Ford

In 1955 Ford introduced the Squire, a two-door four-seat estate car based on the Prefect 100E, sharing the same 1,172 cc engine. It was substantially shorter than both the Prefect and the closely related Ford Anglia 100E two-door saloon. It used the short front doors of the four-door model because the bodyshell was optimized for use as a panel van (which was marketed as the Thames 300E). The rear door was in two pieces split horizontally and the rear seat could be folded flat to convert from a four-seater to a load carrier. The Squire competed in the same market segment as the Hillman Husky and Austin A30 / A35 based estate, both significantly more popular in the UK than longer estates at the time. Total production was 17,812 cars. The Escort was a mechanically identical estate car with the lower trim level of the Ford Anglia. This proved more popular, and a total of 33,131 Escorts were produced between 1955 and 1961. Production of the Escort continued until 1961, two years longer than the Squire.