Ford Transit Van

  Over the years Ford have made sure that the drivers are more than aware of the history of the Transit van with an amazing array of books and information and not forgetting the TV adverts being passed to the press and public. As a result of this I know a lot of you have heard the story behind this van, but for the people that do not know the history behind the Transit then I have put this page on the website order to pay homage to the van that changed  the whole commercial vehicle market in Europe if not the world and is continuing to do so still today.

 We owe this 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 travelling 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.

So here we go with the amazing trip in time.

The Transit Van story started in the early 1960's.  Ford realised 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.

 At the time both Ford Germany and Ford England were both looking at producing a new van and work had already begun on the new designs in England the Thames 800E and in Germany the Ford Koln ( The new Taunus ) This could never carry on as it was not only amazing as far as business sense goes but someone had to sort out this problem of the same company spending two lots of money for the same product at the same time for the same market and who better to sort out this problem than Henry Ford 2nd   himself.   He intervened to stop this madness and the project "Redcap" was born in 1961 this name was later changed to the name of  V-series. The rest is history as they say and that's what these pages are about..."The Ford Transit" and its transition and transformation over the last 40 years.

The first mention of the Transit comes in 1961 with the Code name Project redcap, before the release it was changed to the (V series project) the First Transit off line was on 6th August 1965 at Langley Nr Heathrow airport, the public release however was on October 10th. Ford used the old Thames bits on the early Transit vans as they had trouble keeping up with demand on the production line at Langley due to the overwhelming pre-orders for the van these pasts were all gone by December 1965 when supplied of the transit bits were in stock.

1965 First transit 9th August but I found information that in fact it was the 6th of August but need to confirm this before this will be a fact I can quote.

1966 The Perkins 4/99 was replaced by the Perkins 4/108 to give more power.  

1971 In July the van had a facelift and got a more car like grill to reflect the change to metric system and bring the van into the 1970s.

 1971 Easter Monday Ford Transit Supervan does 150 MPH

 1972 Production in the UK moved from Langley to the home of the Transit Southampton with the first off the line there being made in late 1972. also the Perkins was replaced by the High speed York engines (54bhp or the 61bhp)

 1975 York replaced by the Essex 1.6ltr

1976 Transit gets Front Disks the first ever on a van with ventilated disks for the top weight 190 model. September 15th 1976 the millionth Transit comes off the line at Southampton.

 1978 March new transit arrives with a bigger bonnet and front end to accommodate the more fuel efficient OHC 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

 1982 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 in order to give the driver a nicer environment.

1984 Made at Dagenham’s 2.5ltr direct injection engine goes into the Transit. Fords Mk2 Supervan does 184mph at Silverstone.

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

1986 A whole new wedge transit a hole new wedge transit called the Triton project or the VE6 later in its development.  It was completely new bigger doors more driver and load room increased by 11% just the shape alone made it cheaper to drive due to the less drag on the new slopped front.

 For the next few years ford updated the seats driver environment and came out with some limited edition vans like the Transit bonus. 1989 April along with the Transit Topline in December for Europe only this was to push up sales by offering the drivers an all in package at a drop down price and it work as sale increased. This project was carried forward to the 1990s due to its success and side stripe were produced to make the van a more limited edition vehicle. May 1991 saw the arrival of the Transit Popular a very good seller for Ford a standard van in standard colours they all hard side loading doors and a self seek push button radio a big advance even though it sound not much in today’s terms. A new engine also arrived at this time the 2.5LTurbo diesel with a Drive by wire the option. A Petrol engine with 97PS the Under body Structure was also strengthened making the whole van tougher, this made the body suitable for a three body seat passing ministry safety targets.

1993 Ford designed and fitted new seats yet again with new seat safer belts advertised as anti submarine seats they were far safer than most car seat and this was proved by the test carried out. You also got power assisted steering and loads of other extras. This year also saw the released of the MK4 Custom this also had the Custom stickers on and a multitude of extras. A rare transit to arrive at this time was the Transit Majestic a garment carrying van and the new topline limousine made for the Europe only.

1994 The first high cube van with a real high roof made at Southampton along with the Flare side pickup, the security on the van was also greatly improved at this time, and the 3,000,000 van came off the line in Southampton.

1995 A completely new van was released and is a big change with a lot of things that were extra’s on the 1994 van being included in the price of the 1995 van. Things we take for granted today were fitted to the new van like Airbags as standard central locking two limited edition van was produced to mark the 30^th year of the Transit. A Limited edition Tourneo and a van called the Hallmark and this van was a true limited edition with only 600 made, 200 white, 200 blue, and 200 Auralis Blue metallic the all had SVO alloy wheels tinted laminated windows and the body Decals and back hallmark badge.

1996 The supervan three arrive with a top speed of over 200 miles an hour.

1997 The 17 seater all safety bus arrives with 17 seat belts as standard, yet again safety first seem to be a priority, ignition key immobiliser also fitted as standard lowering insurance costs for the van power steering was made standard in 1997. In turkey a limited edition range was produced called the Transit Otosan.

1998 Gary roads & slade take delivery of there new Transits showing the Celebrities still love the Transit the pictures were used by Ford to promote the van.

2000 The Ford Transit took its biggest step ever in its history a major change to all aspects of the van, a new engine Powered by the 2.4 16v durotect turbo diesel  rear and front wheel versions, better all round vision new security system, updated interior and wheels. This Year ford also supported the NSVA event in Brighton 750 people attend the event raising money for help a London child.

2001 Southampton plant gets a new 50,000,000 paint plant and a completely new production line update to produce new van. The new front wheel drives Transit available.

2002 The Transit connects released to take the place of the escort and other small based vans.

2004 The 5,000,000th Transit comes off the line at Southampton.

2005 Transit out sells the opposition 3 to 1 and continues to win best van of the year time after time, in March alone ford sells 14.000 vans in the UK. Ford transit is 40 and a limited edition Hallmark van is released again with side stipes and back badges and a hole lot of extra's to promote the birthday of the Transit.

2006 Big new news to follow watch this space

A great idea like the Transit van comes around very rarely but  having come up with the idea if the promotion of the product does not work then you are still on a loser. But Ford not only produced a winner but promoted it perfectly. The Transit has been winning for over 40 years and will go on being the market leader for many years to come, that's for sure, as it has been promoted the only way it can by showing its reliability, longevity and its never ending capability to evolve for today's commercial vehicle market.

On the lighter side of Transit ownership and far away from the every day driving for a living or as a owner driver, there is a whole other transit world and an  extremely large clubs based all over the world.

Collectors of the van having great fun as the early Transits comes into the classic stage of its life and at the same time ford are pushing the design to new high's with the new style Transits.

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