Wednesday 25 February 2015

My First Car


In my dreams!  Mine was never like this. 
We were out on the bikes today and came across this lovely little Ford Anglia 105E at the Fighting Cocks at Godshill. 
She's not original, but she is a fine example of the way a club racer would have prepared this car during the sixties. She's got her alloy Minilites on, wider track at the front with a hint of negative camber. Possibly the McPherson Struts were lifted off a Cortina complete with their disc brakes.  Full roll cage with sports steering wheel and bucket seats.
Now the colour scheme is the same as the Lotus Cortina of the same era and she has Lotus badges on her rear quarters but as far as I can remember Lotus never built an Anglia. 
Maybe they hint at a Lotus twin cam under the bonnet.  
For a true Lotus look it needs front quarter bumpers, rare as hens teeth. 

Very understated, very nice. 



5 comments:

Bursledon Blogger said...

i recognised the Lotus Cortina paint job and the minilites straight away.

My second car was a cortina Mk1, sadly 1500cc delux model but it was great at the time

Alden Smith said...

Hi I am a blogger from New Zealand, just posting around on blogs I like. I am a boat mad kiwi.

This Cortina car bought back some real memories for me - I was 14 and on my way to the City of Nelson in the South Island of NZ with my little 7 foot 'P'Class yacht roped onto the roof rack of one of these Cortinas. I was representing my Yacht Club in the National P Class championships.

Despite my abysmal placing in the contest the whole experience was great and I remember sitting in the back of a speedy little Anglia with its funny little side window that you opened and closed on a little hinge thingie.

You don't see many of these around anymore, probably because all of that was about 45 years ago!!

Graham Neil said...

I paid £20 for mine, I was robbed. My brother in law welded it up for me and it ran out of petrol going for its MOT test. So we pushed it into the garage. The ignition switch broke so you had to start it with the solenoid under the bonnet. Embarrassing when you stalled at the lights in the middle of Edinburgh. Sold it after a year of happy motoring for a tenner.

Alden Smith said...

There are 2 for sale on NZ TradeMe - One a parts Anglia for $500 and a drivable 1967 model for $4000 dollars. I might be tempted to buy it for a complete restoration if I didn't have so many yacht projects to complete.
Excluding petrol costs - a good pair of wheels for a year at the cost of 10 pounds is a good deal!!

Lonnie said...

A nostalgic feel every time I see one of these. They are getting more rare these days. One of the more underrated and more beautiful cars of its time...of all time. With the right adjustments could beat any car off the line. This car definitely takes me back. Wish I could have been there to see it.

Lonnie @ Viva Chevy