Tuesday 29th March 2011

Spotted: 1970 Mk1 Ford Transit

Minty Tranny a must for old school fast Ford race and rallyists?

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The words 'Ford Transit' and 'show-standard' are normally mutually exclusive, but we've spotted this one on eBay with no panel damage, no rust, and no six-month-old fast-food containers stuffed down the front of the dashboard. In fact, it's just plain 'mint'.

You do still see Mk1 Transits on offer, but rarely are any of them in this condition - let alone one of the rarer side-door models. Its previous owner spent thousands restoring it, and if we had a Mk1 Escort race/rally car we'd love to turn up at the next meeting towing it behind this.

Of course, with so few about they're hard to value, and £11,995 sounds like a lot of money for a 40-year-old van.

But don't forget that if you wanted a split-screen VW van in similar condition you'd be paying almost double that amount. And looking at the prices being paid for properly prepared competition Mk1 Escorts nowadays, perhaps it's not so steep after all?

[Oddball RS]

Wowzers that is tidy

[ludicrous speed]

I knew ford made a V4 but i didn't know these had them, nice.

[anonymous-user]

Wonder how many bank jobs it has done

[Pat H]

It is crazy money, but has to be better than yet another VW microbus.

[carl carlson]

Pervious owner was fingers mcgee, bank robber.

Had a look at the Mk2 Escort. Even though its a superb one 67K is a lot of money for 30yr old ford.



BTW the link to ebay doesn't work. Its missing the ht at the begining.

[Riggers]

ludicrous speed said:

I knew ford made a V4 but i didn't know these had them, nice.

I believe it was brand-new when the Transit was first launched. Went in that and the Corsair... (I think)

[EDLT]

Buy it and we can all go Post Office robbing, like the good ol' days.

Do people really pay that much for Escort rally cars, and how come every car on sale seems to have been rebuilt in the last few months and only driven 5cms on tarmac before being put on sale

[jake15919]

When it was spotted did it have it's back doors open, a shooter poking out of the passenger window, and was it being chased by a sideways Granada?

[pSyCoSiS]

That's lovely.

So retro, so cool.

[smileymikey]

Oh my

I just want that Transit sooo much, I'm hacksawing the barrels of me Purdeys as we speak!!

Isn't there some shaggy dog story about Ford Transits being involved in about 95% of armed robberies in the seventies?


Shotgun...check
Sheepskin.check
Ski Mask..check

Sweeney in a Ford Consul...check

[EDLT]

smileymikey said:

Isn't there some shaggy dog story about Ford Transits being involved in about 95% of armed robberies in the seventies?

That is the story , yes

They were considered pretty quick in their day too, or at least quicker than most police cars.

[Johnspex]

It could only be better if it had sliding doors. Specially designed so you could drive about with the doors open and smash your right elbow if you hadn't locked them back properly. You just gotta love Transits.

[grosserbaby]

Transite Warrior retro style

[gforceg]

Riggers said:

I believe it was brand-new when the Transit was first launched. Went in that and the Corsair... (I think)

I think the Corsair GT used the V4. My dad had a couple in the late 60s to early 70s but I never looked under the bonnet...just let the handbrake off and rolled it across the road.

[smileymikey]

Johnspex said:

It could only be better if it had sliding doors. Specially designed so you could drive about with the doors open and smash your right elbow if you hadn't locked them back properly. You just gotta love Transits.

Yes but it made it waaay easier to hang out of and put holes in the following police Mk1 Escort

[anything fast]

12 grand??

10 years ago i wanted to fill a barn with old fords like mk1/mk2 escorts, old transits, cortina's, 3 door cossies, no one wanted to cough up the money to go in with me.. wish i had sunk every penny i had in to it.. If i did i would have made a killing selling cars and vans like this...

[Mark-C]

When I was but a lad there was a Zodiac or Zephyr (huge thing - very late 60s vintage) a few doors down with the V4 in .... I have never seen so much space in an engine bay!

[Ocho]

carl carlson said:

Pervious owner was fingers mcgee, bank robber.

Had a look at the Mk2 Escort. Even though its a superb one 67K is a lot of money for 30yr old ford.

And you still have to get the thing shipped back to the UK from the Bahamas...

[AdeTuono]

gforceg said:

Riggers said:

I believe it was brand-new when the Transit was first launched. Went in that and the Corsair... (I think)

I think the Corsair GT used the V4. My dad had a couple in the late 60s to early 70s but I never looked under the bonnet...just let the handbrake off and rolled it across the road.

There were two V4's, one 1700cc and one 2000cc. My first motor was a '66 Transit, and the 1700 V4 was truly awful, especially when the van was laden with 5 of us and all our band equipment. The 2.0 was fitted to the Corsair 2000E amongst others, and went a little better than the smaller motor.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Essex_V4_engine

[VladD]

That's the colour Flemke should have painted his F1 if you ask me.