Page 16 - Beep Beep September 2025

Beloved by bands and bank
robbers, the Ford Transit turns 60
© Reprinted from BBC.COM/NEWS [UK]
Article by
Theo Leggett
Theo Leggett at the wheel of the oldest Ford Transit still in existence
Climbing into a 1965 Ford Transit is like stepping into a time
capsule on wheels.
Forget your modern high-tech nicknacks like satnavs and
touchscreens. All you get here is a steering wheel, a big
chrome-lined speedometer dial and a chunky heater control.
There isn't even a radio.
Out on the road, it rattles and bangs and occasionally jumps
out of gear.
Disconcertingly, there's no seatbelt, the seat itself has an
alarming tendency to move around, and the brakes don't seem
to do very much at all.
Beautiful as it is, it's hard to imagine that this elderly machine
was ever state of the art.
Yet when the original Transit first rolled off the production line
at Ford's plant in Langley, Berkshire, on 9 August 1965, it was
a revelation.
By the standards of the day, it was remarkably spacious,
powerful and practical. It was comfortable, had sharp handling,
and put existing vans such as the Morris J4 firmly in the shade.
Sixty years later, the Transit has been redesigned many times,
but the brand itself is still going strong. It remains a staple for
many small businesses, even in an age when "white vans" are
ten a penny, and the market is rife with competition.
It is the world's best-selling van - and more than 13 million
have been built so far.
"There are lots of iconic cars: the Morris Minor, the Mini, the
Land Rover, the VW Beetle, but there's only one iconic van,
and that's the Transit," says Edmund King, president of the AA.
"It's probably the only van that people really know”.
Originally a collaboration between Ford's engineers in the UK
and Germany, and primarily aimed at the British and European
markets, the Transit was designed to be as versatile as
possible.
It rapidly became a staple for tradespeople, including builders,
carpenters, electricians and delivery drivers.
But it also appealed to others looking for spacious, cheap
transport - including aspiring rock bands. It was almost a rite of
passage. Among those who spent time on the road in one
were Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Damned, the Small
Faces and Slade.
"It was the freedom to go where you want, when you want.
Petrol was a lot cheaper than it is now," says Peter Lee,
founder of the Transit Van Club.
"I ended up in Spain, lived in one for 13 months as a hippy on
a strawberry farm, then came back and started a business.
Before you know it, I had 180 workers in 28 Transit vans
driving around London.”
'Britain's most wanted
van'
The Transit's speed and loading space also
appealed to people on the wrong side of the
law.
In 1972, so the story goes, a Metropolitan Police
spokesman claimed Transits were being used in
95% of bank raids, adding that its speed and
loading space meant it had become the perfect
getaway vehicle. This, he commented drily,
made it "Britain's most wanted van".
Meanwhile the stereotype of the bullying "white
van man", defined by Sunday Times reporter
Jonathan Leake in 1997 as "a tattooed species,
often with a cigarette in his mouth, who is prone
to flashing his lights as he descends on his prey", did not
specifically target Transit drivers.
But given how many of them were on the road by then, it is a fair
bet they were implicated.
Made in Turkey
For nearly half a century, Transits were built in Britain - first at
Langley, then at a factory just outside Southampton. But this
closed in 2013, as Ford removed production to Turkey, where it
said costs were "significantly lower". It was a controversial move
that put hundreds of employees out of work. It was described by
unions as a ‘betrayal'.
Today, Ford continues to highlight both the Transit's British
heritage and the work that still takes place here, especially at its
UK headquarters in Dunton, Essex.
"Dunton is the home of the Transit," insists Ford of Britain's
managing director, Lisa Brankin "It's where we manage all the
engineering and design work for the new vans. But we also build
our diesel engines in Dagenham, just down the road, and we
make power packs for electric vans in Halewood, near Liverpool."
Most of the company's European production remains in Turkey,
and that looks unlikely to change.
"It's about efficiency and just centring manufacturing into one
place, rather than having multiple sites across Europe," Ms
Brankin explains.
Much of the activity at Dunton now is focused on what the next
generation of Transit vans will bring. But will there ever be
another radical game-changer like the original model?
"We're working on it," says director of commercial vehicle
development Seamus McDermott, when I ask him that question.
He believes that what customers want from a van has not really
changed in 60 years. It is still all about having a reliable set of
wheels that is versatile and cheap to run. But the way that goal is
achieved is now very different.
"Electric vehicles are cheaper to run and cheaper to repair," he
says. "Also, when we bring in more software defined, 'smarter'
vehicles, the ability to manage fleets remotely will help bring down
costs as well. So the revolution will be about propulsion and
software."
But while the Transit brand has already endured for 60 years,
today it is heading into an uncertain future, according to AA
president Edmund King.
"In the 60s, 70s and 80s, if someone's father had a Transit, they
would get a Transit," he says.
"I think that's changing now. There's more competition across the
van market, and therefore brand loyalty is certainly not as strong
as it used to be."
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