There are cars with some history and others with an incredible tale to tell. This one falls into the latter category.
Bought new in South Yorkshire in 1959, 247 UYN remained with its first owner right up until 1988.
During that period, the owner looked after it diligently, retaining every single hand-written invoice and receipt from the same garage in Thorne, near Doncaster. They build up an incredible story of a car that was clearly well loved.
The car reappeared in the 1990s and was given a partial restoration by its new owners, before it was sold in 2017 to the current keeper, who received it as a surprise gift.
On inspecting the car, though, he found it to be quite rotten, so he enrolled a restoration company to assist and had it professionally rebuilt and repainted, going with a very personalised rest-mod look that really suits it.
Bought as a standard 100E, when the vendor decided to evaluate what work the car might need he found corrosion inside the bodyshell and bit the bullet, opting to have it stripped, blasted, repaired and repainted from bare metal.
That was when he also decided on a resto-mod theme, so the car was lowered slightly, banded steel wheels fitted and the colour changed from its original, paler blue to 1970s Ford Olympic Blue.
It’s a fantastic paint job and the car looks amazing with its slightly modified appearance.
Under the bonnet you’ll find a freshly rebuilt version of Ford’s popular 1,172cc side-valve engine with some small performance upgrades, along with braided hoses that are partly for aesthetics but also help ensure that the car will run on modern E10 fuels with no risk of fuel line deterioration.
The engine was fully rebuilt as part of the car’s restoration and is still running in, having covered only around 200 miles since.
The vendor has noted that there is an oil seal leak from the engine that leaks oil from between the sump and crankshaft and drips out of the bellhousing. They a have new seal that will be supplied with the car.
The vendor has also renewed the entire braking and suspension system as part of the car’s rebuild.
The Popular is one of the most identifiable British cars of the 1960s and this one is a truly charming example that has a lot of collector appeal, not only because it’s from the first full year of production but also because it’s in very good overall condition, having been subject to a quality restoration.
The exterior and interior are lovely and it drives as it ought to.
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