Ford Popular 103E

1953 to 1959
Overview
Production	1953–59 155,340 made
Assembly	United Kingdom Australia
Body and chassis
Body style	two door saloon two-door tourer (Australia)two-door roadster utility (Australia) two-door coupe utility (Australia)
Related	Ford Anglia
Powertrain
Engine	1172 cc straight-4 side-valve 30 bhp
Transmission	3-speed manual
Dimensions
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)
Chronology
Successor	Ford Popular 100E

When production of the older Ford Anglia and Ford Prefect was stopped in 1953 the Popular was developed as a budget alternative, 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. The Popular 103E differed visually from the Anglia E494E in having smaller headlights and a lack of trim on the side of the bonnet.More than 150,000 Populars were produced.

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 owing to the six-year halt in production caused by the Second World War. 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 pre-war 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_-US) was recorded. The test car cost £390 including taxes.

Ford Popular in television shows

In 1970, a 1954 Ford Popular-based kit car, the Siva Edwardian (MTR 5), was used by Jon Pertwee 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. Between 1992 and 1997, two black Ford Populars (8253 PU and VXL 794) were used in Heartbeat as Oscar Blaketon's car.

Custom ford popular in Wheeler Dealers series 10