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RUN TO E SUN Mayday Bank Holiday and the seaside

13th May 2004, Page 62
13th May 2004
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Page 62, 13th May 2004 — RUN TO E SUN Mayday Bank Holiday and the seaside
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beckons. Cohn Barnett joined the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society's 43rd London

Brighton run at the wheel of a Ford Anglia van. As the pictures show, the standard of

vehicle there keeps getting better. Next year marks the 40th birthday of Ford's most successful light commercial product, the Transit. With a host of celebrations planned to mark the occasion, Ford is experiencing a heightened awareness of its CV heritage, which led it to enter a pair of vans in this year's Historical Commercial

Vehicle Society London-Brighton run. We joined in the fun, driving 00 2771,one of the first examples of the Ford Thames 7cwt, better known as the Anglia van.At its launch in July 1961 the Anglia van was available only with a 997cc petrol engine, sporting the overhead valves that had only recently

become the norm. The racy 1,200cc unit didn't appear until more than a year later. Chassis with two payload ratings were available, 5cwt and 7cwt (250 and 350kg).That's on the modest side when you consider that Ford's current Fiesta van will carry around 500kg gross.The 7cwt option attracted a £60 premium over the basic

model's £387 list price. The engine is seriously over-square, with a bore and stroke of 80.96 x 48.41inm, and pro duces all of 39hp at 5,000rpm.Transmission is a four-speed manual (with synchromesh on the top three) driving the rear wheels. The first front-wheel drive Ford was still seven years in the future. One of the Anglia's techni cal novelties, the McPherson strut, is still very

much with us today. The example we drove was originally owned by EW Henderson, employed at Ford's

Dagenham foundry as a pattern maker. Following his death, his widow donated the

van to Ford and it's sign-written in his memory. Ford's policy with its collection of historic commercials is not to over-restore and 00 2771 remains largely original, with 87,000 miles on the clock.The main task has been for students at the Ford College in Loughborough O' to give the exterior paintwork, in its original

and highly noticeable yellow hue, a good freshen up.

Climbing into the Anglia, the first impression is that 1960s' van drivers must have been a leaner bunch. With the seat fully rearwards the large steering wheel was seriously close to this driver's well-rounded physique, but that apart, there was plenty of head and leg room. With the equally substantial form of Ford CV director Gary Whittam in the optional passenger seat to provide the navigation, there was plenty of space widthways.

Moving out of the crowded Battersea Park the straight cut cogs of first gear were noticeable but not intrusive, and once in the higher gears, conversation was never a problem.With the nasty speed humps behind us the performance proved remarkably lively, but more impressive was the little engine's flexibility.

The only mechanical issue was over the clutch, which juddered on a standing start, but didn't affect progress.

Out on the country roads beyond Crawley the steering was surprisingly precise, but we could see why small steering wheels were popular accessories. On the whole, the drum brakes were very effective too, but an emergency stop as we reached the end of the long queue into Burgess Hill (caused by a broken steamer five miles away) revealed a

slight pull to the left. Most impressive, though, was its behaviour in that queue and the equally long grind from the outskirts of Brighton to the sea front.

Sixties' engines have a reputation for boiling at the first opportunity, but the Thames' cooling system coped with the crawl in quite high temperatures without a hiccup.

Safely parked on Madeira Drive, we were able to reflect on what a major leap forward the Anglia-based product must have been after its predecessors, which were really only half a generation removed from pre-war vehicles.Then it was time to thank the crew of the Transit Jarvis mobile messing van, who were on hand to provide tea and hot sausage butties at every opportunity. Madiera Drive packed with restored wagons, sunshine, sea air and sausage sandwiches... it doesn't get better than that. •


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