ENGLISH & AUSTRALIAN SMALL FORDS -- book review

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IFHP
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ENGLISH & AUSTRALIAN SMALL FORDS -- book review

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ENGLISH & AUSTRALIAN SMALL FORDS: Recognition & Restoration
by Bill Ballard
Ellery Publications, 2002
ISBN 1 876720 077

This book has been out a couple of years now, but I've only recently obtained a copy and can report that it was worth the wait. Bill Ballard is well known to "Small Ford" enthusiasts around the world having been editor of Talking Small Fords (the magazine of the Small Ford Club in the UK) before emigrating to Australia a few years ago where he is very active in the Ford 8 & 10 Sidevalve Club of Victoria. It is fair to say that Bill Ballard breaths early Small Fords.

The 160-page book, which is illustrated with many color and black & white photos, is divided into three sections: recognition, restoration and several appendices for things like production numbers and body and trim color tables.

While I will probably never restore one of these vehicles, I found the recognition section fascinating. The section gives a detailed and well illustrated breakdown of the history and identifying features of 23 different marques of early small Fords built in England and Australia between 1932 and 1962. For the purposes of this book a marque is what we North Americans might call a "series" such as Model CX or E03A Prefect.

While English books on some of these vehicles have been around for awhile, as far as I know nothing approaching this much detail has ever been published on the many Australian variants of these neat little cars and trucks. Not covered in the book are variants of these vehicles sold in North America or Continental Europe (such as the Ford Junior and Vier).

I thought the book was a good value at U.S. $28. I ordered my copy from Classic Motorbooks (now Motorbooks.com) (1-800-826-6600). If they are out you can try the publisher at www.ellery.com.au or 011- 61-3-5439-5000.

Review by Michael MacSems
The Universal Car, October 2005
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