became popular

Ford Popular

The Ford Popular is a car from Ford built in England between 1953 and 1962. When launched, it was Britain's lowest priced car.

Ford Popular 103E

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 E494A 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, 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 GBP100 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 and could accelerate from 0- in 24.1 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £390 including taxes.

Ford Popular 100E

In 1959 the old Popular was replaced by a new version that was in production until 1962. Like the previous version it used a superseded Anglia's body shell, this time that of the 100E, and it was powered by an 1172 cc sidevalve engine. The basic model stripped out many fittings from the Anglia but there was also a De Luxe version which retained them.

In later years, these cars became popular as hot rods since the late 1950's when people started drag racing them due to their light weight construction. Ironically this started in the United States but became the definitive British hot rod, which it still is today.

Popular trim level

In 1975 the Popular name was revived as a base trim level of the newly released Ford Escort Mk2. This model featured a standard 1.1 litre OHV Kent motor, 12 inch wheels with cross ply tyres and drum brakes all round. The trim level proved long-standing across the Ford range, featuring on later Escorts and the Fiesta, from 1980 to 1991.

Ford Popular in television shows

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 103E (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 Brian Norris and Graham Chapman in drag as Betty 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.