| Production | 1953–1959 155,340 made |
|---|---|
| Assembly | United Kingdom Australia |
| Successor | Ford Popular 100E |
| Body style | two door saloon two door tourer (Australia) two door roadster utility (Australia) two door coupe utility (Australia) |
| Engine | 1172 cc straight-4 side-valve 30 bhp |
| Transmission | 3 speed manual |
| Wheelbase | 90 in (2,286 mm) |
| Length | 151.5 in (3,848 mm) |
| Width | 56.5 in (1,435 mm) |
| Height | 64.5 in (1,638 mm) |
| Curb weight | 1,624 lb (737 kg) |
| Related | Ford Anglia |
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, pre-war-style E494A Anglia. It was powered by a Ford Sidevalve 1172 cc, 30 bhp (22 kW), four cylinder engine. The car was very basic. It had a single vacuum powered wiper, no heater, vinyl trim and very little chrome; even the bumpers were painted. 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 covenants forbidding new-car buyers from selling for up to three years after delivery. Unless the purchaser could pay the extra £100 or so for an Anglia 100E, Austin A30 or Morris Minor, the choice was the Popular or a prewar car.
A car tested by The Motor magazine in 1954 had a top speed of 60.3 mph (97.0 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-50 mph (80 km/h) in 24.1 seconds. A fuel consumption of 36.4 miles per imperial gallon (7.76 L/100 km; 30.3 mpg) was recorded. The test car cost £390 including taxes.
Read more about this topic: Ford Popular
Famous quotes containing the words ford and/or popular:
“Off Highway 106
At Cherrylog Road I entered
The ‘34 Ford without wheels,
Smothered in kudzu,
With a seat pulled out to run
Corn whiskey down from the hills,”
—James Dickey (b. 1923)
“It is said the city was spared a golden-oak period because its residents, lacking money to buy the popular atrocities of the nineties, necessarily clung to their rosewood and mahogany.”
—Administration in the State of Sout, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)