Ford Transit celebrates 45th anniversary with limited edition model in UK

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By Matt Brogan | May 03rd, 2010

Ford Transit celebrated its 45th anniversary this weekend with the announcement of a limited edition ‘Sapphire’ model.

The news coincides with the popular model’s 6,000,000th sales milestone, the manufacturer hosting simultaneous celebrations in its Chinese, Turkish and UK (Southampton) plants.

In Britain, 2.1 million Transit models have been sold since the revolutionary model was first introduced back in 1965.

“It’s great to be here in Southamptonas Transit reaches another significant milestone,” said Ford’s European manufacturing vice president, Ken Macfarlane.

“In its lifetime this Plant has addressed many challenges and yet maintained the high quality of its product.

“This is made possible by a dedicated workforce and I thank them for that.”

In the UK, the limited edition Sapphire models will be available in the following numbers:

Transit 280 SWB (low roof) 2.2-litre turbo-diesel – 550 units
Transit 280 MWB (mid roof) 2.2-litre turbo-diesel – 350 units
Transit 350 LWB (mid roof) 2.4-litre turbo-diesel – 250 units

All models include the following features:

Silver-painted front grille with body colour bumper
Silver-painted mirror caps on electrically-operated and heated door mirrors
Silver-painted rear light guards
New ‘Ink Blue’ paint
Air conditioning
Front fog lights
Bodyside mouldings
Full wheel covers
Tinted glass
Electrically-operated windows
‘Quickclear’ heated front windscreen
Stereo radio/CD player and auxiliary MP3 connector and steering column-mounted controls
Bluetooth with Voice Control System
Cruise control
Full-width steel bulkhead
DIN-compliant cargo tie-down eyes
Standard ABS, ESP and driver airbag

The name ‘Sapphire’ comes from the British tradition of naming wedding anniversaries and linking them to precious materials: 45 years is Sapphire.

Ricky

US Ford Econoline is still superior. 10,000 lbs towing capacity (4500kg), compared with 3000kg on Transit.

Tim

It may tow more, but thats not the only thing important in a van. The Transit is superior in terms of everything else and by far pioneered the way to more ‘car like’ vans. Very reliable too.

Ricky

Yes the Transit was revolutionary in that it had a bonnet, beating the Americans by many years. The US vans (Ford and Chevy), however, not only have better towing but more powerful engines (V8 and V10), while the Transit and most other European vans only offer 4 cylinders. These powerful engines are useful for vehicles that are based on the chassis, such as ambulances (which need speed more than fuel efficiency), and large motor homes and delivery trucks. The US vans also offer a number of passenger variants, seating anywhere between 6 and 15 people. The Transit, on the other hand, is only offered in a single passenger variant, seating 12 people, and it has a very tall roof (2.3m), making it unsuitable for domestic garages, for instance, and even some parking garages. The US vans are also commonly converted into ‘custom vans’. In short, although the US vans are not as fuel efficient, they are far more flexible vehicles.

Aquahead

If I was planning to drive a van around doing deliveries etc, the micghty Tranny Van would be hard to beat. Cost of ownership on these things is pretty good, I’d expect the 2.2, 2.4 and 3.2L TDCI engines to use about 1/3 the fuel that the big E-Series Vans use in the states.

Shak

It didn’t have Air-con to start with?

filippo

Remember that this is a UK-only special edition. You will find that many cars in the UK don’t have a/c standard. For them, a/c is about as necessary as heated mirrors would be in Queensland.

Robert

“These powerful engines are useful for vehicles that are based on the chassis, such as ambulances (which need speed more than fuel efficiency), and large motor homes and delivery trucks.”
Actually European Vans are becoming a substitute for E-Series Vans in Class B’s and Motorhomes. The European Vans have replaced F250′s as a base vehicle for many city emergency departments Ambulances. They have a greater carrying capacity than E-Series Vans.