HOMEBUILT HERO:
Anglia 105E
Rebuilt in just six weeks over lockdown!
Sometimes good things can materialise from a bad situation and let’s face it, in mid-March 2020 most of us were in a less-than-ideal situation. Putting the politics aside, while many of us were thinking about what we could no longer do for the foreseeable future, the glass-half-full remainder soon realised suddenly having a lot of spare time on their hands can be quite an advantage, especially if you have an Anglia-shaped project sat in your garage. Mick Dobson had begun work on his newly-acquired 1964 Anglia in January 2020 and with having Saturdays as the only available day to work on the car, progress was slow. “When lockdown and furlough was announced two months later, instead of working on the car one day a week, that switched to six days a week with one day off,” Mick smiles. “The project picked up pace pretty quickly from then on.” The choice of an Anglia 105E for 54-year-old Mick was an obvious one as back in 1976, along with his brother Steve, he helped his Uncle strip and rebuild an 105E saloon, not dissimilar to this one. “My uncle Steve worked at the Ford main dealers in Wakefield, and he bought an Anglia for £5 which he planned to rebuild,” Mick recalls. “We all spent many hours working on the car from stripping it to carrying out repairs and my Uncle even taught us how to strip and rebuild an engine!” The successful completion must have had a long-lasting effect on the Dobson brothers as 44 years later they sound just as enthusiastic as we’re sure they were back in 1976!
Heading north
The Anglia came into Mick’s possession in 2019, having spent most of its life in South Africa. “While I was on the lookout for a project base, this one stood out as it sounded to be rust free,” Mick explains. “We didn’t need to travel as far as South Africa to view it, but the car was located in Inverness so it was still a quite a long road trip!” The warm and dry African climate
had preserved the 1964 shell and its most recent year spent in not so dry and warm Scotland appeared to have had little impact. “The shell was good which was a relief,” Mick laughs, “the suspension, however, was a different story!”
There were a few months left before winter set in and Mick was keen to use the Anglia as soon as he could. “I fitted a 3.54 diff from an RS Escort and new steel wheels and it was good to go,” he recalls. “The standard suspension was scary though, like a cork in a storm would be a reasonable comparison!” Once the winter weather had begun to worsen and the comedy suspension too much to handle, Mick decided to take his Anglia off the road and carry out a full rebuild. “I talked it over with my brother, Steve, we made a list of things to do on the car and parts we’d need and I made him project manager,” he explains.
The pair began stripping the car, removing the engine, gearbox, suspension and rear axle. As we pointed out progress in January 2020 was slow to begin with, but soon picked up in March. “Once we’d discovered we were furloughed from work, we made the decision to finish the car as soon as we could which meant spending six days a week in the garage, just taking Sundays off!” Mick smiles.
Although the exterior white paint had lasted well, the engine bay paintwork was less than pleasant. “It was three different shades and patchy with areas of original Ermine White still visible,” Mick explains. “We returned it to bare metal and carried out a few
“THE SHELL WAS GOOD, WHICH WAS A RELIEF. THE SUSPENSION THOUGH, NOW THAT WAS A DIFFERENT STORY”
repairs to the inner wings where they joined the upper bulkhead.” The rectified bay was then primed and repainted in octocryl white to match the exterior with its contrasting black roof.
The engine bay now looked spotless, so the pair decided to turn their attention to the underside, which was repainted to match the exterior. “We then chose to repaint the rear axle casing, fuel tank and brake back plates in Two Pack black,” Mick informs us. “We wanted the car to sit lower and handle better and chose to use a full Milton set-up with GAZ Shocks inserts at the front and GAZ adjustable dampers at the rear.” Meanwhile, braking is substantially improved with M16 callipers and discs up front.
Refresh, remodel
The 1600GT Crossflow engine had already been fitted during its life in South Africa, “While it had been removed from the car, I cleaned and painted it before fitting a new water pump and ring gear on the flywheel,” Mick adds. Matched to a twin-choke Weber 32/36 carb, Escort four-branch manifold and full stainless exhaust this is a lively set-up for sure and certainly retains that old-school feel. Planning ahead, Mick had already managed to source a perfect 2000E gearbox from a trip to France the previous year, which required only a gearlever bush before it was ready to use.
The lads hadn’t cut any corners so far with the build and didn’t plan to with the interior either. Sticking with the period theme, Corbeau bucket seats with matching white piping, a rev counter located in the original dash facia along with an oil pressure gauge provide a more enjoyable driving experience for those B-road blasts. “We made the carpet ourselves which took 6 hours on a red hot day, so this tested our patience a bit,” Mick adds. “We also fitted extra soundproofing to the bulkhead and floor and Phil King who helped on the build also donated the
wooden rimmed steering wheel!” Incredibly, the brothers only argued once during the whole project which was completed earlier than expected — on May 7! “There were some profanities exchanged between us, but after a fresh brew normal service was resumed,” Mick laughs. “Trying to rebuild a car with fresh paint can make for a few choice words!” Steve played an essential role, effectively keeping things moving as he ordered the parts while Mick paid for them, so a falling out would have been problematic to say the least!
Final reward
The greatest reward was for Uncle Steve from that inspirational 1976 build who was able to witness the Anglia during its rebuild and see the end result. “He couldn’t believe the condition of the shell and was impressed by our attention to detail,” Mick smiles.
Lockdown certainly brought its problems, but you can’t argue the Dobson brothers made the most of it!
“TRYING TO REBUILD A CAR WITH FRESH PAINT CAN MAKE FOR A FEW CHOICE WORDS...”