The Ford Anglia is a name that has been applied to four distinct generations of cars designed and built in the UK between the 1930s and the 1960s.

The first Anglia, also known as the E04A, arrived in 1939, its release occurring just after the Second World War began.

The Anglia used many of the same components as the Ford 7Y and at the time was seen as something of a face lifted iteration of this original range.

It was designed to be affordable and was sold with a basic black paintjob. A straight four engine with a capacity of 933cc was standard on the Anglia and it offered decent mid range acceleration for the time.

The war interfered with the production of the first Anglia and so by 1948 when the second generation was introduced only a little over 55,000 had been built.

The Second Anglia managed to retain the low cost ethos of its predecessor and was the cheapest car on four wheels in the UK upon its release at £309.

The styling had been overhauled in order to keep up with contemporary sensibilities and while it was only in production for four years it managed to sell twice as many units as the original Anglia.

In 1953 the Anglia 100E was released and this represented the most dramatic change for the franchise so far.

Everything about it was new and not borrowed from previous generations and customers could choose between two or four door models.

Interestingly Ford continued to make the second generation Anglia for some time, rebranding it as the Popular and widely touting it as the world's cheapest vehicle.

The third generation Anglia had a 36bhp engine and a three speed gearbox. Unfortunately Ford decided to stick with the vacuum powered windscreen wipers which were notorious for stopping when the car was accelerating above a certain speed, but this was all done in the name of frugality.

In 1959 yet another Anglia was introduced, although this would be the final generation of Ford vehicles to bear this name.

The 105E looked far more like cars that were being built in the US at the time, which means the exterior detailing featured a lot of chrome elements, amongst other things.

The somewhat asthmatic engines of past Anglias were replaced with a new straight 4 unit, which many considered to be the key improvement offered by this model.

While the affordability of the Anglia range was something that Ford regularly touted in the marketing material, it became a household favourite because of its reliability and durability.

Few other models could match it in this area and it meant that the Anglia managed to remain popular long after it was put out to pasture in 1968.