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The Ford Popular is a Car from Ford built in England between 1953 and 1962 . When production of the older Ford Anglia and Ford Prefect was stopped in 1953 the Popular was developed as a budget alternative. The Popular was based on the old, prewar-style Anglia. It was powered by a Ford Sidevalve 1172 cc four cylinder engine. The car was very basic. It had a single vacuum powered wiper, no heater, vinyl trim and very little chrome. Over 150,000 Populars were made. This car proved successful because, while on paper it was a sensible alternative to a clean, late-model used car, in practice there were no clean late-model used cars available in postwar Britain due to the six-year halt in production caused by World War II . This problem was compounded by stringent Export quotas that made obtaining a new car in the late 1940s and into the early 1950s difficult, and Covenant s forbidding new-car buyers from selling for up to three years after delivery. Unless the purchaser could pay the extra GBP100 or so for an Anglia 100E , Austin A30 or Morris Minor , the choice was the Popular or a prewar car. In 1959 the old Popular was replaced by a new version that was in production until 1962 . As the old version it used the Anglia shell, the 100E this time, and it was powered by an 1172 cc sidevalve engine. Revival - 1975-1980 In 1975 the Popular name was revived for an absolute base model of the newly released Ford Escort Mk2. This model was bare on luxuries, and had a standard 1.1 litre OHV Kent motor, 12in wheels with Cross Ply tyres and drum brakes all round. TRIVIA In 1970, a Ford Popular was extensively modified by the British Broadcasting Corporation to become " Bessie ", the Doctor 's sprightly Edwardian roadster on the long-running science-fiction television show, '' Doctor Who ''. A black Ford Popular (EBW 343) was also used in the '' Monty Python's Flying Circus '' sketch "Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular". In a spoof of epic journeys, the Norrises ( Michael Palin as Mr. Norris and Graham Chapman in drag as Mrs. Norris) set out to see if the journey from Surbiton to Hounslow was possible; they were thwarted by the Thames and had to finish the trek by Rail . |
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