> 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.
I have a friend who collects and restores classic cars, and it is mindblowing how polished modern vehicles are (despite attempts by Ford et al to fill them with the world's shittest software so that you sometimes have to pull over and power cycle (restart) your car just to fix the GD radio). If you haven't ridden in a vehicle 50 years or older in a while, and you get a chance to, take it!
And hated by every fleet manager and mechanic that saw them replace their substantially more ignorance and abuse proof old E-series.
I completely understand why Europe loves them though. They don't expect to play truck with their vans and of the Euro vans it's arguably the best one (I hope the Mercedes fanboys take offense to that statement).
Funny how a completely ordinary and incredibly useful vehicle ends up with such a skewed image in the US.
In Europe, a Ford Transit is just what the local plumber or electrician drives. It's a no-nonsense work tool. In America, thanks to what I assume is decades of media tropes, the same van is portrayed as the getaway car in a heist or the “creepy unmarked van” parents warn their kids about.
It’s as if a hammer were seen as suspicious because it could be used in a crime.
Yep, the fourth gen E-Series cargo vans are the ones with "creepy kidnapper" vibes (along with the third gen Chevy G-series). And even then it's only when they're beat up and don't otherwise appear to be for commercial use.
Ford Transit vans have absolutely no such negative connotation.
A very high percentage of businesses which in Europe would be running a Ford Transit are instead using pickup trucks. It's not everyone: Electricians really want their cargo area to not get wet, but if there's a choice between a van and a truck, very often the American contractor is driving a pickup truck, even installing shelving and extra storage.
> In Europe, a Ford Transit is just what the local plumber or electrician drives. It's a no-nonsense work tool.
Its the same way in America. White vans are ubiquitous, used by plumbers / etc. IRL, people don't even take note of them because they're just unremarkable and extremely common.
The media trope is mostly just that, a media trope. Insofar as white vans have any real association with crime it's probably just because criminals will favor whatever windowless vehicle is the least attention grabbing and white vans are strong contenders for that.
> Insofar as white vans have any real association with crime it's probably just because criminals will favor whatever windowless vehicle is the least attention grabbing and white vans are strong contenders for that.
It says in the article. It was because they were relatively quick because they were light (it is just panels) and had lots of room.
There are also legends in my local area of a Transit with a v8. Apparently nothing can could beat it on the road. Considering how fast truck cabs are unladen I can believe it.
There are other British Cars that were favoured by criminals because of their sear speed. The Lotus Carlton being another one and the infamous 40RA number plate.
> 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.
I have a friend who collects and restores classic cars, and it is mindblowing how polished modern vehicles are (despite attempts by Ford et al to fill them with the world's shittest software so that you sometimes have to pull over and power cycle (restart) your car just to fix the GD radio). If you haven't ridden in a vehicle 50 years or older in a while, and you get a chance to, take it!
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