In 1972 London's Metropolitan Police reported the Transit was used in 95 percent of bank raids — fast enough for a getaway, roomy enough for 1.75 tonnes of loot.
Lead trim: Transit Mk I 1.7 Essex V4 (1663 cc) · up to 100 hp
Ford Transit Mk I1965–1977
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Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Ford Transit Mk I yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactIn 1972 London's Metropolitan Police reported the Transit was used in 95 percent of bank raids — fast enough for a getaway, roomy enough for 1.75 tonnes of loot.
The first-generation Ford Transit, the Transit Mark I in the United Kingdom, was introduced in October 1965, taking over directly from the Thames 400E and the first product of the merged Ford of Europe. It was built at Genk (Belgium), Langley and Southampton (UK), Homebush and Broadmeadows (Australia), Seaview (New Zealand), Amsterdam, Istanbul (Otosan, from 1967) and Port Elizabeth (South Africa), and offered as a 3/4-door van. Drivers appreciated the elimination of the noise, smell and cabin heat of placing the driver above or beside the engine, as in the Thames 400E and other forward-control light vans of the 1950s and early 1960s; most mechanical components were adapted from Ford's car range, and the sheer number of body styles (long and short wheelbase panel vans, pick-up, minibus, crew cab) was key to its success. Relatively short V4 engines minimised the length needed to place the engine ahead of the driver: in the UK the Essex V4 in 1.7 L and 2.0 L petrol form, with a 43 bhp (32 kW) Perkins diesel also offered; for mainland Europe the German Ford Taunus V4 in Cologne 1.3, 1.5 and 1.7-litre versions or the Essex 2.0. The long-nose diesel front, with its "pig snout", was also used to accommodate the 3.0 L Essex V6 for high-performance applications such as police and ambulance vans, and in Australia from 1973 an inline six derived from the Ford Falcon. This generation had the longest production run of any Transit to date, staying largely unaltered for 12 years until the major update of 1977 with only one minor facelift for the 1971 model year (rounded-rectangle grille on the V4 models). In South Korea Hyundai developed the HD1000 light commercial vehicle using the Transit's chassis and the Perkins diesel.
Collectors Spotted in the Ford Transit Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Ford Transit yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
9 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transit Mk I 1.3 Taunus V4 (1288 cc) | 1965–1977 | 1.3 L V4 | — | — | — | RWD | — | — |
| Transit Mk I 1.5 Taunus V4 (1498 cc) | 1965–1977 | 1.5 L V4 | — | — | — | RWD | — | — |
| Transit Mk I 1.7 Essex V4 (1663 cc) | 1965–1977 | 1.7 L V4 | 73 hp | 100 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Transit Mk I 1.7 Taunus V4 (1699 cc) | 1965–1977 | 1.7 L V4 | — | — | — | RWD | — | — |
| Transit Mk I 1.8 Perkins 4.108 diesel (1760 cc, 43 bhp) | 1965–1977 | 1.8 L Inline-4 | 43 hp | — | — | RWD | — | — |
| Transit Mk I 2.0 Essex V4 (1996 cc) | 1965–1977 | 2.0 L V4 | 86 hp | — | — | RWD | — | — |
| Transit Mk I 2.4 York diesel (2359 cc) | 1965–1977 | 2.4 L Inline-4 | 62 hp | 99 lb-ft | — | RWD | — | — |
| Transit Mk I 3.0 Essex V6 (2994 cc) | 1965–1977 | 3.0 L V6 | 100 hp | — | — | RWD | — | — |
| Transit Mk I 3.3 200 six (3277 cc; Australia) | 1973–1977 | 3.3 L Inline-6 | — | — | — | RWD | — | — |
Owning one
We don’t estimate running costs for a car like this. What it costs depends on its condition, its specialist and how it is driven, and an average would mislead.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Before a single E-Transit reached a customer, Ford had already banked more than 10,000 orders from 300 commercial fleets — buyers signing on for an electric van sight unseen.
On Top Gear, Sabine Schmitz nearly lapped the Nürburgring in under ten minutes in a stripped, weight-reduced Transit van — she missed it by just eight seconds.
In 1989 its 3.0 Essex V6 gave way to the fuel-injected Cologne 2.9, largely because the Essex design was nearly 25 years old and still used a carburettor.
This Transit could be spec'd across 6 body styles, 5 engines, 32 door combinations, 6 axle ratios and up to 17 seating layouts — a mix-and-match menu so broad Ford called it unprecedented, and credited it as key to the Mk II's success.
In 1972 London's Metropolitan Police reported the Transit was used in 95 percent of bank raids — fast enough for a getaway, roomy enough for 1.75 tonnes of loot.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
Chevy pitched the Astro as the anti-minivan, telling buyers life was too big for one, while it rode on a rear-wheel-drive truck frame.
The IIHS rated the Astro Poor in a 1996 crash test, yet 2001–2004 Astros later had the lowest driver death rate of any US passenger vehicle.
The boxy, unglamorous Astro quietly posted one of the best real-world safety records in America: IIHS found 2001-2004 models had the fewest driver deaths per million vehicles of any passenger vehicle on US roads.
The third-generation Tourneo Connect, released in Europe in October 2021, is a rebadged fourth-generation Volkswagen Caddy, assembled by Volkswagen in Poland.
Ford beat the 25% "chicken tax" by importing the Transit Connect as a passenger van — rear windows and seats included, then stripped out and recycled once it landed in the US.
Ford spent years in federal court over the second-gen Transit Connect: in June 2019 the US won its appeal, and judges ruled the van was cargo-only — ending Ford's workaround for the 'chicken tax.'
GM sold a rebadged Nissan NV200 as the Chevy City Express for four years, then killed it in 2018, citing weak sales and the fact that its parts weren't even compatible with GM's own parts catalog.
Its name is a pun: "S-Cargo" means "Small Cargo" but sounds just like escargot — French for snail, the shape the whole van was built to resemble.