The Ford Anglia was a small 2-door sedan built in England from 1939 to 1967. The Prefecta was essentially an upscale 4-door version of the same vehicle. The seller’s nearly finished project should be a Prefecta 100-E, which was on assembly lines from 1953 through 1959. Mechanically, this ’59 Prefecta has been redone, so it may only need body work and paint. Located in Aurora, Colorado, this seldom-seen in the U.S. automobile is available here on craigslist with an asking price of $4,750 OBO.
Anglia’s and Prefecta’s only found their way to the U.S. in small numbers, so it’s rare when one turns up in any condition. The 100-E edition of the Prefeca (not Perfecta as in wagering at horse or dog tracks) got its final redesign, carrying the car through 1959. Power was derived from a 1172cc “Sidevalve” inline-4 engine, paired with a 3-speed manual shifter. While the number of doors mostly separated the Prefecta from the Anglia, some of the trimming was different enough to be noticed, such as the grille. Both used unibody construction.
About 100,000 Prefecta 100-Es were produced compared to 350,000 Anglias of the same period. The seller or a predecessor did a lot of work on this little car before losing interest (for whatever reason). We’re told the drivetrain and brakes were “gone through,” so it should be in running order now at 58,000 miles (or would that be kilometers?). An extra engine is part of the deal, should it ever be needed.
The interior appears tidy and may only need cleaning (that’s where one of the bumpers is stored). The trunk is full of a variety of parts. The body may only require minimal work before applying a new coat of light grey paint. This should be a cool car to finish (even with four doors) because you’re not likely to run into another one anytime soon. Bravo to Mike F. for the nifty tip.
Whoa, hold on fella, where did the “a” at the end come from? Prefect,,a? I’ve always heard them called “Prefect”, and no “a”, what gives? We laughed at the similarity to Perfect, and in true British fashion, has little to do with cars. Prefect means a person of authority that commands respect, and I never knew a Prefect was a 4 door Anglia. I see that now. I have a vague memory of an Anglia the old man may have had, or someone close. I’d say they were the Valiant or Maverick for Britain, working class cars, and at about $1400, most could afford one. More than a Morris( $1295) but less than a Sunbeam( $2300), see how that works? Our British cousins taught us well. These were nice cars.
I hope SolosoloUK sees this, seems a credible source on British doins’, answering your Borgward post, ‘ello mate, doing okay, as good as can be expected.
Hi Howard, as good as can be expected is par for the course for old farts like us. As for this PREFECT with the side valve engine it was a bit of a dog, but I had a later model with the OHV engine and it was a real go-er. Every second weekend I would drive from Ndola, in Zambia, to Harare in Zimbabwe, a distance of 500 miles. I left at 4.00 pm Friday and arrived in Harare at about 5 pm Saturday. Spent the night at home with the wife before leaving at 6 pm Sunday to get back in time for “work” at 8.00 am Monday! The speedo on that little car had a disc type speedo and it would stay in orange, which was about 70 mph hour after hour with the pedal to the metal and it never missed a beat! Did this trip six times and the only problem I ever had was being held up one time because there was a giraffe standing in the middle of the 9ft wide tarmac “road!” Great times. By the way, it went so well because it was a company car! Ha, ha.
Yes, it is small, but not as small as this Fiat I saw in Amsterdam yesterday!
Amsterdam,,,wait a second, it could be one of those hashish induced visions I’ve heard so much about. Kidding, kind of, but my daughter spent 8 months in Prague, wonderful place, she said, and traveling around the city was by bus, bike or cab, and cars just weren’t around. A stark difference from her home in L.A.
Saw a red one in a bicycle park in Amsterdam back in June. It looks like they’re allowed to park there because they’re so small and electric.
Please remove the “a” from “Prefect”. It doesn’t belong there, and is triggering my OCD! I bought one of these in similar condition about 40 years ago for $75. It ran, but had no brakes. I drove it home using the handbrake and luckily didn’t hit anything. I can’t believe they sold many of these “austerity models” in the US in the late ’50’s when America wanted large, flashy, tailfinned monsters. This will certainly be a labor of love to restore with zero upside potential-
I’m just surprised I’m the first to make a comment as to where my towel is. If you get it, you get it.
You sound like a real hoopy frood.
There was a time I would have looked at this and thought Prefect for a Wankel.
Nice little car but it needs to be re wired with a custom made American spec wiring harness to
keep it from burning to the ground. That Lucas electrical system caused a great many fires
over it’s lifetime. Combine that with the side draft carb, and you’ve got yourself a rolling hand
grenade. And repair parts, you won’t find ’em unless you either
know someone or live in or near
New York or Lost Angeles. At least that’s how it is in the Midwest or South where most mechanics won’t even touch these because they’re not made
in America. At least that’s the way things are here in Florida. When we lived in Polk County, it was all but impossible to find a
mechanic that would even try to
repair something like this. Just goes to show you what a pack of
ignorant hillbillies these people were back in the late ’80s. They
didn’t get their first foreign car repair shop until 2015 which was
located in Lake Alfred. And yes, I did see one of these at the monthly car show in Winter Haven once but it had been turned into a gasser clone that ran a 350 GM engine and drive line. That’s what you did if you wanted to keep one running and driving. Nice neighborhood car though. Just don’t take it out on Palm Bay Road here in Melbourne
as they’ll squash you like a grape!
The carburetor on this one is a downdraft. The engine is as the Brits prefer to call it, a side valve (aka flathead). Maybe that’s what you’re thinking of.
Perhaps the “a” was added to make it a Canadian model! 😁 The a should be removed.
Was “Prefecta” for the Italian market?
These cars were designed for British back roads and were not suited or designed for highways. They exported them to various British Commonwealth markets as low cost vehicles. Some would have gone to Canada, but only to the US in very limited numbers if at all.
I’ve seen a handful here in the States but more of them in Canada.
They came here, alright. Back in ’57 a female acquaintance at VPI of mine (ahem) had an new Anglia. I drove it and thought it was just a great little car- drove/handled well, roomy and economical- especially since my last car before returning to college after a “hiatus” had been a ’50 DeSoto with a hood that went into next week!
Had one of these in the UK around 1960, it was a 100E, 4 speed. great for British roads, did me well when I was young and crazy.
Your commenters are correct, it was a ‘Prefect’.
My father in law had an Anglia back in the 60’s and I have to say it is the worst car I have ever driven, by a mile. The poor little side valve engine has to be run all the way to valve float before shifting into second, where it will lug badly until it gathers enough revs to pull all the way up to valve float again before shifting into top gear where it will repeat the lugging through weak pulling, but never be able to go to valve float unless you drive drown a steep hill with the wind and the sun in your back. Uphill is torture because it will not be able to drive in third, so you have the bitterly complaining engine in second until you eventually reach the top where you can shift back into third.
It is in fact, PREFECT. Bought mine in 1970 for $75 – motor was dismantled at the time and relatively simple for a 15 year old with a handful of tools to bring to life. Spent a a lot of time on the side of the road as carburation was a rather new concept for me. Drove it to university for 2 years in all kinds of weather (vacuum wipers were ….interesting). Sold it to a neighbor a few years later for $100 – he was a Brit and thrilled to once again own a Ford “Popular”.
In which we learn Russ never read the Hitchhikers Guide.
During the 1958-9 import car baby boom, they advertised these as “It’s imported! It’s Ford! It’s yours for $1 a day!” I suspect they sold far more 2-door Anglias than 4-door Prefects here, anyone needing the extra rear seat access would’ve been inclined to buy a bigger car.
I remember seeing a few of these turned into gassers it was something seeing huge slicks sticking out the side of these cars and watching the front wheels come off the ground when they punched it.I don’t know how they found room for those big blocks sometimes and a place to sit.
Could you stuff a 260 or 289 in that thing? It would be closer to perfect then!
Or Perfecta?
As Howard A. and several others have said, it is a PREFECT, There were actually at least 3 different model lines – the ANGLIA, the PREFECT and the lowly POPULAR. The last was so basic that it lacked a heater and defroster and had a single vacuum-operated wiper. It was designed to cost 6 months of the average bloke’s salary – in 1959, GBP494
My first car was a 1959 Ford CONSUL during my sophomore year at high school in 1963.
The Consul was the big brother to the Prefect, Anglia & Popular.
Dad bought it at our local Austin, TX Lincoln-Mercury dealer that sold “English Fords.” The Consul was the top dog as the real top dogs ZEPHYR and ZODIAC stayed back in Dagenham, England.
This is I think a 100E, 1172cc flathead, at the end of the production run they fitted a 998cc ohv engine and designated it a 107E, Ford and others liked to trial a new engine in a model at the end of it’s production life, that way if it proved troublesome it did not tarnish the reputation of the new model, in this case it was the 105E Anglia (Harry Potter car) BMW also did this trial fitting of new engines into end of production models,
Actually, now I think about it, mine was a 107E, quite superior to its 100E brothers.