Cars I have owned - no 1

Ford Popular 103E c1959

This was my first car and I bought it in 1970 from a chap called Fred Anderson for £20, going halves with my friend Stuart Evans. Stuart lived in Rudheath and we’d both got jobs as ice-cream van drivers in Crewe after leaving school. We’d travelled there on my Lambretta SX200 for the first couple of weeks and those first weeks’ wages went on this car.

It was green, like this picture, but much faded, so we painted it purple and yellow like a red-and-yellow Noddy car. It was brush painted and we used ordinary household paint, so it wasn’t a great job, but this was 1970 and its was the closest to psychedelic that Lostock Gralam had got.

Fred Anderson couldn’t believe what we’d done. He said we’d ruined it - as if the car was a valuable antique! Mind you, I wouldn’t mind having a mint model these days.

So what was the car like to drive? It was two door, but quite roomy inside and with a fair-sized boot, although we had to secure the boot floor with fibreglass because it had rotted all around the edges and come adrift from the rest of the body, basically just sitting on top of the chassis. The car had a solid rolling chassis with the bodywork built on top. It had leaf springs, but massive wheels and the ride quality was not bad. It was a comfy, roomy car with a high driving position.

The car was also fairly quiet. The side-valve engine was low revving and compared to later cars I owned, this was nice and refined.

It was, however, from a different era. The electrics were 6-volt which meant the headlight was barely bright enough to see the road (it gave off a real yellow light) and when you pressed the starter button it really struggled to turn the engine over. In winter, when the oil was a bit thicker and the battery power a bit less lively, it was sometimes necessary to use the starting handle to turn her over a few times. Sometimes, the battery just wasn’t man enough and then it was starting handle or nothing.

The steering was fairly light, but very imprecise compared to rack and pinion steering then being fitted to many cars. I think the steering was also a bit worn as you’d often find yourself wandering from one side of the road to the other with a couple of inches of play in the wheel.

Top speed was 60mph and the brakes were drums,operated by rods and levers (a little like a bicycle. They were not good and you really had to stand on them to get the car to stop. There was a three-speed gearbox with no synchromesh on first gear, so you had to let the car stop before engaging first. However, it would pull well in second. The 1172cc four-cylinder side-valve engine didn’t rev and produced only 30bhp, but it did have good torque and it managed about 35mpg. Petrol was around 30p per gallon.

The car was something of an anachronism even then. Its styling was old fashioned and it didn’t even have flashing indicators. The indicators were two pop-out arms, one on each side, about eight inches long, with an amber light on the end of each. When you wanted to turn, you turned a switch left or right and the indicator (which was magnetically-operated) swung up and out. They were very easy to miss.

The windscreen wiper (only one) was mounted at the top of the screen and the motor was powered by the vacuum from the induction manifold. It meant that when you put your foot down to accelerate, the windscreen wiper would slow right down, but if you lifted off, it would go berserk. I liked the car, it was a step forward and we thought it looked cool. Stuart Evans bought out my share when I left the ice cream business and started at the Northwich Guardian later that summer. Some time later the head gasket blew and they couldn’t get the head off, it had welded itself on there. I think it was scrapped.