WE could argue all night about who is the GOAT.
Messi or Ronaldo? Senna or Schumacher? Tiger or Jack? Ant or Dec?
The first Ford Transit was built at Langley, Berks, an old Hawker Hurricane factory, on August 9, 1965. It cost £542 and had a 610g payload
If the Pepsi van was not spectacular enough from the outside, the interior featured a mirrored cocktail bar with luxury seats and disco lights. It was the 70s, man
Wills and Kate had a transit on Anglesey to avoid getting spotted
But when it comes to vehicles, it’s not even a debate.
Greatest Of All Transit.
The humble Ford Transit has been Britain’s best-selling van since day one – August 9, 1965.
That’s like Liverpool winning the Prem for 60 years on the bounce. Everyone else might as well give up and go home.
To celebrate Transit’s 60th, we’ve peppered today’s column with quirky facts, as well as hearing from owners with a cherished van from each decade.
Ford’s famous Backbone Of Britain telly ad from the Eighties was genius marketing. Yet also 100 per cent true. Transit keeps this country ticking.
Everything we see and touch was transported in a van.
Every rock band travelled to gigs in a van, here’s Slade with their Transit
Two baby elephants once hitched a ride at London’s Regent’s Park Zoo
Boxing legend Henry Cooper drove a Transit pick-up, delivering fruit and veg
One reason Transit is successful is that Ford engineers sit with owners to find ways of making the next model even more useful.
Like the bloke who shoved a lump of wood through the bottom of the steering wheel to make a lunch table.
The latest Transit Custom has a tilt-up steering wheel with a tray for his quinoa tuna salad. Bosh.
Retired builder Peter Lee, founder of the Transit Van Club, said: “Transit is like a forklift with two doors.
“Built to work. They’re good honest vans that will do the job.”
The OG and still the best. 3 MILLION UK sales and counting. Always available in white.
Even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was built on a Transit chassis
Dinky produced 104 toy vans with 1,000,000 Transit stickers on the sides for factory execs
Capital Radio circled the new M25 for seven days and nights in 1986
A stuntman jumped over 15 cars in a Transit in 1985 to raise money for cancer research
Gamers can drive an Mk1 Transit in Forza Horizon 4
Today’s Transit can power your work tools and lights
A 15-metre, 1.5-ton Cetiosaurus was driven from Kent to Scotland on a Transit
The Monster Transit was mounted on axles from a US military vehicle
Supervan 4.2 won Goodwood’s 2024 King of the Hill shootout against some pretty senior race cars
FORD TRANSIT FACTS
Ford took £33million of orders before production had even started
The Transit is nudging 3 million UK sales and 13 million worldwide
The largest 2t Transit can swallow 236,000 ping pong balls
There are 1,300 variations of the 2t Transit – before picking a colour
Cheapest baby Transit Courier costs £17,700 excl VAT
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