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The History of the Ford Transit Van 1965 to 1984

Cologne test van

Explorer 3 Made by Dormobile 1972

German van spot the bus

1971 Caravans International conversion

Down the mines

Railway test

Pre Production van

The first 125

1971 Cab

Detail press photo

Down the Cornish tin mines

Spot the Tractors

Martin Walker conversion

Penthouse built by Ford

Hong Kong Ford press 1969

1977 custom van

1968 Transit on tour

French press picture1968

1969 Dress van

1965 German

1967 Battersea dogs home

1983 Pony Express picture

1974 Princess Anne

23rd July 1980

1965 Gent

1969

1969 This van is amazing

1969 South Africa

Noel Edmonds charity Van 1978

The Girls again this time in black and white.

1966 milk float

On the back of this one it has the Ford strike had not hit the Transit as bad as the car side of Ford

Pit transits again

Fire ladder 1967 German pre-production picture

Testing the vans for the coal board

Ford test vehicle

1973 the Transit tests the A series

1965 Press

plant picture 1968

Gent car park picture 1970's

1975 bread men promo

2005 press picture the oldest van still working. Mmm I'm not sure.

Bread Van

1978 17 seat bus

March 1978 head light washer press picture

"A" line camper

12 or 13 set bus

190 slam door

Thanks

We owe this vehicle the "Transit Van" to a team of people that worked for Ford Motor Company in the early 1960's mainly at Dunton, Essex that had a vision of what was loosely called at the time "a van." A slow, noisy, tin can that would give you a headache after just 30 miles of traveling at a very slow speed and if you were unlucky enough to have a box that weighed more than a full supermarket trolley in the back of the van then you had better not have any hills on the way home or you would not make it up them. Yes! at the time that was the definition of "a van" but that was all to change. The "Transit Van" was coming and it would change not only our perception of the word Transit but the whole meaning of the word VAN

Press Picture's

Over the lasts 41 years the Ford Transit has been made, and in fact even before the real vans were on the road, Ford have always made sure that the press are not only kept up to date with the vans progress but have at the same time made sure they were aware of body types, load space, safety aspects, durability and longevity of the Transit.

The first production lineTransit came off the line at Langley near Heathrow airport on Oct 6th 1965

Leading the way

The van has always been at the forefront of the commercial vehicle market and that information was available to the press at all times for what ever sort of publication they were writing, be it a motoring magazine or a daily paper, the pictures and information was at their fingertips. Ford have been in the position for 41 years of always being market leader and this is great if you collect pictures and memorabilia like I do.

Cost price of a Transit in 1965 was £542

Changing times

Over the last few years press pictures have taken a different turn and you can no longer turn up at an event in the hope that Ford may let you have a picture or press pack, this has all been replaced by the internet and CD's doing away with the paperwork that has always been so hard to find. Being a collector of all transit items the early pictures from 1965 to around 1992 were just amazing and while its a shame that this sort of Transit memorabilia has gone forever. Like the Transit Van itself it has to move on and keep up to date with technology.

20 MK1 Transit Vans were tested on the M2, from March 1965 seven months before you could buy the van.

Bits that changed

When you do any job on a Mk1 Transit you may think you have the part you need. Think again ! by 1967 in fact a 129 parts had changed on the van from light clusters to thrust bearings.

Supervan One was only used for one year by Ford then retired.

Updated Transit

In July 1971 The Transit had a major face lift with the front end grill seats dash and lots of other items being changed most of them mechanical and electrical, this spurned a whole new batch of press picture as did every change be it big or small. At the time people did not like the grill but that soon changed.

Ford sold 34,403 Transits in 1975

So when was the first Transit made?

The first production line Transit came off the line on August 6th 1965 with the first sale and press release being October 6th of the same year.Ford Stock pilled vans where ever they could until the release date.workers parked outside the plant gates due to the vans using the whole site 20 pre-production vans were made before that date in the UK.

Using the stars

It was Ford that first came up with the idea to use a celebrity to promote a vehicle and what better one than the Transit Van. Be it Henry Cooper or the whole Chelsea football team Ford used the press pictures to promote the van. If you look at adverts today the idea is still going strong.

1976 Transit gets front disks,

March 9th 1978

So a new Transit hits the road retaining it's name and styling and now available with 18 door combinations including a slam type side door. The Transit took off with a big bang yet again and within months they were all over the place.

35.630 Transits Sold in 1978

Safety first

It was around this time that the safety of people being carried in the van Ford made became a priority to the company. A lot of the press pictures at this time showed children and the public in and around the mini buses. This was just one of the things Ford were leading the way with the Transit.

May 1984

Super van amazed crowds at Silverstone with its speed and road holding with 176 MPH down the straight and going up on three wheels as it hit the bends with a lap time that beat the saloon racing cars of the time it took the crowd by storm. I was there and it was an amazing sight to see as the V8 Cosworth whipped past the stand and it amazed every one. I would say more press pictures were made on this van than any other van made by Ford to date and why not? its greatly missed but we still have some great shots of it.

The Break horse power of the MK2 Supervan was 650.

3001

Another amazing vehicle is made by Ford with the help of Steve stringer this time a van from the future hits the Ford and Custom Shows around Europe with an amazing lighting system and a tripod that lifted out of the roof and swivels round. It had a Granada engine and box twin rear axels and Wolfrace wheels. The inside had stainless steel walls and floors and captains chairs; a great looking van. I sat in the van at the Alexandra Palace Show. It was just a show vehicle made for promotional purposes and could not be driven. Ford were not happy with the furnishings on the van and Steve stringer never worked for them again.

Supervan two cost £150,000 to build

Test vehicle gearbox

1988 ford press

1980 Power lifts Ltd Watford

Paris/Dakar

1982 Fish van

My dad ran this company

April 1984 1/2 a million mile tests In the artic

1985 Police test van

Williams of Manchester conversion

Body styles press picture issed 1978

190 B Walker and son conversion

March 1978 press shoot South end Airport

Gent test van 1984

Paris/Dakar 1983

Austalia 1985

1979 160 parcel van

1978 Film shot a film made with Dick Emery

German press picture 1983

Twin cab

German bus

In the beginning

The Transit Van story started in the early 1960's. Ford realized that the commercial van market needed to be updated, the Ford Thames van was the market leader for Ford in England and the Ford Taunus van was the market leader in Germany and they were good and well ahead of the field in design and market share in their respective countries. But having both Ford companies competing for export business for the rest of Europe, Canada, Australia and so on... they were both trying to sell vans to the same markets.

In the 1960s more bank jobs were done in Transits than cars.

Off with a bang

In August 1965 Ford let the press know what was coming and released press pictures and showed them two proto type vans in Essex. Within a few months of advertising the van Ford had orders of 3.5 million pounds worth of vans.Do the sums today and that's a lot of orders.

Right up to August 1966 Ford had to use Ford Thames parts to keep the production lines going at Langley as the sales were doing so well their suppliers did not have time to re-tool.

I wonder if they knew ?

The pictures today have become a part of history. There are about twenty Transit pictures that are used all the time. Last year being the 40th Birthday of the van, they were in over 60 major publications in Europe. From this website alone I can get about ten emails a week from people asking for details on a van they had or their father had because they saw the pictures on the site.

1971 Easter Monday Supervan does 150 MPH

Questions

Questions come in all the time from the collectors and police wanting to know about dating of a van or identifying one. I am sure that way back in 1964 when they first decided to start this amazing 41 year promotional exercise they had no idea of the impact it would have on the commercial market of then and now.

In 1965 18,111 Transits were sold

Custom Transits

The whole Custom van craze started in California around 1968. Surfers started using vans to sleep and keep their boards in. Contrary to what people believe it was old Fords, Dodges and Chevy vans that started this off and not the split screen VW's. It took a few years to take off in the UK. It was kick started by an article in Hotrod magazine who did an article on a van club in Las Vegas. In this country, with the first Transits being a few years old, they became the van to customize with clubs popping up all around Europe. By 1974 Ford took this craze and used it to the full producing vans with a guy called Steve stringer to do the main work. Steve did use other companies to do the leg work like interiors and paint but the ideas and the main work on vans such as Strawberry sheik, InTransit and 3001were Steve's that's for sure. Steve fell out with ford around 1980 and went to work for the Cruiser Van company in Hertfordshire before leaving the country to set up in the USA customizing cars.

Moving production

Production in the UK moved from Langley to the home of the Transit, Southampton with the first off the line being made there in late 1972. The Perkins was replaced by the high speed York engines (54bhp or the 61bhp) the panels for the Transit had been made at Southampton since 1965 so it was only common sense to move production anyway even if it did put me out of work.

The Break Horse Power of a Transit in 1965 was 41.
The Break Horse Power of a Transit in 1977 was 63.
The Break Horse Power of the MK1 Supervan in 1971 was 435.

Another big change

1978 was a big year for the Transit with the new look and sales increasing someone at Ford made the decision to spend millions of pounds on the production of a major product, but more important than that at the time, they did not change the name TRANSIT. The opposition was beginning to grow but Ford kept their heads and the legend became a reality.

1975 York engine was replaced by the Essex 1.6ltr

The new Transit had a bigger bonnet and front end to accommodate the more fuel efficient over headcam engines. Ford were very happy with the van and the sales it was getting so left the van alone at this stage for a few years

The break horse power of a Transit at this time was 62

Costs

The cost of a Transit at this time was £982 quite amazing when you think that in to-days market you could double your money for a nice one made at this time. Ford always knew that the second hand side of the business was important to them and provided, even today, an after sales and parts department that is second to none just like the van.

25th July 1985 the two millionth Transit came off the line at Southampton.

Another face lift

The Transit had yet another face lift with a change to the front grill from metal to plastic making the van lighter. Better quality seats & interior, along with a better heating and cooling system, helped to give the driver a nicer environment, and along with this change came a whole new bunch of press pictures showing off the new features.

Made at Dagenham a 2.5ltr direct injection engine goes into the Transit

Wheels

Finding wheels for Transits other than the ones that it came with had always been a problem at this time as around the early 1980's wheels were made by Ford to put on their Cruiser vans in Germany.These cruiser wheels were never advertised in the UK so even though you could order them from your Ford dealers here in the UK van drivers here were not aware of their existence. Ford in fact produced two different in house wheels for the MK2 at this time.

The transit van has been market leader for 41 years