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Ashley Laminates Ford Special:
1959 Ashley 1172 Coupe, based on 1938 Ford Model Y
After WWII there was a shortage of cars on the British home market. A popular way to get yourself a ‘new-looking’ vehicle in the 1950’s was to buy a pre-war Austin or Ford remove the original body and substitute it with a new sporty looking fiberglass body. Such car bodies were available at the time from a number of manufacturers who supplied ready-to-install kits, they were advertised as easy to fit and would bolt onto the chassis of the original car using existing body mounting points. Once the body swap was complete you had your own sports-car, in the day such cars were known as ‘Specials’.
In the 1950’s a number of small companies set up specialising in making aftermarket sports car bodies, several were based in north London. This cottage industry sprung-up quickly and then all but died out by the early 1960’s when affordable sports cars such as MGB, MG Midget, Healey Sprite, TriumphTR3 etc. appeared in the showrooms.
One such company making sports car bodies was Ashley Laminates, founded by Keith Waddington and Peter Pellandine in 1955. The name Ashley was derived from the name of Peter Pellandine’s house ‘Ashleigh’ in Woodford Green, they made several models including Ashley 750, Sports Racer, 1172 Coupe and Roadster and finally the Sportiva model.
Production of the 1172 Coupe commenced late 1958, the model was discontinued in 1961, and this example is quite unusual being a rare early type equipped with glass wind-up driver and passenger door window mechanisms. In April 1959 wind-up windows were discontinued in favour of basic sliding Perspex windows which simplified the manufacturing process. This is a rare 'special' with only 75 approx. Ashley 1172’s (including Coupe and Roadster) known to exist world-wide.
This Ashley was built in period using a solid Ford 7Y chassis that has been ‘boxed-in’ and strengthened with the then available chassis kit. The car retains original transverse leaf spring suspension, three-speed gearbox with synchromesh between the top two ratios, live rear axle and torque tube, lever arm dampers, worm and wheel steering box and link rod connecting system, 17-inch road wheels with period spacers on rear axle, all new 4. 50 x 17 inch tyres.
The car’s engine is from an E494A Prefect manufactured in December 1952, as part of a complete restoration the engine from the car was re-built including re-bore and hone, new pistons, piston rings, new valve guides, complete gasket set, plugs, points and leads. The engine is equipped with period correct tuning kit from Aquaplane, the kit includes performance inlet and exhaust manifolds and twin MC2 SU carburetors, the little Sidevalve unit starts easily, runs sweetly and does not smoke.
An original Wooller remote gearshift kit complements the ‘special’ driving experience. The interior has been re-trimmed and features sports steering wheel, period style bucket seats and rear luggage compartment. The car sounds great with its near straight through exhaust. The Ashley has been converted to 12-volts and fitted with alternator, Craig Davis electric water pump and electric cooling fan so it’s more suited to modern road conditions.
The Ashley is registered with Ford Sidevalve Owners Club and Ashley Historic Register, it has a long MOT although being pre-1960 it's exempt from requiring an annual test.
