ANADOL The First Mass-production Car of Turkey

Anadol was Turkey's first domestic mass-production passenger vehicle, and the second Turkish car after a prototypical 5-off produced Devrim.

Anadol cars and pick-ups were manufactured by Otosan Otomobil Sanayii in Istanbul between 1966 and 1991.

Seven Anadol models were produced:

A1 (1966-1975), A2 (1970-1981), STC-16 (1973-1975), SV-1600 (1973-1982), Böcek (1975-1977), A8-16 (1981-1984) and Otosan 500 Pick-Up (1971-1991).

Production of the Anadol passenger cars was discontinued in 1986, while the production of the Otosan 500 Pick-Up continued until 1991. At present, Otosan builds Ford Motor Company's passenger cars and commercial vehicles, which are exported to numerous countries in the world, particularly to the European Union member states.

The Anadol A1, code named FW5 by Reliant which developed the prototype upon Anadol's request, went into production on 19 December 1966. The styling of the A1 was by Tom Karen of Ogle Design.

Production of the A1 started with the 1200 cc Cortina engine, but in October 1968 it was replaced with the relatively stronger 1300 cc Kent engine. In 1969 the dashboard gauges were updated with a new design and their positions were changed, while the ergonomics of the steering wheel was improved. In 1970 the two round headlamps at front were replaced with rectangular headlamps, a new transmission system was introduced, and the bumpers were changed. In 1971 the interior of the roof was covered with vinyl, in accordance with the fashion of that period. The design essentially remained this way until April 1972.

In 1971 a special model of the A1 was developed in dedication to the Mediterranean Games in Izmir, called the Akdeniz (Mediterranean). Anadol Akdeniz was like a prelude of the new model which arrived in 1972, and had bumpers which were integrated to the shape of the bodywork, a different front grille, rectangular headlamps with white signal lamps, and different rear lights. The interior of the car was also completely changed, with a new dashboard, new seats and new finishing materials. Starting from 1972, this model became the standard coupé of Anadol until its production was stopped in 1975.

The 5-seat body was built from fibre glass and affixed to an H-frame chassis. The Anadol was originally only available as a coupé, but in late 1973 was joined by a saloon (sedan) and an estate version. The chassis had independent front suspension utilizing coil springs and leaf springs on a live axle for the rear. Brakes were disc in the front and drum in the rear. The steering system initially was a recirculating ball mechanism, replaced by a rack-and-pinion system in 1970.

Anadol A1 was also the first Turkish rally car, and Anadol Ralli Takimi (ART) became the first Turkish rally team. The first official rally in Turkey, the 1968 Trakya (Thrace) Rally, was won by the famous duo of Anadol A1 pilots, Renç Koçibey and Demir Bükey. Other famous Anadol A1 rally pilots included Iskender Atakan, Claude (Klod) Nahum, Mete Oktar, Sükrü Okçu and Serdar Bostanci. Famous rally driver Romolo Marcopoli was also an A1 fan.

Still in 1968, another Turkish driver, Iskender Aruoba, participated in the 30,000 km Africa-Asia-Europe Tour, which lasted 8 months, with his Anadol A1.

This model is the model of the first A1 type, a two-door 5-seater model.

16 August 2008: I took photographs from a real car and superposed them to obtain a full side view. Then I traced the outlines to scale, with Coreldraw. Revell's 07374 Ford Escort Rally kit seemed a good starting point for this construction. Apart from the wheelbase being smaller, the general dimensions and contours are very similar.

The first thing I did was to cut off the fender flares and rear spoiler.

I traced and cut the outlines of the lower body layers, using 0.5 mm styrene sheets. I cut the door lines now so that they wouldn't be problem to scribe later on.

I glued the layers of the lower part and cut the upper side part as well.

16 August 2008: The roof of Anadol was wider than the Escort's, so I cut the roof and inserted a styrene strip to widen the roof, thus making the side inclination correct.

Next I began manufacturing the hood. The assembly will be in multi-layers, so I cut each layer from styrene sheet and pressed the imitations for heater intake grille with the tip of a small screwdriver.

I glued all the layers together to form the upper front part.

Then I glued this assembly on the body of Escort. I also shifted the B-pillars to the correct place and angle.

06 May 2009: I cut the rear window and boot parts and glued them in place. I made the boot lid as a separate part to eliminate scribing later.

I made the rear panel from 1 mm styrene sheet, also cut the bases for the rear lamps and made steps for mounting the lamps.

After glueing and a bit sanding, the rear begins to look better...

08 May 2009: I continued with the frontals. I cut the front panel parts and made use of 1/32 plane parts for the headlamp housings.

09 May 2009: I noticed that the roof was 2 mm higher and the upper front of the windshield was 3 mm back from normal. The roof was instantly chopped!

10 May 2009: I changed the necessary parts of the roof and glued it back in place. I made a filler bridge from styrene sheet.

I filled with polyester putty and sanded to contours.

11 May 2009: I made the windshield frame from styrene sheet and glued in place, then filled the frontal part of the roof and the windshield frame with polyester putty and sanded. I also glued in place the headlamp housings.

I applied Gunze Mr. Dissolved Putty around the headlamp housings and smoothened the peripheral joints. Then I started constructing behind-the-bumper panels.

17 May 2009: I made the headlamp reflectors by pressing from styrene sheet, cut to suitable size and glued in the housings.

I corrected the lower contours of the windshield, made the drip rails and rear side window mating surfaces. Then I applied the first primer. Some puttying and sanding will take place.

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