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Van of the Day : February 15, 2016; EFSI '66 Ford Transit
Topic Started: Feb 14 2016, 11:18 PM (815 Views)
craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

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EFSI's 1966 Ford Transit Ambulance is the van for today.

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Wikipedia.com
 
The Ford Transit is a range of light commercial vehicle produced by Ford since 1965. Sold primarily as a cargo van, the Transit is also built as a passenger van (marketed as the Tourneo since 1995), minibus, cutaway van chassis, and as a pickup truck. Over eight million Transit have been sold, making it the third best-selling van of all time and have been produced across five basic platform generations (debuting in 1965, 1978, 1986, 2000, and 2013 respectively).


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Wikipedia.com
 
The first generation Transit, or the Transit Mark I in the United Kingdom,[5] was introduced in October 1965, taking over directly from the Thames 400E, and has been in continuous production in three basic generations to the present day.

The van was produced initially at Ford's Langley facility in Berkshire, England (a former Second World War aircraft factory which had produced Hawker Hurricane fighters), but demand outstripped the capability of the plant, and production was moved to Southampton until closure in 2013 in favour of the Turkish factory.[6]

Transits have also been produced in Ford's Genk factory in Belgium and also Turkey. Transits were produced in Amsterdam for the local market from the mid-1970s until the end of 1981. This factory had ample capacity, since the Ford Transcontinental produced there had little success (total production 8000 in 6 years). Although the Transit sold well in the Netherlands, it was not enough to save the factory, which closed in December 1981.

The Transit was introduced to replace the Ford Thames 400E, a small mid-engined forward control van noted for its narrow track which was in competition with similar-looking but larger vehicles from the BMC J4 and J2 vans and Rootes Group's Commer PB ranges. In a UK market segment then dominated by the Bedford CA, Ford's Thames competitor, because of its restricted load area, failed to attract fleet users in sufficient numbers. Ford switched to a front-engined configuration, as did the 1950s by Bedford with their well-regarded CA series vans. Henry Ford II's revolutionary step was to combine the engineering efforts of Ford of Britain and Ford of Germany to create a prototype for the Ford of Europe of today—previously the two subsidiaries had avoided competing in one another's domestic markets but had been direct competitors in other European markets.

The Transit was a departure from the European commercial vehicles of the day with its American-inspired styling—its broad track gave it a huge advantage in carrying capacity over comparable vehicles of the day. 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 truck, minibuses, crew-cabs to name but a few.


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EFSI was a Dutch company which provided work to unemployed miners in Holland. I was able to score this ambulance model and a 'stock' version last weekend at the Gateway Farm Toy Show held in St. Louis. The driver's side door and rear hatch opens but not the passenger door. It's perhaps on the small side scale wise but is a nice varied addition to my collection of diecast from around the world.

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zzziippyyy
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Drive it like you stole it!
I ove these early models, This ione is beautiful and I especially like the windshield clarity.
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pjedsel
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Muscle Car
:thumbup: I think this is one of the first EFSI models I added to my collection many years ago. I also have it in a police version. EFSI models are nice collectibles. I know one S gauge model railroad dealer that carried them for a while back in the '80's. :)

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Edited by pjedsel, Feb 15 2016, 11:28 AM.
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Hobie-wan
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SUV
Cool old van. The only examples I have were Z* models until the recent HW super dee duper version.
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poorvanner
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*In Memory Of*
Now that is what I am talking about. I have actively sought every variation of these I could find.
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zzziippyyy
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Drive it like you stole it!
Sweet!
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chris.p
Compact
Nice model - I've seen them on the web but never in the metal.

Anorak factoid.... In the 60s in a crime/robbery, where a vehicle was involved, 90+% involved a Transit. Not sure how true that is.

In their day they were unusually fast - 90 wasn't unheard of. Unlike the one I drove last week - the speed limiter kept it at 60.

Chris

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craftymore
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Support your local demo derby.

Nice examples you've shown John. Is the base painted on the 1st one you shared?
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pjedsel
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craftymore
Feb 18 2016, 12:01 AM
Nice examples you've shown John. Is the base painted on the 1st one you shared?
Yes, on the police version the base is painted blue.
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Dean-o-mite
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I have a couple of variations on this Transit, including the ambulance and a civilian van, but lack the police one. I always enjoyed the opening parts, and was intrigued with the opening driver door, but sealed passenger door.
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Hobie-wan
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SUV
Dean-o-mite
Feb 20 2016, 12:03 AM
I have a couple of variations on this Transit, including the ambulance and a civilian van, but lack the police one. I always enjoyed the opening parts, and was intrigued with the opening driver door, but sealed passenger door.
Being a British van, that would be an opening passenger door. :P
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poorvanner
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*In Memory Of*
Hobie-wan
Feb 22 2016, 01:31 AM
Dean-o-mite
Feb 20 2016, 12:03 AM
I have a couple of variations on this Transit, including the ambulance and a civilian van, but lack the police one. I always enjoyed the opening parts, and was intrigued with the opening driver door, but sealed passenger door.
Being a British van, that would be an opening passenger door. :P
Actually, the EFSI Transit is a left hand drive model, meaning it was a continental Europe version. They were just as popular on the continent as they were over in England. So Dean is correct, driver door.
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chris.p
Compact
The tailgate was not a popular option in the UK. Most went for the twin barn doors.

I think they were also available with sliding passenger/drivers doors too.

Chris
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Hobie-wan
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poorvanner
Feb 22 2016, 12:36 PM
Actually, the EFSI Transit is a left hand drive model, meaning it was a continental Europe version. They were just as popular on the continent as they were over in England. So Dean is correct, driver door.
Oh, ok then. :blush:
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