The E93A Ford Prefect was a sit-up-and-beg style car and was a development of the Ford Model Y. It was introduced into the UK an 1938 and, apart from a break during the second world war, continued in production until 1961, although it did go through some substantial redesigns during this time. The car was built in the UK. It boasted a 1.172 litre side-valve engine, it did not have a water pump, and could be started with a starter handle. The indicators were little flippers that popped up and shone yellow. The windscreen wipers were powered by the vacuum in the manifold.

It is still Prefect as a low cost classic car and is considered by many to be tremendous fun. It is, however, a rather idiosyncratic car to own, maintain and drive. You should only consider owning one if you are good at car maintenance. We will look at some of the idiosyncrasies. Firstly the engine: Unlike modern cars it is quite simple to completely dismantle the engine and rebuild it. It is very basic indeed. In fact it is so basic that in the earlier versions the side valves did not have any adjustable tappets. That meant that once a valve had been ground in to the engine block the only way to adjust the valve clearance was to grind away metal from the valve stem, refit the valve, and re-measure the gap between the valve stem and the tappet. This is a very tricky job for the home mechanic and involves a combination of accurate measurement, skill, patience and good luck. Thankfully the valves themselves along with any other car parts you might require can readily be obtained online.

The next idiosyncrasy is the direction indicators. These are operated by an electromagnet that when powered causes them to pop out of the side of the car and light up. Really this sentence should be written as occasionally pop out as more often than not the stay put. This can be rectified by leaning across the door and banging on the side panel in an attempt to encourage them. This works, but is not too safe. Most owners abandon these and replace them with more modern flashing indicators.