The Next Generation

A look at the 100E and 300E Series Ford Anglia, Prefect, Squire and Thames

By Dean Kirsten

In October of 1953, Ford at Dagenham, England, announced the first of what was hoped to be tens of thousands of new vehicles featuring the Anglia, Prefect, Squire and Thames name plates. For the first time since the end of World War II, Ford had completely retooled their factory to bring their fleet up to date with the rest of the automotive world. What would be considered a 1954 model, the new version of the famed Anglia and Prefect would now be constructed in a whole new way, using the unibody design. Long gone was a body lowered onto a stamped chassis then riveted and welded together. Ford was now building a much stronger and more modern car and van, that offered a MacPherson front suspension, leaf spring rear suspension and a solid roof design. Long-gone was the fabric top that was created solely to simplify the construction of the body. I know some of you thought it was done to create an open top sunroof, but that was not the case. These new Ford would carry the model numbers 100E for the passenger vehicles, and 300E for the vans and Squire.

Believe it or not, the wheelbase of the 100E/300Es was actually shorter than the earlier models; 87-inches compared to 90-inches, which seems strange today. Even the engine, transmission and rear ends were changed, although the engine size remained the same 1172cc, but contained numerous changes inside and out. Horsepower was posted at 36hp, which was considered to be "Lively at that time". When new, these cars went for about $1500, and were sold by selected Ford dealers across the country.

Unlike the early Thames panel, the newer 300E now featured metal floors and framing which finally got away from using wood to hold the backend together. During the five years of production of this (new) model, about the only changes made to the exterior was the grille design, and rear taillight assemblies.

The beauty of this new model design was that both the 2-door Anglia and the 4-door Prefect used the same basic body platform, other than the side panels that contained the doorframes. There is a fun tale that has been tossed around for decades that one day, during the 1954 production, a passenger vehicle came off the assembly line with an Anglia left panel, and a Prefect right panel. In other words, it had one door on the left and two doors on the right! I don't know what actually happened to his 3-door "Angfect", but it's funny to think about what could have happen at the factory.

Paris auto show, October 1953 was the big debut of the new Ford Anglia. You can see the 1954 Ford Popular on the far left, which was introduced at the same show as a low cost alternative to more modern cars.	Assembly line at Dagenham shows both the Prefect and Anglia were built side-by-side, on the same line.
Another view of the 100E assembly line shows an Anglia in the final stages of assembly.	Factory photo of a 1958 Anglia Deluxe 2-door sedan. Its styling was described as "perky", which is not what I would call it, would you? This one is a left-hand drive model headed for the North American market.
Side view of the 1954 model 100E Prefect 4-door. Pretty basic trim, or lack of..	The Ford Squire was a woodie of sorts. Yes, there were a few strips of real wood mounted here and there, but not exactly what we would consider the real deal.
A 1957 Thames panel with chrome headlight trim was ready for the North American market. Make a nice gasser today.	Inside the 300E Thames panel looks like it is ready for huge tires, based on the appearance of the rear wheel tubs, but not really. Passenger seat was an option.