ANGLIA 105E RESTORED
Spruce Green Deluxe gets a new life.
Yes, Graham Rose was given this 1967 Anglia Deluxe for nothing, but as you can perhaps imagine it wasn’t quite in the condition you see it here.
“My friend, Nigel Hodges had bought it to restore,” says Graham, “and I was after a car to do up. He gave it to me in April 2000 in return for work I did on his flat. It came with a great history because he knew the first owner; in fact he’d known the car since it was brand new.” How bad was the Anglia? “It was very poor,” admits Graham, “it had been off the road for about 20 years. It needed major welding, a new bootlid and various other repairs to all the usual places. It sat in my garage until 2007 because life got in the way, but I did spend a couple of years collecting parts.”
The Arc Angels took on the necessary bodywork. “It was done as a fill-in project,” remembers Graham. “They were just starting up their restoration side of the business so did me a good deal on the work. I trailered the car over and they worked on it as and when they were a bit quiet. I helped them from time to time as they cut out the rust, made up templates and so on. I hadn’t thought the condition was that bad, but the first thing they did was sandblast it back to bare metal — then reality hit home.”
Graham had previously got the Anglia running, “just to see if everything worked really. Plus at that point I’d thought the car was generally OK. I then removed the engine and
gearbox prior to the sandblasting. It was obvious from the beginning that I was doing this for the love of it. The Anglia certainly wasn’t going to be worth the money I’d be spending — it was done for the car.”
“I bought new outer sills and Arc Angels repaired the inners, I sourced a new offside door, front valance and headlight rings.”
Once Arc Angels had resprayed the Anglia in its original Spruce Green, Graham then put the car back together. “I basically had a Haynes manual,” laughs Graham, “and lots of advice from Ken Braddon of the south west branch of the Anglia 105E Owner’s Club. Ken’s son, Aubone also deserves a mention for his help in finding me spares. I’d mainly left the wiring loom in place, just removed the connections to the instruments and switches when I took out the dashboard, and held the wires out of the way for the respray.” That meant it was fairly straightforward to replace all the electrical components. Luckily, the rest of the interior wasn’t too much trouble either. “The seats were all pretty good and just needed a good clean and tidy, the headlining was OK to be reused, too.”
Regular use
The Anglia passed its MoT and Graham soon began using the car for car shows near and far. “I do at least 4000 miles a year and I’m not afraid to drive long distances — we’ve done car shows on the Isle of Wight and driven to Land’s End.” Hence the tour of Yorkshire that Graham undertook with wife, Amy and a couple of other Anglia owners. “Unfortunately on the way back from Whitby the oil rings blew.” Turning a disaster into a triumph the 997cc engine was rebuilt as a 1200cc by Aplin’s Practical Services with hardened valves for unleaded fuel.
But by Christmas 2015 those miles were starting to show. “It had various stonechips because it was getting so much use and the door bases, wheelarches and front struts were looking a bit rusty,” recalls Graham. “I took the Anglia to KMJ Restorations and they dug out all the rust.” Then followed a call to Aldridge Trimming for a new headlining and door cards. The front seat covers were sourced from Devon Custom Trimmings. Mechanically, the Anglia has also had all-new brakes, new bushes and a stainless-steel exhaust that was handmade for the car. It has no radio, but did come equipped with a heater — “they might as well have saved their money there,” smiles Graham.
What was the appeal for Graham of restoring the car? “I remember them from when I was younger and recently I found out my parents had owned a 105E when I discovered some old photos. In fact if I had a Pound for everyone
“I LIKE THE ANGLIA BECAUSE IT’S A PEOPLE’S CAR EVERYONE CAN RELATE TO AN OLD FORD”
who told me they had an Anglia, or learned to drive in one, I’d be living in the Bahamas right now! Not many people owned Jags back then but cars like Minors or Anglias were everyday vehicles. I like it because it’s a people’s car — everyone can relate to an old Ford. This is really my first classic car, although I did have a 1951 David Brown Cropmaster tractor when my Dad owned a farm. I resprayed it, then sold it to get the deposit on my first house.”
All together now
“I’m at shows every weekend,” continues Graham, “and if there’s nothing going on we’ll drive across Dartmoor and find a pub for a Sunday roast.”
“Part of the enjoyment is that it’s an old car, just because it started yesterday doesn’t mean it will today. It’s fun. I see that as part of the excitement. The car is exactly six months older than I am and I have sympathy for it because at my age I wouldn’t want to run everywhere at top speed either. It sits happiest at 50 to 60 mph and I prefer style over speed. She has the nickname Libby after the letters in the numberplate.”
We mentioned at the start that the Anglia came with good history. Graham knows it was sold through the John Brake Dealership to first owner Rob Smith of Ilminster on January 16, 1967. The second owner was Andrew Shearman who bought the car in 1990, then later passed it on to Nigel, who gave it to Graham. “I was at a car show in 2014 and a man came up to tell me he was the Anglia’s second owner,” explains Graham, “then he walked away and returned with the daughter of Rob, the first owner and we took a photo. I’m local to Ilminster too, so the car has never been out of the area for any length of time.”
“I definitely made the right decision restoring Libby, my only regret is not doing it sooner. I’ve made some great friends through owning the car. Fortunately, Amy is also very into classic cars — although she’d prefer an Escort Mexico. In the future I might get the bumpers rechromed since they’re still the originals, and I’ll redo the back seat to match the newer front ones, but it doesn’t need much — I think it’s perfect just as it is.”