To anybody more familiar with Ford’s post-war cars, it’s easy to underestimate the importance of the Model Y, the company’s first model designed specifically for non-American markets. Not surprisingly, it caused quite a stir at the 1932 Motor Show, held at London’s Olympia.
The Model Y generated even more interest among cost-conscious buyers three years later, however, when a new entry-level version was launched. The latest model’s list price was just £100 (compared with £120 previously), as featured in this period advert showing a Model Y speeding past a family waiting at a bus stop.
Ford boasted that “It can be yours… the £100 Ford saloon” when the cheapest new Model Y made its Motor Show debut in 1935. At its peak, the 933cc Model Y was taking around 50 per cent of all 8hp saloon sales in Britain; and with its £100 price held right through to 1937, its value-for-money image remained intact.
