I got this ex hippie van from San Francisco where it was sold new. I grew up in England and was in love with big Yank cars, I still am, but since being here almost forty years my love for old Brit tin has only increased. This is the latest addition to my Enfo fleet. The van was last registered in 1991, the California black plate was issued in 1963. After putting in an electric fuel pump, a Pertronix module and a bit of wiring, she started right up. I replaced all the hydraulic parts and now she runs and drives. The piston fot the clutch slave had pushed out and was hung up. It looks like it happened years ago, maybe the reason she was laid up. Prior to the internet parts for these poor things dried up once English Ford pulled out, they were just left for dead or s****ped. She’s in amazingly solid condition with just a a little rust. All the rubber around the windows is shot, but the chrome, there isn’t much, is damn near perfect. it’s supposedly a 12 seater van, the back seats are all missing but it only has a 1703cc four cylinder engine. It is not speedy, and I cannot imagine it transporting 12 modern adults, maybe 12 scrawny Brits in 1960 was feasible. Anyway, I put some Astro Supremes and thin white wall tires on it. The plan is to leave the outside about as is, just fix the rust and blend the paint. The hippie stickers were canned instantly. My wife can go nuts on the interior, do it all fancy and weird. I love this thing.
Believe it or not, in 1964 while living in Waikiki, I traded my '57 Lotus 11 racecar for one of these. regards, Phil
There was a lot of these weird English cars here in Canada when I was a kid and they have all disappeared. Nice to see one has survived.
Great find I am surprised that they were exported to the USA , you have a nice stable of English Fords there
The back can't be lowered much without opening up the wheel wells, and I don't want to cut the body, but the front can be dropped for a little rake.
That's one mighty fine looking hippie-hauler you got there. But are you sure you want to peel off all the cool old stickers? That might just mess up the whole feng shui you got going on. But I gotta ask . . . What's a WaWa?
Hippie "Dead Head" hauler - if you decide to paint it here is an example to make it stand out a little
This is insane. I have neither the skills nor the inclination to do this. Mine's just gonna be a van used as a van. The show Econoline is magnificent but I'm too much of a slob to keep it looking nice.
From an era of Brit stuff that rusted away by just looking at it. Admittedly though the Fords faired better than the Vauxhalls (GM). Cool as nonetheless. Chris
Looks like a fun project, Nads. When I was in high school one of the guys had one. He loaded it with about 8 buddies and when he made a right turn on high school hill, the little van just fell over on it's side!
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