1967 Ford Anglia LOL,,,THE ONE WITH 69's ON THE SIDE

[Jonny69]

Long-term readers might remember when I was on here before I was restoring a red Ford Anglia with hilarious 69s on the doors. TLDR; I've still got it. Skip to the bottom now if you can't be bothered with chit chat.

Rough timeline:
Summer 2000: bought the car.
2001: engine and box change to hot crossflow and 2000E box.
Mid 2002: replaced rotten sills and significant amount of rotten floor and chassis.
Mid 2004: pulled car apart again to tackle bodywork, found it was very rotten elsewhere and started further structural work.
Mid 2005: started posting on here.
2007: finally painted the car.
Late 2008: car back on the road, initially with very tired hot 1700.
RRG 2009: engine rebuild expired on the M3 on the way, got messed around by an engine builder, replaced with bone-stock 1200 engine to get it back on the road.
RRG 2010 (?): 69s went back on the doors in the RRG camp site at Prescott.
...
insert blank
...
2016: hot 1700 engine build at TAB Weekender (according to Google). Engine didn't last long after poor head work (mentioned above) reared its ugly face. Engine changed to the FromKevFromWalesButWasOriginallyRmad'sDad's 1500cc "guaranteed good" engine after much pressure from KFW and rmad to fit it.
May 2016: photo shoot at Brooklands and feature in Retro Ford magazine.
Mid 2017: KFW engine had indeed been very good but I'd done a million miles on it on my new long commute and it was getting tired. Simple hone, rings and bearings rebuild. Still good.
September 2018: car was not being used much and needed a few things doing so I popped it in the garage for the winter to keep it out the weather.

July 2020: still in the garage:



July 2021: no change to above

Ok, so it's coming up to 3 years and the car hasn't moved. I think it was a sensible move to put it in the garage even though I haven't used it. The garage is not watertight, but it's mostly weatherproof and, apart from being filthy, I don't think the car has deteriorated too much. I've got to the point where I feel it's time to pull it out again. However, I took that pic above as a prompt to pull it out the garage and that means another year has slipped past.

So then, plans:

• Get some air in the tyres
• Roll the car out into the daylight so I can have a better look at it
• Make a new list

It's been standing a long time so it's going to need a few things dealing with before I can use it again. I did have a list of maintenance that needed addressing, which was partly the reason I put it in the garage originally. I think I can remember what most of those were. On top of that, I'm expecting some other things due to standing long-term: the engine is probably stuck and will need freeing; brakes are off but probably well seized up; tank of fuel is probably now slime; coolant probably the same; brake fluid was quite new so that might be ok; battery is off but is long-dead (RIP SWEET HALFORDS PRINCE).

[westbay]

Don't forget brake fluid is hygroscopic ...

[grizz]

You may need to add a pic or two of its stable mate at the time I used to visit you on the way home from the mental health hospital.

[spacekadett]

Read the Honda thread the other day and wondered if you still had this. Shouldn’t take a lot to get it running; me and a mate dragged one off a driveway that had been parked since 96 ( complete with mission aborted, gone for a spliff sticker!). A jump pack and a quick scrape of the points and we were blezzing it around the yard in ten minutes 😃
You might even get away with the fuel; I got my Mini running again last year and that fired up ok on 2017 vintage petrol, though I really should put some fresh in and put some miles on it.
Looking forward to the revival 🙂

[Jonny69]

Aug 10, 2021 12:30:55 GMT westbay said:

Don't forget brake fluid is hygroscopic ...

Hehe, I was thinking more from the perspective of maybe I'd be scraping it out the slave cylinders with a spoon

Aug 10, 2021 12:34:43 GMT grizz said:

You may need to add a pic or two of its stable mate at the time I used to visit you on the way home from the mental health hospital.

That was a long time ago, would have been the Pop? Good times!

Aug 10, 2021 12:50:56 GMT spacekadett said:

Read the Honda thread the other day and wondered if you still had this. Shouldn’t take a lot to get it running; me and a mate dragged one off a driveway that had been parked since 96 ( complete with mission aborted, gone for a spliff sticker!). A jump pack and a quick scrape of the points and we were blezzing it around the yard in ten minutes 😃
You might even get away with the fuel; I got my Mini running again last year and that fired up ok on 2017 vintage petrol, though I really should put some fresh in and put some miles on it.
Looking forward to the revival 🙂

Points won't be an issue because I ended up being a victim of not not being able to find a reliable condensor and finally succumbed to electronic ignition. But it was running when I put it away and it had plenty of antifreeze in the coolant, so in theory it ought to fire up without too much of a fight. Will probably pop the top off the carb and flush it out as best I can and suck the fuel up before I start cranking. I'll have a keen 3-year old helper, nothing can go wrong!

[grizz]

No, your 32 or whatever year it ws.

[Jonny69]

Aug 10, 2021 14:06:17 GMT grizz said:

No, your 32 or whatever year it ws.

27 T - here we are.

I brought one of the Anglia engines home in it. Two of us lifted it in to the passenger footwell. I drove home carefully, trying not to let it roll onto my legs. No help at home so I lifted it straight out with the engine crane and wheeled it across the car park!

[grizz]

That’s the girl.

Loved that car.

I was like a stalker every time I visited you, first go look, smell, touch and smile at that car.

It was such a head turner.

[Jonny69]

Random update - I found this picture on the NSRA forum from the 2004 NSRA Supernats. This was after I did the floors and sills, but before I tore the rest of it apart and did the other structural stuff and bodywork. It's still got its original doors and front panels and the original 69s.

[Alpina99]

It'll be very interesting to see you recomission this,
(Prefer the orange colour to the current red,)
Looking forward to seeing future updates on this thread,
Nigel

[HARDCORE]

Much excite to see this back out & about

[Jonny69]

Sept 29, 2021 13:36:49 GMT Alpina99 said:

(Prefer the orange colour to the current red,)

It's exactly the same red! Poor lighting and a bit of Pogweasel pink vs vintage camera orangey white balance on a sunny day in 2004.

[Jonny69]

TLDR; she runs!

Stage 1: get it out the garage.

Not completely straightforward, because after 3 years the tyres were almost flat and the front left was against the wall and I couldn't get to it easily. Also, pumping up tyres on my old rubbish with no ciggy lighter socket has always been a pain in backside. No longer. My trusty old Halfords 12V pump kicked the bucket a while back and I decided to get a cordless one. Already had the batteries and it worked out about £10 more than a normal one.



That enabled this:



That's the first daylight it's seen since September 2018. It's quite dirty:



It's also been used as someone's dining room. Convenient:



Anyway, I'd left the handbrake off when I parked it up which meant the rear brakes were free and the front discs were only very slightly binding. Literally just because of the surface rust, which was a relief. It pushed out the garage fairly easily.

Stage 2: essential checks.

Clutch and brake pedal felt fine. Handbrake operated fine. Interior dry and clean, except for the grass and detritus from RRG 2018. Squirted WD40 on a couple of things. Tank had a couple of litres remaining of something that I couldn't see but smelled vaguely like petrol. Coolant was a little low but I can't remember how much was in there. Coolant was maybe my biggest worry, because I'd left it full and I don't know how well headgaskets stay sealed if left stored for years. Key thing was it did have antifreeze in it, not just water.

Stage 3: engine fire up.

First things first; new battery. I had the old one indoors but I categorically forgot to charge it and it was completely dead.



I did a couple of things to make my life easier. Popped all the plugs out and pulled the HT lead out the coil. I put a squirt of WD40 in each bore. Just enough to wet the rings. Whenever I do this with oil, it makes the engine impossible to start so I thought I'd try WD40 this time. Then I checked it wasn't seized. Gave the waterpump a crank to loosen it off. I put a spanner on the crank bolt and tried to turn it but it didn't want to go, so I put it in 4th gear and rocked it back and forth. I put 9 litres of fresh petrol in the tank and sucked the fuel up the pipe to prime the pump. Then popped the top off the carb to check it wasn't full of gunge. Bone dry inside and not even any debris, which I have to admit I wasn't expecting to find.

So at that point I cranked it over on the starter motor a couple of turns to a) get the oil moving round it, b) check the fuel pump was pumping and c) let it squirt some fuel into the float bowl and a little bit down the carb barrel to get the jets etc well wet with fuel and hopefully fuel moving through. The coil was sparking like crazy so I knew the electronic ignition was working fine. Then I primed the throttle pump and put the top back on the carb.



Then I gave the plugs a good wire brush and put them back in. Didn't bother getting them perfect, just clean enough to spark:



I put the plugs back in and after a couple of cranks and bit of accelerator pumping it fired up and ran like the last time I ran it was last week. No funny noises, nothing. I was pretty chuffed. Not bad considering it was only 4 degrees C out.

Test drive next. Everything seemed to still work. I gently applied the brakes a few times to scuff them off, then applied them hard a couple of times to check they worked ok. Then a gentle local drive to check things over and knock the glaze off the tyres. All ok and took it home to hoover it out. I'd forgotten how responsive this car is to drive and how well it goes round corners!



No current plans to clean it. What I am planning to do is to get the Lotus wheels re-shod with new tyres:



These have been sat in the shed for years since I changed the look back in 2016, when it had the Retro Ford feature at Brooklands. I can't get my favoured 185/55/13 tyres any more so I'll have to get 185/60/13 instead. They're a bit taller, so it's going to have more of a 60s/70s tuned Anglia look than its original 90s South London look. Next stop: Brooklands Classic Car meet on New Year's Day.

[mylittletony]

aw yeah!! Looking forward to seeing this out and about

[trikkisixx]

I wasn't on RR when this was first documented so am only seeing it for the first time today! I love it! Keep us updated

[Jonny69]

Dec 20, 2021 10:10:27 GMT trikkisixx said:

I wasn't on RR when this was first documented so am only seeing it for the first time today! I love it! Keep us updated

Thanks! I’m really chuffed to have it running again and quite surprised how little it has deteriorated. I was really expecting to find a few surprises after it had been standing for so long. But I guess I’d kept it pretty well maintained prior to that.

[trikkisixx]

Dec 20, 2021 11:32:45 GMT Jonny69 said:

Dec 20, 2021 10:10:27 GMT trikkisixx said:

I wasn't on RR when this was first documented so am only seeing it for the first time today! I love it! Keep us updated

Thanks! I’m really chuffed to have it running again and quite surprised how little it has deteriorated. I was really expecting to find a few surprises after it had been standing for so long. But I guess I’d kept it pretty well maintained prior to that.

Yeah that's a definite rarity with cars of this vintage and nature! Just shows that if you look after them they will keep going  

[blackpopracing]

Hi Jon,

I'm probably going to Brooklands so it would be good to see you again. Good to see the Anglia getting a bit of love again.
Is it worth looking at 14 or 15" rims with lower profile rubber to keep the diameter the same but easier to get tyres?

[Jonny69]

Would be great to see you Mark!

So I did look at bigger wheels at one point. Problem with 14” is there are just no tyre options. 15” has a lot more, but they’d have to be mega low profile (would need to be like a 185/30 or something) and I don’t think that would suit the car.

[Rich]

Missed this thread somehow until now (admittedly not a lot of time has passed since you posted it) but happy to see it making a comeback. Very much a memorable RR car for me.