![]()
Model Identification
Major body design differences.
Model “Y” short radiator (short rad) saloon. August 1932 – end September 1933. Production of the Model “Y” commenced at Dagenham on 10 August 1932. Initially, only two-door (Tudor) models were made, the four-door (Fordor) not being produced before 22 September. Although there were a number of design changes over the following year, the ‘short rad’ can be easily recognised by the nine louvres on the bonnet side, the straight, ribbed bumpers, the radiator grille too short to include a starting handle hole (this was in the front valance below the grille), ‘diamond’ shaped door handles and the mudguards without trailing skirts. A total of 26,895 short rads, including 2209 Fordor De Luxe, were built, many for export (LHD cars were built w.e.f. December 1932). The plucky little 933 cc sidevalve engine produced 22 brake horse power. |
Model “Y” long radiator (long rad) saloon. October 1934 – 13 August 1937.
This was Eugene Gregorie’s final styling for the Model “Y” which Edsel Ford had scaled up to become the V8 Model 40. The more ‘streamlined’ look incorporated only six louvres on the bonnet side, a deeper V shaped radiator grille with a hole for the starting handle, a dipped single-grooved front bumper and straight single-grooved rear bumper, mudguards with valance ‘skirts’ behind the wheels and ‘art deco’ streamlined door handles. The more obvious visual changes during the production of the earlier ‘Intermediate’ long rad models included the replacement of the central piano- type bonnet hinge by a chrome strip hinge; the change from an engine-turned instrument panel inserted in one of the glove compartment spaces (depending on whether R.H.D. or L.H.D.) to a centrally located set of instruments in a black one-piece dashboard and improvements to the front lights, which finally resulted in combined side and head lights with a diamond shaped Magniflex bar. On the introduction of the De Luxe Model “C” in September 1934, the Model “Y” became known as the “Popular”. From this date, no further De Luxe Model “Y”s were manufactured. In October 1935, the price of the Tudor Model “Y” was reduced to £100, the first and only saloon car to ever be sold at that price. It was raised to £105 from 1 July 1937. A total of 108,343 Tudor and Fordor long rad Model “Y”s were manufactured at Dagenham. As with the short rad, many were shipped in Completely Knocked Down (CKD) state in crates to the various European and Empire Ford assembly plants (note:- short rad bumpers were fitted to export long rad cars (less those to the Irish Free State) until the surplus stock of short rad bumpers was exhausted – approx. April 1934) |
Two-door (Tudor) long rad Model “Y” ‘Popular’
|
Model “Y” short rad 5 cwt van. 14 November 1932 – October 1934.
Some 3,034 8 h.p. 5 cwt short rad vans were built, production starting on 14
November 1932. Initially (Briggs body numbers 121/---) they had running boards,
front bumpers, a large door on the near side and the spare wheel mounted on
the off-side running board (hence no door on the driver’s side). From
12 June 1933, (Briggs body number 126/---) the running boards were discontinued
to aid mounting and dismounting (a mud flap was added to the rear of the front
wings), a smaller door was introduced and the spare wheel was mounted on the
off-side door, which now opened. |
Small door double entrance short rad van |
Model “Y” long rad 5 cwt van. October 1934 – 30 November 1937.
The improvements to the long rad 5 cwt van styling reflected the changes introduced
on the long rad saloon. Additionally, the front bumper was dispensed with and
longer mud flaps were attached to the rear of the front wings. Separate side
lights remained in production well after they were discontinued on the saloon,
to use up surplus stock. The short rad ‘diamond’ shaped door handles
were retained on the van through to the end of production on 30 November 1937,
a total of 26,572 long rad vans having been manufactured. The spare wheel was
moved from the off-side door to the near-side door in October 1936. Note:- the
Model “Y” van was never manufactured with rear windows, only with
three horizontal air vents in each of the rear doors. A number of vans were
converted to pick-ups, either by professional coachbuilders or privately. Some
conversions to ‘woodies’ are also known. |
Long rad van converted to pick-up |
Model “Y” Tug and Allan Taylor tractor.
Launched in October 1935, the Tug was a three wheeled ‘mechanical horse’, approved and marketed by the Ford Motor Company, and designed and built at County Commercial Cars Ltd., Fleet, Hampshire, using Model “Y” engines and ancillaries and body parts from Dagenham (Briggs body number 161/---). Available as a tractor with or without a two or four wheeled trailer. Not a successful venture; only 111 vehicles were manufactured, although 121 bodies were made by Briggs. County Commercial Cars also marketed a three-wheeled van based on a similar design called the ‘Devon’, the Tug having originally been called the ‘Dorset’by the company. |
|
County Commercial Cars Ltd. Devon van |
Model “Y” special bodied cars. The launch of the Model “Y” coincided with the depth of the Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Money was scarce and Ford dealers faced major competition from traditional English makes. Their plight was not helped by Ford’s decision not to make an open-topped version of the Model “Y” as it was felt that, with a ladder-type chassis, the doors would fly open and the rigidity provided by an enclosed body was the only answer. In order to attract potential customers into their showrooms, the major dealers purchased rolling chassis from Dagenham and commissioned local coachbuilders to produce attractive open-topped bodies. As the coachbuilders were also suffering in the Depression, they were only too willing to take on the work. Some 24 different body styles have been identified. The more attractive ones created a demand and were sold in significant numbers, some of which have survived. The introduction of the cheaper, massed-produced Morris 8 Tourer in 1934 killed off the demand for these relatively expensive hand-built specials. Survivors include:- |
|
|
|
Jensen Bros. Ltd. ‘Mistral’ tourer |
Model “Y” Jennings conversion.
A speciality of J.H. Jennings & Son, Ltd., Motor Body Builders of Sandbach, Cheshire, was to cut out the rear of a standard saloon car and replace it with a door. With the rear seats removed and a false floor inserted, under which was stored the spare tyre, a useful car cum van was created. A number of Tudor Model “Y”s were converted to ‘utility’ cars, one of which is known to have survived, having spent much of its useful life in the Sudan.
|
The 10 h.p. De Luxe Model “C” saloon. 10 September 1934 –11 November 1935.
The trend towards manufacturers bringing out new replacement models every two
years had taken hold in America by the early 1930s. It was Ford headquarters’
plan to replace the Model “Y” in Europe in 1935 with a new model.
Because of the success of the Model “Y” and because of the cost
of re-tooling the production line for a new model at the cash-strapped Dagenham,
Sir Percival Perry convinced Ford headquarters in Dearborn to continue production
of the 8 h.p. Model “Y” and manufacture the proposed successor,
a 10 h.p. Model “C”, on the same production line. Perry had seen
the drawings for the 1935 V8 (Model 48) during his visit to Dearborn in November
1933 and had asked for its design details with a view to scaling them down for
the proposed Model "Y" successor. The basic design, without any chrome
embellishments, was unveiled at the Ford Dealers’ Convention at Blackpool
on 17th September 1934. The Model "Y" and the Model "C"
were marketed as the Ford “Popular” and the Ford "De Luxe".
Thereafter, no further De Luxe Model “Y”s were manufactured. The
Model “C” took ‘streamlining’ up a notch, with no running
boards and a teardrop-shaped rear. It was a wider car than its predecessor but,
because of its bulbous shape, it was known in the vernacular as the ‘Barrel
Ford'. It boasted a larger 1172cc sidevalve engine producing a further 10 brake
horse power (32.5 b.h.p.) over the Model “Y”. The Model “C”
had a plain radiator grille and horizontal louvres on the bonnet sides. Neither
carried any chrome strips. Tudor and Fordor versions were available, with and
without a sliding roof. A total of 17,244 Model “C” De Luxe saloon
cars were manufactured during the 14 months of its production. |
10 hp De Luxe Model “CX” saloon. 14 October 1935 – 22 March 1937.
The 112 inch wheel-base 1935 V8 Model 48 (Model 60 in England) was introduced
in the U.S.A. in December 1934, three months after the unveiling of the Model
"C". It was for this reason that the Model "C" did not look
as glitzy as the Model 48. However, similar chrome embellishments to the Model
48 were added to the Model “C” and, with a few additional minor
changes, the Model “CX” was launched at the Ford Motor Exhibition
at the Royal Albert Hall on 17 October 1935. Four equally spaced chrome strips
(chevrons) now adorned the radiator grille and three horizontal chrome strips
gave a more ‘streamlined’ look to the bonnet sides, which now had
vertical louvres along their length. The main change inside the car was the
move of the traffic indicator switch from the gear lever to the steering wheel
and the addition of a central clock on the dashboard, rather than a small clock
in the rear view mirror. Despite its lively performance, the public did not
take to the design and sales started to drop off at the end of 1936. Production
of the saloon was transferred on 22 March 1937 from the “CX” to
the English designed 10 hp 7W. A total of 27,940 Model “CX” saloons
were manufactured. Many were exported in crated CKD condition, especially to
Copenhagen, Barcelona and Lower Hutt, New Zealand. Some 3,500 rolling chassis
in KD condition were also exported to Australia, where they received bodies
indigenous to that country. |
10 hp De Luxe Model “C” and “CX” tourers. 2 May 1935 – 1 March 1937. Because the Model “C” chassis was of a more rigid design than the
Model “Y”, a 10 hp tourer was manufactured at Dagenham, using the
same transmission and body styling and panels, where possible, as the saloon
car. It filled a niche in the market between the up-to 1000 cc and the six cylinder/V8
sports cars cum tourers and its pleasing lines and lively performance enhanced
its attraction. Coming into production late in the day (2 May 1935), the Model
“C” tourer only sold 1068 cars before it was replaced by the Model
“CX” tourer on 25 January 1936. The Model “CX” was not
much more successful, selling only 1795 cars before its demise on 1 March 1937.
Because the tourer did not suffer the effects of the rust trap caused by the
less than waterproof rear windows in the saloon version, a relatively large
percentage of tourers has survived. It remains a very attractive car. |
Model “C”/ “CX” Special bodied vehicles
Jensen Bros. Ltd. of West Bromwich built two smart bodies on the 10 hp rolling chassis. A 4-seater sports body, called a Hurricane, in both the Model “C” and “CX” form, and a close-coupled Drop Head Coupé on the “CX” chassis. These were marketed through Bristol Street Motors Ltd. in Birmingham.
|
Jensen Bros. Ltd. Model “CX” drop-head-coupé |
Dagenham Motors Ltd. of Balderton Street, London, commissioned both van and
pick-up bodies on the Models “C” and “CX” chassis.
|
Dagenham Motors Ltd. Model “C” pick-up |
Allan Taylor Engineering & Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Wandsworth, London, produced a groundsman’s general purpose ‘Coronation’ tractor based on the front end of the Model “CX” with 10:1 gearing on a special back axle. They also produced a commercial traveller’s, or trader’s detachable roof for the Model “C”/ “CX” tourer, on which the trader could print his livery. |
Allan Taylor Ltd. detachable roof for Model “CX” tourer
|
The Ford Motor Company A/S, Copenhagen, supplied Ford vehicles to much of Scandinavia (less Sweden and Finland) and Poland under the names Ford Junior (Model “Y”) and Ford Junior De Luxe (Model “C”/“CX”). As with other European countries, because of the tariff barriers, locally procured material was incorporated into the CKD vehicles imported from Dagenham. A similar arrangement with Ford’s Cologne factory as with Ford Ibérica was instituted in 1936, whereby German built cars were supplied to Copenhagen to help Ford Cologne’s export figures. Copenhagen assembled vehicles can be identified by the oval plaque riveted to the bulkhead above the tool box. |
|
| To take advantage of the lower tariffs between British Empire countries, the
Ford Motor Company of Canada was awarded the franchise for the supply of Ford
vehicles throughout the Empire. All orders for vehicles were placed on Ford
of Canada in Windsor, Ontario, across the Detroit River from Dearborn, and Fords
destined for the Empire countries were shipped from there, other than the small
Fords and other vehicles built solely at Dagenham which, on instructions from
Windsor, were shipped direct from the jetty at Dagenham. Models 'Y' and 'C'/'CX' were shipped from Dagenham in a Built Up state, other than to Australia, India, Malaya, New Zealand and South Africa, which had their own assembly plants and received the vehicles in crates in a CKD (Completely Knocked Down) state. Indigenous variations to body design appeared in Australia and, in the case of the Model 'C' van, in New Zealand. |
| Because of the classification of complete cars as luxury goods during the First World War and hence exorbitant import duties being charged, a thriving indigenous coachbuilding industry grew up and all Australian cars had bodies built in-country on imported running chassis. Hence the Ford Motor Company of Australia Pty., when built on the harbour-front at Geelong, Victoria, in 1925, incorporated a body building company, the Ford Manufacturing Company of Australia Pty. Their brilliant young designer, Lew Bandt, was responsible for a number of different body styles suited to the rough Australian roads, the weather and the lifestyle. All sedans (saloons) were Fordor models. Assembly plants were also built in Adelaide, South Australia; Fremantle, Western Australia; Brisbane, Queensland and Sydney, New South Wales. |
Model “Y”. June 1933 – 1936 The first CKD rolling chassis did not arrive in Australia until June 1933, nine months after the launch of the Model “Y” in England. Six different body styles were built on to the chassis, each with its distinctive body number; sedan (standard and de luxe) – 19S … , Coupe (de luxe) – 19C … , Phaeton (standard and de luxe) – 19P … , Roadster (standard and de luxe) – 19R … , Utility (straight side and well side) – 19LD … , Panel van – 19PD. Note, LD stood for Light Delivery and PD, Panel Delivery. The body style number, followed by the batch number, was hand-stamped on the left hand end of the tool box. e.g. 19PD 42 was the 42nd Panel van assembled. The early long rads had short rad bumpers. Few Model “Y”s were sold after the introduction of the Model “C”, which was better suited to the Australian environment. |
Model “Y” sedan body no: 19S 480 on side of toolbox. |
|
|
|
|
|
These were sold in much greater numbers. As with the Model “Y”, the Model “C” body styles and body numbers were:- Sedan – 20S … , Coupe – 20C … , Roadster – 20R … , Utility (straight sided and well-sided) – 20LD … and Van – 20PD … The Model “CX” body numbers carried a letter ‘B’ after the 20, e.g. Sedan – 20BS … . A “CX” Phaeton was produced (20BP … ), although it seems identical to the English Model “CX” tourer, but with external door handles; only two seem to have been manufactured of which one (20PB 2) survives. The “C” and “CX” body numbers were hand-stamped on the left hand end of the tool box. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Colonial Motor Company Ltd., based in Wellington, held the Ford franchise in New Zealand from 1908. In 1922, the company built an assembly plant, which assembled CKD vehicles imported from Dagenham until November 1936, when the Ford assembly plant opened at Lower Hutt on the outskirts of Welling ton. The New Zealand vehicles were identical to the Dagenham ones, except that from November 1936, Ford assembled vehicles carried a hand stamping on the front of the battery box. The numbering system seemed to settle down to a logic of 8NZ … for the Model “Y” and 10NZ … for the Model “CX” assembly. The Colonial Motor Company commissioned Standard Motor Bodies Ltd. to build a van body for the Model “C”/ “CX” rolling chassis. |
|
|