four-speed gearbox was a first on a British Ford,
and is a really good, responsive transmission.”
Compared with the A40 and the Herald, the
‘New Anglia’ bore fewer hallmarks of earlier
models, down to the electric windscreen wipers
- another Ford GB first – and a dashboard with
overtones of a jukebox: 60 years ago, the 105E
was as on-trend as a portable Dansette record
player. For those drivers who found the 105E
just too radical, there was the Prefect 107E –
essentially the four-door 100E bodyshell
with the 105E’s ohv engine – while the 100E
‘New Popular’ was ideal for anyone who consid-
ered tailfins to be an extravagance.
Scaled-down Americana was not always
popular in the UK, as proved by the compara-
tively unsuccessful 1961 Consul Classic, but
the Anglia’s proportions are supremely well
balanced. It is also hard to resist a car so deter-
mined to convey an ethos of the freeway to outer
Croydon that the bonnet lever is marked ‘Hood’.
‘The World’s Most Exciting Small Car’ innately
appealed to the chap who affected a Bob Monk-
house-style mid-Atlantic accent, and such
a go-ahead sort would naturally specify the
chrome-laden deluxe version.
The range was expanded to include van and
estate versions in 1961, and the 1.2-litre 123E
Super in 1962, before production was trans-
ferred from Dagenham to Halewood the
following year. The final Anglias were built in
late 1967. “By 1966, you can see that Ford was
starting to make economies with the Anglia,”
says Barnes, who bought his deluxe 23 years
ago from its original owner, an ex-Jaguar
employee awarded the 105E as a retirement
present. “The interior was less colourful, and
the list of optional extras was less elaborate.”
The Anglia’s look was arguably more rooted
in time than that of the A40 or Herald. A profile
that captures the zeitgeist has the capacity to
date rapidly, and the 105E was rendered passé
by the time The Beatles’ Please Please Me LP had
hit the nation’s record shops in 1963. Three
years later, the launch of the ‘coke-bottle’ Vaux-
hall Viva HB made the Anglia appear almost
antediluvian, but by that time the Ford had
a loyal following. “It’s practical, reliable and bril-
liant to drive,” says Barnes, “it just feels so
chuckable.” To experience the Barnes Anglia
today is to vicariously enjoy the promotional
film First on the road directed by Joseph Losey –
a world of glamour, Continental touring and
whitewall tyres, all accompanied, naturally,
by the finest vibraphone music.
To consider the impact of this trio, just look at
any British street scene of 1959-’60. The sight of
an A40 or Herald among black FX3 taxis in a
Pathé Newsreel is the harbinger of the automo-
tive future, while the 105E in the grim film noir
Never Let Go seems to be from another realm
against its west London surroundings. Pop
historian Philip Norman claimed that the late
’50s was “a world utterly without style”, but the
Austin, Ford and Triumph anticipated one of
the social developments of the coming decade:
a senseof chicat anattainableprice.Thanks to The Triumph Sports Six Club (tssc.org.
uk); Ford Anglia 105E Owners’ Club (105eoc.com);
A40 Farina Club (a40farinaclub.co.uk); Greenham
Common Control Tower (greenhamtower.org.uk)September 2019 Classic & Sports Car 165‘The Ford was more rooted
in time than the Herald or
A40; a shape that captures
the zeitgeist has the
capacity to date rapidly’
Main: all three boast
’50s-favourite vestigial
tailfins. Clockwise from
left: A40’s are least
pronounced; red pillar
badge denotes deluxe
trim; Michelotti styling
gave Herald personality