UK HAMBers and anyone who knows British Fords...

what can you all tell me about 59 British Fords? particularly the wagons. a friend has a 59 British Ford wagon. it says "Escort" on the hood. thats kinda funny. a 59 Ford Escort Wagon. here in the states an Escort wagon is a POS economy car but this thing is actually kinda neat.
just wondered about parts availability and that sort o thing. he is gonna need some new window rubbers and a few other odds and ends. it runs good but needs a carb rebuild and the slave cylinder leaks.

thanks for any info... oh yeah. it is left hand drive. musta been imported to the States when it was new.

 

I think I have a manual
Gotta look in my stuff
There was one in Long Beach years ago with a SBC in it
The guy basically built a tube chassis inside
Pre 'Pro-Street' and really slick

 

Does it look like this?



The car that it is based, this one.....



is common as muck here in the UK, the estate/wagon version which you have is rare but not massively so.
Parts are no problem, just go here.....http://www.smallfordspares.co.uk/ ......You have properly already noticed, but they have a miniture 4 banger. Plenty of tuning parts and information available.

Artiki on here has a tuned one.

Heres some of the best tuning parts.....http://www.ford-aquaplane.co.uk/.....

 

[QUthe roof an the slab sidedness of the car kinda looks like a shrunken down 50 Ford wagon, don't ya think? maybe add the side spears and T-lights, then redo the grill and headlights and you'd have a miniature 50 Ford. tell everyone you left it in the dryer too long.

 

thanks 4ever4. you posted the same time as me but you can see that they are the same car.
i will check out the hop up parts on the sights you posted. i don't even know how long my friend will keep this car (he buys and sells alot) but i was curious myself so i thought i'd ask.

that motor is TINY!! whats it displace? about 400cc????

thanks..

 

OH MY GAWD!! i just looked at that first sight and he mentions 8 and 10hp passenger cars . my god man, 10hp is low even for a LAWNMOWER!!! my friend has never had this thing out on the road but am i to assume it has a top speed of about 30mph??? i should have guessed that it was a 4cc motor. do the hop up parts get it up to a whopping 12hp??? i can't believe it would even be street legal.

 

So I guess back in '59 they were a POS economy car over there too

My friend is into Anglias and he tells me they were taxed by the HP over there.

Gasser,Gasser,Gasser. need I say more.

 

i just called him and told him what i learned. he had NO idea that it was only around 10hp. he did say the speedo goes to 80mph, though i seriously doubt it would go that fast. it certainly would'nt sustain that speed for very long. the little bitch runs like a sewingmachine though, nice and smooth.

 

The 10 horsepower is what is called the RAC rating. This was a formula that 'measured' horsepower based on the stroke of the engine and it was used for calculating how much road tax the owner should pay.

The actual horsepower from the 1172 cc engine was around 36 hp

 

Cruising speed 50mph, blowing up speed just over 70mph, mostly due to insanely low gearing. Found these engines very good for holding down a tarp in high winds.

 

Here's mine from 15 yrs ago, this was a two dr Anglia 100E from '57 although most of them were populars i think. I put an OHV four banger in this one.
You can see how small it is from my other car at that time.

 

GOD! I want that bike!!! Nice Caddy.......sorry about the titty pink and black windup toy!
xxx
Brandy

 

Yeah I know that stuff, seeing as how I grew up in England. They were called Anglias in America and sold in fairly large numbers, not Datsun 120Y numbers, but still sizeable considering that the Big Four were still turning out well built gas guzzlers.
A pal of mine had a Prefect with the 900cc(?) flathead four in Burnley. This car was so sweet, almost rust free and it ran like a top. The memories that car gave me will not soon be forgotten.

Me? I'm a huge Enfo fan.

 

Shit is that a Sumbeam? I really miss my 1934 "80"

Back to the hospital tomorrow .... more heart NOT GOOD!

 

Me too...
One of the best street Cars I have ever owned was a Mk I Ford Escort Estate ( 2Dr Wagon ).
1600GT Engine, 40 DCOE Webers, special springs and Race prepped Koni's, and a tow hitch to drag my Race Car around with.
I even took it on a couple of Road Race tracks to play, and hurt a Engine in it on the German Autobahn...

I wish I still owned it, but Rust killed it...

 

Bluto, I'm not a religeous man, but I'll put in a heartful prayer for you. I want you to get better.
I'm serious, I'm gonna ask God to make you better, he probably won't listen to a sinner like me. I haven't prayed in a long time but I'm gonna make a special request for you, we need you.

Best of luck to you buddy, I wanna meet you some day, I'm sure we'll get along swell. I want you to teach me some tricks before you go, I'll be a good student.


Much love and respect from an anonymous fan.

 

Close, but that one is a '31 New Hudson.

 

Wahay, a 100E post on the HAMB...I'll have to bookmark this one

If ever there was a car that could divide opinion, it's the 100E. They are small, terribly underpowered and dreadfully geared but have a good following and have a fun little four-banger.
The Escort and Squire wagon versions are pretty rare now. They didn't make that many anyway, but most of them were used to shift stuff about for a living, such as delivery vans and the like, so died an early death.
Here's mine....twin SU's, relieved, ported, loads of head mods, lumpy cam etc. Dyno'd at just over 60bhp but still has the shit gearing.

 

Oh yeah, as Clark said, Small Ford Spares are the folk you need to speak to for stuff and there's a link to the tuning site (Aquaplane) from their page.

 

ARTIKI, that little guy RULES!!
i don't suppose there is much you can do about the gearing?? it's prolly geared that way just so it'll get moving from a stop, is'nt it?

my buddy Dan actually would prefer a sedan like yours. there is one on Ebay right now in Cali but that is too far away. him and i went to Deleware for this one.

i see your heater is hooked up. his is'nt. prolly cause the heater core leaks. at least now i know where he can get one.

that little car of yours is a beauty. ever see any of them CUSTOMIZED??? i would think a different headlight treatment would help it from looking so sad ...

 

Now i'm thinking as that body looks in great shape rip out the running gear and turn it into a real evil gasser.There is one here in the uk done as a gasser and it's mean ...........Marq

 

the body is in real good shape. why don't you find some pics of that "Evil Gasser" and post some pics for us???

 

There were two estate car versions, the squire and the escort. the squire was a bit more upmarket with opening rear side windows and wooded side trim. The escort was a bit simpler with fixed side windows. The factory built estates had the split tailgate setup as shown. Many vans were fitted with side windows and a rear seat conversion. these normally retained the van rear doors though.
I had an escort, with a 1650 pre-crossflow, 2000e box, anglia axle and classic struts.
I had a van which I ran stock for a while then fitted the body onto a tube frame with alfa twin cam, westminster axle and more classic struts.
My wife ran a van with rear seat conversion for a few years with anglia 1200 running gear. was a nippy little shopping car. Wish I'd kept that one now my Daughter is coming up to driving age.
Oh yeah if it's a windshield rubber he needs, it might be easier to get a (old style) mini one. chop an inch and a half out of it and superglue it back together. It's a tight fit but does a good job. comes with a chrome (plastic) insert too.
It looks in pretty good shape.
Mart.

 

it has the fold down rear seat and sliding windows in the rear seat area. you saw the back doors. the original front seats have been replaced by some kind of later model buckets. they look like crap. maybe some VW buckets would look more at home?? they might be too far from the floor though. the ones in it are very close to the floor.

it needs a few little things. the windshield has a BIG stone ship in it. ALL the window rubbers are trashed. looks like they were replaced with whatever they found laying around, then they used some clear caulk to seal some leaks here and there. then they PAINTED over all the rubber when they painted the car. looks like it was rattle canned yellow. it needs a repaint something fierce but looks to only need some very minor body repairs. i think different headlight rings and some custom tailights would make a world of difference.

 

i think just about everyone in the uk whos into rods or kustoms has ownd a 100e of some form mine was cream and burgundy 2 tone with a tuned cross flow 1600 cc with the obligatory 105 rear axle what a laugh that car was ,off the line it was shit hot but 80 mph was screamin at 7 1/2 grand on the tach {yes i went throu about 8 heads they used to nearly blow off lol}you can get the 3 bar grill and i redid the front lights {no pikkys had it before i gota camera}.a mate of mine has a sqiure that hes made in to a van tube framed it and now has a tunnel rammed 302 sat in the rails ggggggaaassseerrr oh yes.

 

I'm pretty sure I have seen one in the HAMB classifieds a couple of months ago.
Gutted body with a ladder frame.
Old Drag Car project...

 

4ever4. Thank you for posting the websites in your reply.

My ex has had several of these little cars. A panel, three sedans, and an Escort 2 dr, wagon like in the other posts. Except his wagon has a GM built big block with two four bbl carbs. One in front of the windshield and the other behind. 4 speed with a narrowed rear and 6.50x15.50x15 rear tires. It has been in retirement since the mid seventies and he needs some small trim pieces to put it back out on the street. He's gunna love this. He has looked almost everywhere. Oh yes, he also has a little funny looking black sedan that has Triumph 10 emblems on it. I have never seen another car like it!

 

Unusual that an escort has the sliding rear side windows... must have been an option or more likely an export only fitment.
The front seats are unique to the escort and squire. the passenger seat folds double (the backrest folds forward then the whole seat tips forward) to give good access into the rear despite the narrow doors. saloon (sedan) seats have a fixed backrest, so do van seats but they're fixed to the floor and don't tip.
Chrome headlamp surrounds are available from the prefect saloons (and squires). (maybe just on earlier cars.. it's getting a bit hazy now..)
All the window rubbers would be standard sections and should still be available.
All parts required could be found. That said the correct seats could be a problem. I'm not sure your friend would be committed enough to ship parts from England though. I did see one in a yard in Phoenix (desert valley auto), so they are around in the states.
Mart.

 

he may be interested in getting the correct passenger side front seat. if any of you Brits (or anyone else for that matter) comes across one would you maybe look into shipping it to the states???

in the mean time i'll post a want ad in the classifieds.

thanks for the info Mart.

 

front windscreen rubbers are available from Enford in New Zealand for $80 NZ.I think thats about $55US.Email mail@enford.co.nz for a catalogue of english ford parts