VW Beetles (old air cooled)

Jackmydad

iolanthe07 wrote: »

you never see a Ford Anglia on the road these days, do you? I have fond memories of ours .


The older version of these only had three forward gears and a side valve engine, which really struggled. Also, the windscreen wipers worked on induction from the engine, so when you were stopped at lights they went like the clappers, and when you at top speed (around 55 mph!) they almost stopped working altogether. I thought the Morris Minor of the time was far superior at about the same price (though £12 extra for a heater, iirc.)

They also made a "Prefect" which was basically a 4 door 100e fitted with a OHV lump
Bottom of the page here 107E
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Prefect
Had a Moggie Thou, and didn't like it.

Car_54

Houbara wrote: »

I blame the movie Herbie for its popularity. There can t possibly be any other explanation for such a poor design being so popular.
Morris Minors, who copied the Beetle style were much better all round
The old VW Campers are even worse and the most overpriced camper on the roads

Nonsense. Squillions were built and sold long before the movie.

[Deleted User]

Car_54 wrote: »

Nonsense. Squillions were built and sold long before the movie.

Total sales were 21 mill, ended production in 2003,, 1971 was the peak sales year at 1,3 mill .Herbie was first shown in 1968.
Still a complete mystery on why the worst car on Earth sold so well. Clever VW marketing probably and they carried on their tricks until caught out fiddling the emissions levels. Well done the USA for teaching VW a lesson and suing the pants off them . Pity the E.U. is nt as strong as the USA when it comes to compensations
The Type 1 beetle is an unbelievably poor car in every respect and the type 2 campervans are much much worse

iolanthe07

Still a complete mystery on why the worst car on Earth sold so well.



If you think the Beetle was the worst car in the world, you obviously have never driven a Wartburg Knight(?), a two stroke rust bucket from East Germany.

lincroft1710

Jackmydad wrote: »

They also made a "Prefect" which was basically a 4 door 100e fitted with a OHV lump
Bottom of the page here 107E
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Prefect

The 107E Prefect was a stopgap. In 1953 Ford introduced the 100E 2 door Anglia and 100E 4 door Prefect both powered by 1172 cc SV engines with 3 speed gearbox. In 1959 with the introduction of the 105E 997 cc OHV Anglia with 4 speed gearbox, the 100E Anglia with simplified tail lights became the 100E Popular, and the 100E Prefect was fitted with the 105E's 997 cc engine and 4 speed gearbox to become the 107E Prefect.

The 107E Prefect was dropped in 1961 to make way for the 109E Consul Classic 315

facade

I kept forgetting to look it up, but I wondered where the 100E popular fitted in, I didn't realise it was just a renamed Anglia when the proper anglebox came out and took the name.

lincroft1710

facade wrote: »

I kept forgetting to look it up, but I wondered where the 100E popular fitted in, I didn't realise it was just a renamed Anglia when the proper anglebox came out and took the name.

It was a similar price to the newly introduced Mini and as 126,000 were made in its 3 yr production run, it probably made a big dent in the Mini's early sales as it offered a "traditional" alternative to the revolutionary Mini. In its first few years, a lot of car buyers (mainly older people) were not fans of the Mini.