Modified Ford 103E Pop.
Roger sent me a photo and recollections of his first car, a sit-up-and-beg Ford 103E Popular powered by the 1172cc E93A-type sidevalve engine, a unit found under bonnets of Prefects, Pops, Anglias and vans for decades. He and his brother decided to customise their old Pop, and what follows are Roger's fond memories of that first foray into car ownership, plus a question he has about a sidevalve-powered special that he also owned, known as the Ford Price....
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"My younger brother and I were avid "Ford Pop" enthusiasts in the late 1960s, starting out with my first car - a Ford E93A Sit up and Beg Pop bought for
£5. We spent hours and hours (years!) in a council lock-up (we didn't have a garage) modifying and tuning the old girl. Best of all we learned a lot
about cars and engines. We kept a diary which I still have "The Legend of OGY 349" but no historical photos. During the re-build and modifications we
bought another Pop as a run-around, also a Ford Special as it had an apparently 'tuned' engine. It's this vehicle which I wondered if you could
help with. It looked very similar to the Ashley and had IFS and some Aquaplane gear including four-branch and twin SU's. It was registered as a
Ford Price - any ideas? - does it ring any bells? It was a non-runner and we just bought it for spares and once stripped of anything worthwhile it was
scrapped. For interest I attach a pic of 'OGY' in it's final glory prior to my older brother's wedding in 1971."
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"We spent quite some time 'doing up' our Pop. At the time there were quite a few around and I recall visiting Blackbush Drag Strip to see some hot ones and spotted a V8 Morris Minor there! I also recall driving to VW Derrington's shop somewhere over West London way (we lived in Woodford Green - the opposite side of London into Essex!) and broke down near Vauxhall Bridge. I can't remember if we got going or left it (it turned out to be the coil) but got to Derrington's and bought the cycle wings, a 6V Sport Coil and an electronic tacho (essential). There was also a shop nearby selling Allard or Adlard Supercharger kits.
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We used to travel far and wide following adverts in Exchange & Mart - e.g. an Aquaplane head from Surbiton in Surrey, a pair of VW 15 x 6"K reverse-rim
wheels from North London (and new fat Goodyear G800 tyres) - but they wouldn't fit under the rear arches! We made a killing at a scrap yard in
Waltham Abbey discovering TWO cars fitted with the Woodhead Monroe "Fluid Cushion" suspension kits. I can't recall where we had to travel to purchase the set of 15" Ballamy wheels, but most stuff was advertised in Exchange & Mart - under "Specials" I think.
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Thanks for sending the story over Roger. My guess is that the Ford Price was a special built, and then named, by its owner/builder, as it's not a name I've heard of before with regard to Ford-based specials.
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Visit the motoring memories pages at oldclassiccar for more stories like this.
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