Z Car

Paul Mitchell reckons he’s got the perfect Anglia — with sorted 16-valve running gear and a solid but age-worn body that he doesn’t worry about leaving in a supermarket car park.

- Marc Stretton

For most people, being charged with DUI (driving under the influence), is usually not a thing you want to happen… unless your name’s Paul Mitchell, you live in Kent, are a VW Master Technician and influences past and present have led to the ownership of this tidy, but patina’d, Zetec-powered 105E Deluxe.

Those nudges in the right direction started way back, with an uncle, a sister’s boyfriend and a family friend all driving Anglias in Paul’s childhood. “The first car I ever drove, aged 15, was an Anglia,” he says, “so it was no surprise that my first road-legal car would be a 105E… a 1967 Deluxe in Lagoon Blue, which soon had a 2-litre Pinto installed, a five-speed and LSD, and was part of a pack of mates who all had classic Fords. Most of those were Mk1 and Mk2 Escorts, but I liked my Anglia because it was different.”

Paul eventually moved up through the classic Ford historical tree, owning a Mk2 RS2000, three RS1600i Mk3s, a Series One RS Turbo, and he eventually traded-up to the dream Sapphire Cossie. Moving work from a Ford Dealership to the VW brand turned his head to 16-valve Volkswagens for a while, but five years ago, when friends began turning up to car meets in Capris and Escorts again, the yearning for a bit of youth-reliving started growing. Boosted by some major encouragement from his wife Sam, who was well into the idea, Paul went on the lookout for an Anglia project.

Solid state