Ford UTE Just Popped Up

Enthusiast Ronnie Fletcher wasn’t looking for a Popular pick-up when he was on the hunt for a classic, but one session behind the wheel of this rather special 1954 ute and he was convinced.

- Ronnie Fletcher

THE Ford Popular Coupe Utility was manufactured in Australia from 1953 to 1955 and they were only available on the Australian market. My Ford Pop ute was originally from Melbourne and it has had three UK owners. The first was Keith Ardley, who brought it over in 2004. He spotted it at Melbourne docks and followed the ute to a builder’s yard, where it was being parked up for the night. He approached the owner and asked if he would sell it. It was an Italian man who owned it and used it for freight work at the docks and Keith said it was on its last legs.

It was navy blue and running an 1,172 side-valve engine. The owner agreed to sell it and Keith said he only bought it to fill his container. I have seen a photo of how it was loaded on to the container, they wound the windows down on the cab, put a big piece of thick rope through the windows and lifted it on, dangling in mid-air. I couldn’t believe the photo I saw, as I would never have loaded a vehicle like that.

Keith has done many trips to Australia, buying car parts and classic vehicles. He has brought over three Prefect utes and two Ford Popular utes. One of the Prefect utes was later bought by Chris Rea for a video he was shooting. The three Prefects and one of the Pop utes were all restored to original condition. The last Ford Pop ute he brought over (my one) was left for a while until he decided to mildly turn it into a hot rod. The side-valve engine was taken out and a Ford Pilot flathead 2.2-litre V8 60 horsepower engine was fitted. He couldn’t decide on a colour, so left it with a friend for three weeks while he went to Italy and when he came back, it was a Volkswagen yellow, which he liked, so he left it that colour.