Vintage Thing No. 47 - Ford Anglia sedan delivery

I spotted this Ford Anglia at the recent Powderham Show, run by the Crash Box & Classic Car Club of Devon. It was a Ford Anglia that my parents had when I was born and my father dropped me on my head in it. My mother turned over the Ford Pop that she was driving during the winter of '62/'63 whilst pregnant with me so I couldn't really turn out any other way. With such a long standing affiliation with small Fords it's surprising I don't have one...

I have always liked the Anglia saloons and am partial to the vans but the estates left me cold until I saw this one. Anglia estates look too tall and frumpy whereas the cars look sporty and the vans look just great to my mind. I think it's the rear side windows - there are too many vertical lines.

Slam it into the weeds and panel in the windows and the Anglia estate is transformed. Our American cousins would call this a sedan delivery. I remember seeing a Morris Oxford once converted on similar lines but that involved welding up the rear doors as well as the windows.

This conversion was done very neatly. It looks like they came out of the factory like this. The matt black paint is a good choice and highlights (or low lights) the chrome.

Whoever did this obviously put some thought into the effect they wanted to achieve, they also saw what potential the Anglia estate had in terms of style. Some trendy types might call it coolness but that smacks of bling and body piercing to me, not rolling sculpture like this.

The result is a fastback van, a sedan delivery that sits on wheels with a hunkered down look and appears to be making an express delivery even standing still.

The badge says it all....