Sold from 1939 to 1967, the Ford Anglia is an iconic car in the United Kingdom. The compact was imported to North America starting in 1948, but it failed to make an impression in a market obsessed with full-size vehicles. However, it became a popular choice among drag racers in the 1960s.
That's when the NHRA changed the rules to allow short-wheelbase cars at the drag strip and racers started turning compacts into gassers. Willys models from the 1930s and 1940s are arguably the most popular, but some enthusiasts also modified old Ford Anglia coupes. Even though they looked funky and their tall center of gravity made them quite unpredictable, they were lightweight and easy to work on.
Many of these Anglia gassers were wrecked or left to rot away in barns once their drag racing days came to an end, but they're vividly remembered as the oddball cars of the racing scene. You won't see many of them hit the track at nostalgia gasser events nowadays, but Randy Schmitt of the Nickey Performance Gasser Shop decided to change that with an altered racer based on a 1959 Anglia.
This dragster came to life just a few years ago, after Randy bought the two-door and transplanted the boxy body onto a rectangular frame with a Nickey straight front axle and a John’s Industries nine-inch Ford rear end with 4.56 gears. Randy also altered the wheelbase by five inches (127 mm) in the rear and four inches (101 mm) in the front in the process.
The cabin was stripped-off to make room for drag-specific gear, including a V-shaped dashboard with only a couple of gauges and a three-spoke steering wheel. A full roll-cage provides protection in the event of a crash. But while most gassers are devoid of door panels and passenger seats, Randy decided to keep them and went with white-and-red candy stripe upholstery for a 1950s vibe.
A stunner inside and out, this racer won the best gasser award presented by the Gasser Wars Magazine at Byron Dragway's 2021 Glory Day's Vintage Drag Racing Event.
And the altered Anglia is not of the "all show, no go" variety. Beneath that shiny Hampton 6-71 blower lurks a 355-cubic-inch (5.8-liter) small-block V8 tuned by Steve Quickel. The engine packs a whopping 750 horsepower, which hits the rear wheels through a Muncie M22 Rock Crusher transmission with a Hurst shifter.
There's no footage of the Anglia running the quarter-mile, but it's safe to assume that it's quick enough to cover the distance in less than 10 seconds. And needless to say, the race-spec V8 sounds fantastic while idling. Check it all out in the video below.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News