Friday, February 2, 2007

The Ford Transit journey




The first Ford Transit was introduced in 1965, and has been in continuous production in three basic generations to the present day.1965-1978. The Transit was a huge departure from the European commercial vehicles of the day its broad track and American inspired 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 trucks, minibuses and crew cabs.

1978-1986. In Early 1978, a facelifted version commonly known in some markets as the "Mark 2" model debuted with a restyled nose section, new interior, and the introduction of the pinto engine from the Cortina in sted of the Essex V4. High performance versions intended for police or ambulance use, used the 3.0 L V6 version of the engine. In 1984, the York diesel engine was redesigned into the 2.4L "DI" (direct injection) unit. Late in its life this generation received a minor facelift including a black rubberised front grille with integrated headlamp surrounds, which had previously been body coloured.

1986-1991 & minor facelift 1991-1994. A new version appeared in Early 1986 and was notable for its all new bodyshell which was of "one box" design (i.e. the windscreen and bonnet are at the same angle), and the front suspension was changed to a fully independent configuration on all but chassis cab and LWB versions. A subtle facelift in 1992 saw this feature rolled out across the range, whilst a redesigned floorpan allowed the use of single rear wheels on the LWB derivative, further increasing payload.

1994-2000. A major facelift to the Transit in 1994/5 gave the Transit a new nose and dashboard, along with the 2.0L DOHC 8 valve engine as found in the 1994-1998 Scorpio. At the same time air con was made available as an optional extra too.

2000-2006 features controls mounted on the dashboard, a specially adapted manual mode, tow haul mode, economy mode and winter mode. Two years later, Ford introduced the Transit Connect, a smaller panel van aimed at replacing the older Escort and Fiesta based models. It shares very little with the full size Transit in terms of engineering,

2006-Present. In August 2006 the Transit received a facelift to the body, including new front and rear lights, a new front end and a new interior featuring the gearstick on the dashboard as well as incorporating Ford's new corporate radio design. This version won the International Van Of The Year 2007 award despite tough competition from several all new rivals.
The next blog will be called (Ford's Car stand for 2007).


Please fill free to drop us an email if theres anything we can help you with, and go ahead and tell friends about us and check out our links and let us no what you think. Because your appinions matter and we're allways changing to make things better. If you want a persiffic vehicle and its not here then let us know what it is at general33@hotmail.co.uk.

No comments:

TrafficSwarm