in the custom and modified circuits as well as hot rodders and drag racers.

Closer look at the Ford Pop here.

A look at a custom Ford pop here.

Ford owners club.

Ford Sidevalve Owners’ Club.

Click images to enlarge,