12.5.2014 | Europe
18 Weird Things That People
Have Actually Done With A
Ford Transit
Because you don’t go around delivering stuff for almost 50
years without picking up a few stories.
1) Transport an elephant. Faced with moving two baby elephants
at London Zoo in 1965, handlers turned to their Transit to get the
job done
2) Enter a boat race. Ford engineers once built a floating Transit to
take part in the Maldon raft race in Essex, UK. It didn’t win.
3) Run a celebrity fruit business. Boxer Henry Cooper and his family
used a Transit for their fruiterer business. And who wouldn’t want
to call themselves a ‘fruiterer’?
4) Be mounted by a dinosaur. Model makers in Kent strapped a
life-size 49ft-long Cetiosaurus to their Transit to haul it to a natural
history park in Edinburgh.
5) Bend it like Tottenham. Top-flight footie was different in the
60s. This is how Spurs got about back then – Jimmy Greaves (in
the yellow top on the left) and friends show off their humble team
Transit.
6) Have a Royal night out. Apparently Wills and Kate used a white
Transit to travel incognito when they were living on Anglesey. (Full
disclosure: this is not the actual van.)
7) Pimp your ride. The custom-made XXL version is 7.4 metres long
and kitted out with leather seats and LCD screens for movies or
computer games.
8) Go gigging. Much of rock royalty started off touring in a Transit
–Coldplay, Status Quo and, er, this lot – The Tremoloes?!
9) Go on a car chase. That’s what Michael Caine did in the Fourth
Protocol… not a lot of people know that.
10) DONUT!!! Respect to the team at Transit Center Motorsport in
Poland for their V8 Drift Bus.
11) Break a record. 48 students from Barking College near London
crammed themselves into a Transit minibus in 1965 and won their
place amidst the proud pantheon of record breakers.
12) See the world. Hughes Overland actually ran a Transit minibus
service from London to Australia. A mere 10 weeks and 10,000
miles later, and you were there!
13) Or instead, go on a quick break. Very quick, in fact. This Transit
took the world caravan towing record in 1985 at a nifty 170mph /
270 kph.
14) Race the sand dunes. This Transit battled over 7,500 miles of
North African desert.
15) Be a stuntman for a day. Steve Matthews used his Transit to
leap over 15 old cars. The only modifications included removing the
windows and gaffer taping the doors and bonnet
16) Steal stuff. Such was the van’s handling and capability, UK
Police were said to describe the Ford Transit “the best getaway
vehicle of the 1970s”. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, KIDS! IN FACT,
DON’T STEAL EVER!!
17) Catch bad guys. These days, the good guys drive a Transit.
18) And finally, have a baby. In October 2013, little Alfie Kerr was
delivered in the footwell of a Transit. His parents, Daniel and Jess,
were on their way to the Furness General Hospital in Barrow,
Cumbria. They didn’t quite make it in time. But both Alfie and the
Transit are still doing well. (Photo:Cascade News)
Please find more interesting Stories and Details about
the "Ford Transit" on the official "Transit
Celebrations" Press Kit...
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based
in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles
across six continents. With about 181,000 employees and 65
plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford
and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through
Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information about Ford
and its products worldwide please visit www.corporate.ford.com.
Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing
Ford brand vehicles in 50 individual markets and employs
approximately 47,000 employees at its wholly owned facilities
and approximately 67,000 people when joint ventures and
unconsolidated businesses are included. In addition to Ford
Motor Credit Company, Ford Europe operations include Ford
Customer Service Division and 22 manufacturing facilities (13
wholly owned or consolidated joint venture facilities and nine
unconsolidated joint venture facilities). The first Ford cars were
shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company
was founded. European production started in 1911.