Ford Transit

The Ford Transit is a van produced by the European division of the Ford Motor Company. The Transit's design is reflected in other manufacturers' designs, like the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

It was originally introduced in 1965, and has been in continuous production in three basic generations to the present day (2005). The van was produced initially at Ford's Langley facility in Berkshire (a former WW2 aircraft factory which produced the Hawker Hurricane fighter), but as demand outstripped the capability of the plant, production was moved to Southampton, where it has remained ever since. Transits have also been produced in Ford's Genk factory in Belgium. The Transit is also produced in China for the Chinese market.

The Mk.1 Transit was introduced to replace the Ford Thames 400E, a small Zephyr based forward-control van noted for its narrow track which was in direct competition with similar looking vehicles from Rootes's Commer range. The Thames failed to win over company users in significant enough numbers, so Ford went back to the drawing board. Henry Ford II's revolutionary step was to combine the engineering effort of Ford of Britain, and Ford of Germany together to create a prototype for the Ford of Europe of today - previously the two subsidiaries had been in direct competition with each other.

The Transit was a huge departure from the European commercial vehicles of the day - its broad track and American-ized styling gave it a huge advantage in carrying capacity over comparable vehicles of the day and revolutionised light goods transport. Most of the Transit's mechanical components were adapted from Ford's car range of the time. Another key to the Transit's success was the sheer number of different body styles - panel vans in long and short wheelbase forms, pick-up truck, minibuses, crew-cabs to name but a few. The engines used were the Essex V4 for the petrol engined version in 1.7 L and 2.0 L capacities, while a 41 bhp (31 kW) diesel unit sourced from Perkins was also offered. The Perkins diesel engine was too long to fit under the Transit's stubby nose section, which had to be restyled for the diesel version. Producing a paltry 40bhp, the Perkins unit was not popular, and was replaced by Ford's own "York" unit in 1974.