Anglia resto!
Dave Hurst went back to college to learn how to restore his 1964 Ford Anglia… with upgrades
There are many different tasks when restoring a classic car and the skills required are not always intuitive. So if there’s an aspect of restoration that turns out to be beyond your ability, it’s natural to turn to the services of a specialist. Dave Hurst didn’t fancy doing that. When it came to restoring his Anglia he wanted to do everything himself, so he went back to school. ‘I’d already done a 14-week City & Guilds in Car Body Repair,’ says Dave. ‘When I saw the Anglia online in June 2006 I was undertaking a Paint and Finishing NVQ and I wanted a classic I could take into college to work on.’
The Anglia therefore became a rolling restoration: ‘It never came off the road,’ explains Dave. ‘I continued to use it. All the external panels are the original ones – I just repaired them. I always fancied owning an Anglia Super that was slightly modified, so I went out looking for one expecting to have to do some work to it.’ Dave drove
‘I bought strips of 1mm thick, 20 gauge steel then rolled and formed them myself’
the Anglia straight to the MOT station to check its overall condition and get an idea of how much work was required – ‘it passed straight away with no advisories.’ Although that didn’t mean it was problem-free, as ‘it was fitted with a disc brake conversion, the calipers were working but the pistons were sticky. The rear had a rose-jointed A-frame that didn’t fit well around the two exhaust boxes. I began to rework the car to make it more usable on the road.’ Dave started restoring the Anglia’s bodywork at the front: ‘I began on the offside headlight and the area around it turned out to be full of mastic. So I bought a some strips of 1mm thick, 20 gauge steel then rolled and formed them to shape.’ Dave worked around the car tackling each area in order.
‘There was a bit of rust at the base of the screen A-post, too. I then fabricated a new jacking point rather than wait for a new piece – the parts places wanted about £70 for one so I cut a template out of cardboard and made my own.’ Dave shaped any curved pieces required by putting them in a press with a piece of metal tubing. ‘As I was always trained to be a craftsman it was normal to me to fabricate and repair things. Lots of people can fold up a piece of metal but I wanted to have a go at making some of the complicated pieces, too.’ Dave was equally keen to preserve the original car wherever possible: ‘The Anglia’s wings still had all the original factory spot welds in place and I didn’t want to change that so I carefully repaired the rust with the panels in place,’ he remembers. ‘I knew I’d be keeping the car.’
Steel worker
Dave folded up new jacking points from sheet steel and plug welded them in place with his MIG. The front end of the nearside sill also needed replacing whereas the doors were generally very good. ‘They only needed some repair where the felt pads that prevent the glass from getting scratched had held moisture again the inner surface,’ recalls Dave. ‘I also had to repair corrosion around the door bolt mounts. I got a few pieces from Express Steel Panels but I still handmade whatever I could.’ The chrome trim along the boot’s lower edge for example: ‘I handmade the boot spears – the replacement parts were poor so I got some stainless steel and shaped it in my metal folder, gently bending it around a nut I had welded inside to stop it collapsing in. I rolled it to a tapered point – it only took about six hours of spare time,’ explains Dave modestly. He also had some bits of luck with the Anglia, ‘all the wheelarches were solid and the inner sills had been welded before I bought the car. The only trouble working with bare metal is getting it covered up again quick enough to stop the surface rust.’ With the metalwork taken care of Dave turned his attentions to the paintwork. ‘I flatted back the existing paint and ground any surface rust back to bare metal – there were a lot of small rust areas around the
trim clips. If any paint had started to blister I took it back to bare metal. I added a light skim of U-POL filler that I sanded back by hand. I used filler primer over any repairs and etch primer over the bare metal then sprayed it in the college paint booth. I booked a week off work to paint it.
‘Once the paint had cured it was flatted with a dual action sander then polished. I used two-pack paint because it has a good finish straight out of the gun – I’ve found cellulose sinks over time. The blue is Aqua Blue that I mixed myself. The colour is fractionally lighter than the original shade but goes very well with the Ermine White roof. I did three coats of Aqua over a light key coat using a Devilbiss GTI gun and the college compressor.’
Another 300cc
As for the running gear, the Anglia had come to Dave with a 1200cc engine (making it a 123E model) but that didn’t really fit his plans. ‘I bought a pre-crossflow block with a Weber 28/32 carb and spent two weeks rebuilding it. It’s a Cortina GT 116E head on a 120E block of 1498cc. I wanted more power and it’s a common conversion that also retains the period feel of the car.’ An engineering company ported and polished the head then Dave fitted unleaded stainless steel valves then plus .60 thou bore pistons and a Torquesport camshaft from Kent Cams. He also added steel timing gear from Burton Power.
‘The 1500 engine bolts straight in on the 1200 mounts, so it’s a straightforward conversion’ explains Dave. ‘The fuel tank had a small hole that I lead loaded to seal it. I found the drain plug had rusted into place but I left it it as it was rather than risk wrecking the tank trying to remove it. I used lead because, although the tank was completely empty and free of vapour, I could make the repair using a hot air gun rather than a naked flame – there’s no sense in taking any chances with fuel tanks.’
The Anglia now boasts a longer arm, higher ratio steering box: ‘I took two boxes to make a good one.’
The suspension comprises Cortina MKII front uprights with adjustable track control arms. ‘It’s lowered by two-inches all round, the rear using lowering blocks solid welded in place so there’s no lateral movement. I also replaced the rear shocks. I’d added a brake servo with a bigger cylinder because my wife Andrea was using the car to drive ten miles to work each day – it still had the 1200 engine back then…’
Finishing off
The rear axle was fitted with 3.7:1 ratio Escort Mexico gearing that naturally goes well with the Escort Mexico gearbox. That gearbox only needed a good clean and Dave fitted a standard Escort clutch before bolting it to a Milton adjustable gearbox mount. ‘I painted the engine bay then later sprayed it again in my home garage,’ remembers
Dave. ‘I also sandblasted the front crossmember. The underside had been painted in red lead – I removed it all with a grit blaster and an electric wire brush, etch primered it all then used 3M Body Schultz then a coating of satin black.’ The exhaust came from a Cortina 1500GT and only needed a small section welded at the bottom. Since even Dave couldn’t do chrome plating at home most of the shiny bits, including both bumpers, were re-chromed at Central Engineering Design in Hythe, Derby Plating or South London Plating depending on who was able to do it within the best timeframe and their quote for the work.
‘I finished all that within a couple of years,’ recalls Dave, ‘then started on the interior.’ Aldridge Trim supplied the interior parts: ‘It took 18 months to get the doorcards – I was later told the delay was because they were having a machine put together just to make them. The quality of their product is very good.’ The backseat and surrounding panels are original but following a few years of use the front seats were retrimmed in 2015. Dave made up some kick panels and sprayed them to match the rest of the interior.
Overall Dave is extremely pleased with his Anglia: ‘The modifications have only added 20lb in weight over the original car. I’ve since had it on the rolling road at B&D Engineering and it’s putting out 87bhp. I’m very happy with that.’
‘I did most of the work in my garage during the summer evenings,’ continues Dave, ‘and the best tool I bought was the metal stretching and shrinking machine. I took my time and wasn’t afraid to walk
away for the day if it went wrong. I always enjoy working my way around things and finding solutions. Throughout the work I really enjoyed the challenge of the fabrication. People always want to buy it from me now!’