Shrek’s Fat Ride

from Custom Car January 2023

Fitment Show

Gary Brady bought his first Ford Pop back in the mid-80s. It was light blue and it was powered by a V6 that had a blower strapped to it.

The car had been stood in the seller’s garden for a while and needed to be extricated before ary could drive it home hich he did, much to the seller’s surprise. But what happened next wasn’t a surprise to anyone.

As an avid reader of both Custom Car and Street Machine, and a member of Charnwood Cruisers, a car club that was set up in 1975 and is still going strong all these years later, Gary was keen to get the Pop ship shape. And some six months later, it was.

Of course, being a car fan means that they come and go. And the Pop did, to be followed by several others as well as a variety of Minis and Capris. Until recently, Gary’s daily driver was a 1997 Escort van that had been airbrushed with various scenes depicting knights in armour and the Grim Reaper on the bonnet and a full-on blue fur interior. His partner Sharon detests it, and the bad news is that though we’re talking about the vehicle in the past tense that’s only because Gary has taken it off the road to give it a rest. In the meantime, when we took these pictures he was getting set to enjoy the coming summer with the roof down on his Audi convertible.

So that gives you a picture of the man and his cars. One night, while casually browsing eBay, he came across this late Ford Anglia, dating from 1953, which had been significantly modified by Richard Gordge.

Over a fourteen-year timespan, he had widened and lengthened the Anglia and fitted a 400ci (6.6-litre) Chevy small-block motor. For whatever reason, after completing the extensive bodywork the car got moved on and ended up on the auction site where Gary thought it was just up his street.

Jaguar became part of Ford about a decade and a half after the back axle under this particular Ford was made, which is either a really heroic attempt to keep it in the family or a particularly strained attempt at nding a theme for a caption t s a standardwidth LSD job from an XJS, and rather than being narrowed it s covered over by wings containing an extra of glass bre

The Anglia had been widened by 10.5” and lengthened by a full foot. Its chassis, which obviously had to be remade, now consists of one built in a Jago style out of 4x2” box with 2x2” crossbracing; off of this, Richard had hung the suspension from a Triumph Vitesse.

he Anglia s track stands 10 wider than standard o help take care of this its front wings have been extended by 2 each Right: This angle shows the extra width in the wings pretty well Overall the car stands 10 wider and a foot longer

Left: When you consider how many horses it s possible to get from a 00ci engine an output of 2 bhp shows you ust how wonderfully unstressed it is in standard form A nice long stroke makes it a tor ue monster too ideal for towing a caravan then his one is largely standard though there s nothing that can t be improved by the addition of a 0cfm Edelbrock Performer carb

On the outside, the original roof was removed and replaced with one from a Volvo estate, complete with a sunroof. Up front went fibreglass wings, widened by 2.5”,

Whether booting the bass is as good as booting the nitro is for you to decide

The dash needed to be made from scratch to suit the car’s wider proportions. Its top was made out of the truck lids from two Vauxhall Chevettes, and the facia looks like it was cut from an entire oak burr. There used to be a Rover SD1 steering column poking through the Anglia’s bulkhead, but that’s long since been replaced by a stainless steel effort from Pop Brown. The billet ali wheel on the end of it is unlikely to be mistaken for one off a bus Left: The front seats, which are Recaros, started life in a Vauxhall. Ian Cherry at Car and Coach Trimmers in Nottingham was given free rein with the colour scheme and decided to base it on Shrek, as you do

Below: When Gary bought the Anglia, it had two old Lancia seats in the back e nitely not the message you want to convey when you’ve got a queue of blushing brides waiting to be transported to a new life. Back over to Ian Cherry again; he lobbed the whole lot in a skip and built this custom bench seat. Marital harmony starts here

while at the back the rears have an extra 6” of glass included and cover a standardwidth Jag LSD rear end, that hot-rodders’ favourite, which came from a 1980s’ XJS.

The large body was then painted in Polynesian Turquoise, from the palette offered by Rover on its 200 Coupe model (which was nicknamed Tomcat after its project codename, not to be confused with the similarly titled Land Rover based race truck [something you’re frankly unlikely to do]), and some pinstriping added.

Attached to the wings are a pair of Morris Minor tail lights. Gary says he had thought about changing these to something a little more modern, but that he was severely dissuaded from making the switch by a mate.

Obviously the bonnet and boot lid had to be adapted to fit, otherwise the slam panels would become more like waft panels. And for the same reason, a new dash had to be built. If you pay any attention to the world of modern cars, you might have heard manufacturers like Volvo and Land Rover (them again) banging on about ‘floating dashboards’, but rather than an optical illusion that’s literally what Richard would have been left with. Well, not so much floating as lying on the floor, but you get the idea. Anyway, the top of the dash was made out of the truck lids from two Vauxhall Chevettes.

Elsewhere in the interior, when Gary bought the car it had one seat in the front and two Lancia items in the rear, along

with a Shrek toy. This was the state of play when was delivered to Ian Cherry at Car and Coach Trimmers in Nottingham.

Ian was left to his own devices with regards to colours and design and he promptly took his inspiration from the large cuddLy toy, which now incidentally has to accompany Gary to every event he attends. A pair of Recaro seats from a Vauxhall now inhabits the front area, while Ian was so unhappy with ones in the rear he threw them out and built a custom bench seat which, unsurprisingly, fits perfectly. It’s very comfortable, too, as many a bride can attest.

Moving back to the front of the cabin, Gary has added a few other touches of his own. These include replacing the Rover SD1 steering column with a nice stainless steel unit from Pop Brown, which is topped off by a suitably wild billet ali wheel.

Talking of wheels, the ones on the ends of the axles came with the car and seem to be Appliance 5-spoke polished steels, or very good replicas, Gary takes them off each winter when the car is laid up and gives them a good coat of Vaseline to protect them from the rigours of the British winter weather.

Now, we mentioned the 400ci Chevy motor that lurks under the Anglia’s widened bonnet. This is the largest version of that

Above: Tail lights are from a Moggy Minor. We all have wobbles from time to time and Gary’s was to think about changing them for something more modern. A friend set him straight

Right: There’s nothing quite like a nitrous bottle. Except this one is actually the housing for an amp and subwoofer, so ‘quite like a nitrous bottle’ is in fact exactly what it is

first-generation small-block, and sitting atop it a 750cfm Edelbrock Performer carb feeds fuel to the cylinders from the Triumph fuel tank that has been installed in the rear. Although the horsepower produced by these engines isn’t the greatest in the world, at around 265bhp, everything comes from deep down in the lower reaches of the rev range thanks to its long stroke. So, plenty of deep lazy grunt accompanied by a deep lazy rumble.

The engine block shares the same dimensions as the more common 350ci unit and can share all its ancillaries, too, which can only be a good thing. Also a good thing is nitrous injection, though the bottle in the boot is actually a fake. This would be a bad thing but while it could more charitably be described as ‘dummy’ rather than ‘fake,’ it actually houses an amp and subwoofer to help boot the bass if Gary puts the stereo on, and these are definitely good things. Whether booting the bass is as good as booting the nitro is for you to decide, but there’s a reason why the word ‘good’ has appeared so many times in this paragraph and sure enough there it is again.

Not that any stereo is going to be all that audible over the roar from the custom-made, dual side-exit stainless steel exhaust pipes anyway.

Now, this here Anglia is a regular visitor to shows and as a consequence it can usually be seen towing a caravan. Finally a good use for all that torque. The tow hitch is a swan neck affair from a 1980s’ Sierra, which is not the most commonly seen case of keeping it in the family but there you go. The good thing here is that when it’s not in use, it can be hidden away discreetly.

With regards to towing, the wide track of the vehicle means doing so is such a doddle it’s actually easy to forget the van is on the back. Gary says he has even embarrassed a few guys who were giving it large in their hot hatches at the traffic lights, once again there’s yet another good thing for you.

As this shows, yet again, there ain’t no substitute for cubic inches. Even so, if you want to get away first you’d better make sure you’ve got your torques in order. You may have seen a housefly, maybe even a superfly, you might have possibly seen an elephant fly – but you ain’t seen nothing until you’ve seen Shrek’s Fat Ride haul!