Beloved by bands and bank robbers, the Ford Transit turns 60

Summary

Beloved by bands and bank robbers, the Ford Transit turns 60 Theo LeggettInternational Business CorrespondentBBCTheo Leggett at the wheel of the oldest Ford Transit still in existenceClimbing into a 1965 Ford Transit is like stepping into a time capsule on wheels. Forget your modern high-tech nicknacks like satnavs and touchscreens. All you get here is a steering wheel, a big chrome-lined speedometer dial and a chunky heater control. There isn't even a radio.Out on the road, it rattles and bangs and occasionally jumps out of gear. Disconcertingly, there's no seatbelt, the seat itself has an alarming tendency to move around, and the brakes don't seem to do very much at all. Beautiful as it is, it's hard to imagine that this elderly machine was ever state of the art.Yet when the original Transit first rolled off the production line at Ford's plant in Langley, Berkshire, on 9 August 1965, it was a revelation. By the standards of the day, it was remarkably spacious, powerful and practical. It was comfortable, had sharp handling, and put existing vans such as the Morris J4 firmly in the shade.Sixty years later, the Transit has been redesigned many times, but the brand itself is still going strong. It remains a staple for many small businesses, even in an age when "white vans" are ten a penny, and the market is rife with competition. It is the world's best-selling van - and more than 13 million have been built so far."There are lots of iconic cars: the Morris Minor, the Mini, the Land Rover, the VW Beetle, but there's only one iconic van, and that's the Transit," says Edmund King, president of the AA."It's probably the only van that people really know".Erica Echenberg via Getty ImagesPunk band The Damned was one of the groups to use Ford Transits on tour, seen here in 1977Originally a collaboration between Ford's engineers in the UK and Germany, and primarily aimed at the British and European markets, the Transit was designed to be as versatile as possible. It rapidly bec...