LAWA‘I — This is the story of the little blue car that could. Lawa‘i’s Clyde Silva owns one benign-looking, world-class traveling, 1948 Anglia English Ford veteran of the speedway, and this baby rocks! On first glance, this little Anglia looks
LAWA‘I — This is the story of the little blue car that could.
Lawa‘i’s Clyde Silva owns one benign-looking, world-class traveling, 1948 Anglia English Ford veteran of the speedway, and this baby rocks! On first glance, this little Anglia looks like a quiet little English taxi, the kind you would find at Trafalgar Square hauling fish-and-chip-eating tourists around Buckingham Palace.
It wears a simple blue bonnet paint job that invites you to foolishly bet on the other guy in a street race. But no! This little street bopper will tear up the strip with its 350 Chevy engine, Edelbrock RPM performance cam, 350 turbo transmission, 2800 stall speed converter, and its 660 Street Avenger Holley carburetors.
And just to make the ride as comfortable as a Rolls, this little Ford sports a 4 link suspension on the front and rear plus steel coil overshocks. The ’48 Anglia also has a Ford nine-inch rear axle definitely required to turn those monster Mickey Thompson 32/16/50 tires.
Let’s travel back in the time machine to sma’ keed time, when Clyde Silva was just a young lad attending Kalaheo School. Each day after school, on the way to his grandpa’s house, Silva would stare longingly at a small black British Ford parked in the shadows of an old garage. Silva didn’t know it at the time, but that quiet little Anglia was one rock-hard veteran of the “Funny Car” circuit in the 1960s.
Here’s a little sidetrack of Ford Anglia history in America. In the spring of 1948, Ford Motors began to import the little Anglia, to the U.S. and Canada. They were sold at selected Ford dealers across North America right alongside cars and trucks made in the states. Much later in the 60s through the 80s, the Anglia suddenly became a very popular race car.
This little Brit that Silva walked by after school, was none other than Johnny Loper’s A/Gas Class Anglia “Little Hoss.” Little Hoss was one of the best of the series of Funny Cars in the 1964 Nationals. Loper was known as the “King of A/G” in the 1960s through 70s gasser wars and known as a tough guy to beat back in the day. Thousands of fans would yell, scream and cheer on Little Hoss as it blasted its way down the track.
Silva’s Little Hoss traveled from the English countryside, to the hot West Coast race tracks, to balmy Honolulu, and finally retired its little black body on Kaua‘i. Silva’s brother bought the small English Ford, and raced it for a short time at Mana race track until he decided to hang up his spurs.
After many years of tearing up the race tracks, Little Hoss could no longer go, Bwa-aat, Bwa-a-aat, BWA-AAT and the little Anglia’s engine finally gave out. But brother Clyde believed it still could and knew that with a few years of hard work and determination, Little Hoss would someday be a cherry little funny car again.
Silva held onto his dream of owning the little race car and persuaded his brother to sell it to him. Once the papers were signed, Silva began the task of rebuilding the Anglia.
The first thing Silva did was to examine the old chassis and discovered that after years of intense racing, the frame was now in a serious twist. So he read through a stack of magazines until he found an ad for a new Anglia chassis and shipped it to Kaua‘i.
Next, Silva dropped a 350 Chevy engine that he built from scratch, worked up the transmission, axle, wiring, body, and replaced the fiberglass fenders with original metal. He had the interior totally customized including the dashboard and rear panels.
Finally, the Anglia received a Flaming River stainless steel tilt steering column, power windows, digital gauges, new exhaust system, two big fat Mickey Thompson tires and a spiffy new blue paint job. Silva’s Little Hoss was now ready to ride the range from Mana to Ha‘ena and the Lil’ Anglia proved that it still could, and still does.
The next time you see this little blue wonder pass you by on the street be sure to tro dem da shaka. Little Hoss will love you for it, and Clyde Silva will too.
Anyone wishing to share their classic auto may find out more information by contacting Richard Aki at 482-0688 or Harvey Maeda at 651-2813 or harveyskoi@juno.com
To view a short video of Clyde Silva’s Pro “Little Hoss”, click on the “TGI video” link at kauaiworld.com
