September 28 2008
Plastic fantastic: 1965 Ashley GT
After World War II, there was a shortage of cars in Britain and especially of cars for export. Ingenious manufacturers would pick a chassis of a very popular car, design a fibreglass body and stick it on the chassis. A new car was born, a “special”!
When the Austin-Healey Sprite came out, a cheap little sports car, it became very popular and loads of these ingenious manufacturers went bust. Except the even more ingenious ones who started making body panels for the Sprite as the “Frogeye” front was not to everybody’s liking. The more famous of these coachbuilders, or better the ones who survived the longest were Williams & Pritchard, Ashley Laminates, WSM, and Peel Coachworks. Which brings us to this rather cool looking Ashley GT, for sale on ebay in Belgium.
Ashley made 4 different bodies and the 1172 bodyshell was one of them, based on the Ford Anglia and Popular chassis. There was an open version and a coupe version, called GT. They came with an option of engines, based on the 1172cc sidevalve engine from the Ford Prefect mainly but also the BMC A-series and the MGA engine. This one is fitted with a Ford 6-cylinder, which makes for an even more interesting proposition. It is mated to a Ford 4-speed box and MGB short ratio axle.
We’re not a big fan of the yellow knock-off wire wheels, but combined with the yellow dash and the lined carpets they do make a striking combination. We might source a period 3-spoke steering wheel to replace the current one.
The car was for sale on classiccarsforsale.com for EUR22900, but as we stated earlier has now come up for sale on ebay Belgium for EUR14999. A significant reduction in price, possibly inspired by the red Ashley GT also for sale on the classiccarsforsale.com website for GBP12700. We prefer the yellow one as it has a more sporty appearance and the more interesting front.
PS: You might have noticed that on the ebay ad, the seller claims the engine is a 6-cylinder while on the classiccarsforsale.com ad it is claimed it is a V6 engine. We have assumed it is meant to be a 6-cylinder.
