The Ford Popular, often called the Ford Pop, is a car from Ford UK that was built in England between 1953 and 1962. When launched, it was Britain's lowest priced car.
| body_style = two door saloon <br /> two door coupe utility (Australia) <br /> chassis-cowl (Australia) Early 103Es had the three spoke banjo type Anglia/Prefect steering wheel as stocks of these were used up, but most have a two spoke wheel similar to the 100E wheel but in brown. Early Populars also had the single centrally mounted tail/stop-lamp of the Anglia, but this changed to a two tail/stop lamp set up with the lamps mounted on the mudguards and a separate number plate lamp. In total, 155,340 Popular E103s were produced.
This car proved successful because, while on paper it was a sensible alternative to a clean, late-model used car, in practice there were no clean late-model used cars available in postwar Britain owing to the six-year halt in production caused by the Second World War. This problem was compounded by stringent export quotas that made obtaining a new car in the late 1940s and into the early 1950s difficult, and covenants forbidding new-car buyers from selling for up to three years after delivery. Unless the purchaser could pay the extra £100 or so for an Anglia 100E, Austin A30 or Morris Minor, the choice was the Popular or a pre-war car. Electrics were 6 volts, a provided starting handle often necessary. Braking was done by rod operated drums, and synchromesh was only on 2nd and top gear. The boot was accessed with a coach key, there was no heater or demister, and turn indication was performed by semaphors. Starting the car was done by pull-wire starter, and the carburetor was operated by manual choke. Also, there was no water pump, and engine cooling was done via thermosyphon. In short, this was very basic motoring.
In later years, these cars became popular as hot rods, starting in the late 1950s, when people started drag racing them due to their lightweight construction. This practice started in the United States with Ford's 1932 Model B/18, while the Ford "Pop" as it was affectionately known became the definitive British hot rod – a reduced sized but readily available British alternative, a role it still plays today to a considerable extent.
A car tested by The Motor magazine in 1954 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 24.1 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £390 including taxes.
In Australia
The Popular 103E was available in Australia up to 1955 as a two-door coupe utility and also in chassis-cowl form to accept custom built bodywork. The Popular utility differed from its Anglia A494A utility predecessor in that the Popular did not have running boards whereas the Anglia did.
thumb|left|1954 Ford Popular 103E Coupe Utility