This is one car I’ve been meaning to upload here for some time. A true Curbside Classic, I see it every two weeks or so, driving to another town on some business. It probably belongs to a collector, since it’s always parked in the same place. Rarely have I arrived to park nearby and not seen it. This Anglia van, however, used to look very different.
But first, lets take another look:
Yellow, isn’t it? Obviously that’s not the original paint (as you’ll find out later). And yes, I also see those huge amber indicators/running lights atop the front wings- I have no idea. I’m not aware of any regulations by the Israeli authorities necessitating these back in 1965.
An unexciting rear, as with all Anglia vans, although that Smiley sticker blends in well with the Ford’s color. And if you’ll peep inside, you’ll see what I can refer to only as “trash”.
Presumably, that trash extends to the front. I mean, if I didn’t know it, I’d have thought this Anglia was used as working vehicle on a regular basis. Since I see it quite regularly at the same spot, I know it isn’t- probably just being used as the storage room of the owner’s flat. Two (!) vintage cell-phone holders are a nice touch also.
Like most classics I upload to CC, and not surprising given how small the classic cars’ Israeli commune is, I’ve seen and photographed this Anglia van previously. But it looked quite different then:
What a difference a coat of paint makes. I suppose the owner decided to finally fix the neglected bodywork you see here and on the way, go a different route in terms of the yellow paint job. The trouble is, if you’re up-close to the current version, you cannot avoid the feeling that not much fixing went into the bodywork – more a (re)spray than anything.
Here’s another photo of the previous paint job. Good of the owner to write the birth year of the Anglia, which made my job much easier. Translation of the side-panel is “Ra’anana – Eilat” (Ra’anana is the town where this Ford is parked) and the date is probably when this journey took place. This was probably done on one of Five Club’s (Israel’s premier classic car’s club) organized classic rides to Eilat, and wisely they chose November to go there, as driving there in the Israeli summer is unbearable.
I mean, these are the temperatures at the time of writing:
Trust me, it’ll get worse as summer will wear on.
What ?? Around 39 to 41 degr. Celsius? The horror! The horror!
Then again, personally I hate it when temperatures go beyond 25 degr. Celsius. I’m the happiest camper if it’s somewhere between 15 and 20.
But a great find Yohai! I’m very familiar with the later Euro-Ford Escort panel vans from the eighties and nineties. Commercially highly successful. About the same size as these Anglias, it seems.
Roughly 110. When I see Celsius I mentally convert 10=50 (very close), 20=70 (a bit further off), 30=90 (error factor is growing), 40=110 (I guess). It’s a close enough conversion to figure what kind of jacket you want to wear.
40=104, according to the internet-tool I used. In which case I rather won’t leave my house, let alone figuring out what kind of jacket I want to wear.
Whiners. We average 35-40 from March to the end of October sometimes here where I live…and usually 50-60% humidity! We have a all time record of 47.2 but at a lower humidity level. We’ve had Christmas temps of 34. And I drive cars with no AC to work. And I survive just fine.
Well in that case I suppose you want to wear a winter jacket and gloves if it’s somewhere between 15 and 20.
Double and add 30, or subtract 30 and halve it. Close enough for many purposes.
Hopelessly cute. Those Anglias were sort of fragile but loads of fun to drive.
Aww, it’s too cute. But better in the original Fadebeige* tm, I reckon.
Dear oh, that temp as you write does happen in Melbourne (Aus), but only about 5 or so times per year, and not in early summer. Mind you, as I write this, it’s 14, as we’re headed into a pretty warm winter apparently.
In high summer, give me a bloody airconditioned bus instead of that van in any colour!
Great photos Yohai, across time.
As I read this, it’s 5. Melbourne might only hit 40 a few times a year, but inland without the sea breezes we reach it more often. Not that I like it either.
We very occasionally get temps like that, but then we add humidity which makes it worse. Thankfully that is a rare exception. 30C/90F is sort of an average-high temp around here.
An interesting find. Anglias were briefly sold in the US in the late 50s – my parents (who must have been in the demographic that drove the mini import boom back then) owned one briefly. Once the Falcon hit showrooms in 1960 the fragile (for the US) Anglia disappeared (practically, if not officially). And neither of them bought another “foreign” car until the 80s.
I don’t think they disappeared officially. The father of a high school pal had a 100E, then an early 105E and in 1966 he got a new 105E — white and dark blue with white walls It cut a nice figure! He used all of these as commuters — a trip of about 25 miles including a stretch on the Garden State Parkway.
Ford used to have a guy in a lion suit in their USA Anglia advertisements. Here’s a 1960 ad.
When I was a kid in central Florida in the mid/late 1960s, I used to see a fair number of Ford Anglias – both the reverse-window generation and the boxy ones that came before. Wagons, too, but I don’t remember seeing any vans. All the Anglias seemed to disappear by 1970 or so.
The van was fairly late to the range, in 1961. The rear doors lived on a lot longer though as they were used on the replacement Escort van in 1968 and since the van really only got a new front in 1975 when the Mk.2 came out, the same rear doors were used for 20 years until the FWD Escort van came out in 1981.
According to Hemmings, the Cortina was imported thru 70 and the Anglia was imported thru 67 (I assume it wasn’t worth the bother to federalize multiple lines for 68). I guess the Pinto covered that segment of the market after that.
If I remember correctly, the van was never initially called an Anglia, but a Thames. Either 5 cwt or 7 cwt according to the carrying capacity – the 7 cwt having uprated springs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Thames_307E
The Thames name was used until 1965, but from then until replacement by the Escort, they did used the Anglia name. As this van has the second set of sidelights inside the outer indicator ones and a mesh grille it seems likely it really is a genuine ‘Anglia’ van.
These Anglias look just a bit too much “fish faced” for my taste. Yet, this trucklet is so unique looking that I am still able to see myself owning one.
As much as I like yellow, though, I would have to have a different color….maybe light blue? And then an engine transplant, to a 2 liter Zetec.
The van was a Thames not anglia, Thames was Ford UKs commercial brand name the most visible difference is the small grille on the Thames that only covered the air intake Anglias had a full widthe mesh grille, that one isnt the original either, Good little vans they were a favourite over here for Cortina 1500 & 1600 powertrain transplants and just like the sedans could really fly when done properly, various pieces of the small Ford parts bin bolt in to improve handling and braking survivors are rare.
I remember the Anglia vans had a plainer front end, no full width chrome, just body colour central grille and plain as you like. I daresay Ford had those doodads as extra cost options, but my memory tells me that wasn’t how they were originally – light duty and service was their sole purpose.
The original van had a simple slatted grille (also shared with the very base saloon model early on) but later on they were given a small mesh grille. The change of name in the UK seems to have coincided with the introduction of the Transit van – see the brochures on this page:
http://www.anglia-models.co.uk/books-misc02.htm
but in some export markets the Anglia name seems to have been used earlier.
I seem to recall seeing a few vans of the previous generation in the US, but not this one. About the time I started reading CC, I decided to compile a list of all the cars I’ve driven. Seeing this posting reminded me that, long forgotten, I had put in a few minutes behind the wheel of a slant-back Anglia in the mid-seventies. It was somewhat hopped up, though I can’t recall if it was a 105E 1500 or fitted with a later crossflow 1600. It was a fun drive – it didn’t take many cc’s or hp’s to create what felt like a performance car in those days.
Thanks for all your comments.
As for the heat – Eilat is the most southern town in Israel and as such, surrounded by desert but also situated on the shores of the Red Sea. It’s indeed very hot there, but dry.