The Ford Transit

[bimble]

Windows are an absolute must. From that DVLA document, these are the essentials:

• a door that provides access to the living accommodation
• a bed, which has a minimum length of 1800mm or 6 feet. This can be converted from seats used for other purposes during the day but must be permanently fixed within the body of the vehicle
• a water storage tank or container on, or in, the vehicle
• a seating and dining area, permanently attached to the vehicle. The table may be detachable but must have some permanent means of attachment to the vehicle. It is not good enough to have a loose table
• a permanently fixed means of storage, a cupboard, locker or wardrobe
• a permanently fixed cooking facility within the vehicle, powered by gas or electricity
• at least one window on the side of the accommodation.

Ok. Those are the essentials that define a thing as a motorhome. It's not illegal to sleep in your vehicle though. Will investigate further but main objective right now is still learning to drive a car, don't want to get ahead of myself & probably wise to start out renting a couple of vans before picking out my curtains etc.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Plenty of fond Transit adventure memories. Also some not so fond memories of delivering fruit and veg around London for a month, or Two. I didn't last long!

I moved all my stuff to Spain in a Transit bought on ebay for just 380 Pounds. Rough, but nothing seriously wrong with it. MOT - just had to sort out insurance. SWB 2.5 diesel. Indestructible engine and gear box. Three trips back and forth from East London to the mountains of Sierra de Baza in Andalucia.

No rush, or real deadlines to meet, so I took my time driving slowly and trying to avoid toll roads. Just heading roughly in the right direction for Madrid following the sun and the stars. The most beautiful Christmas eve I have ever experienced came as I was crossing the Pyrenees from France onto the high plains of Northern Spain. Heading up the pass as the snow was getting deeper I suddenly lost confidence and thought about turning around, but the route back down didn't look much safer by then. I continued the climb "surely it can't be much higher?". Oh yes it was. Seriously deep snow on unknown roads with no markings, or signs visible. Very grateful for the front wheel drive. We made it.

Dropping down towards the plains in bright moonlight the entire landscape was sparkling with frost and light snow. Incredibly beautiful. At some point near Logroño the snow turned to rain. Heavy rain. The rivers were gushing with thaw from the mountains. Reached a small village at the bottom of a valley with a very old Roman bridge crossing the Ebro. It was about 2AM, so I decided drive across the bridge, park up and get the sleeping bags out. The bridge was flooded. The thought of any danger hadn't occured to me. The water was getting deeper. Just put my foot down in a low gear and hung on to the steering wheel when suddenly, without any warning myself and the van started going sideways in the full torrent of a very flooded river Ebro. Absolutely no control over what was happening whatsoever. Eventually, to a huge sigh of relief the front wheels bit the tarmac and got us to the other side.

Lessons learned, the next Two trips past with little incident other than being pulled up on a French motorway by French customs who used my own tool kit to strip the entire dashboard and every interior panel. After finding nothing they just left me on the side of the motorway to rebuild the entire van (sort of).

Ran the van in Spain for a couple of months, but it didn't enjoy the high altitude mountain passes. Oil blowing into the cabin. Decided to get rid of it for scrap whilst the engine and gearbox were still good. Received almost double what I paid for it on ebay.

Fabulous little vans. Wouldn't hesitate to buy another.

 

[dessiato]

Some years ago an acquaintance of mine working as a delivery driver decided to sleep in his van to save money. Because it was cold he used a mobile gas heater. The CO and CO2 build up killed him. Make sure you use proper, safe heaters. Your life could be at serious risk.

 

[Stanley Edwards]

Gas heaters give off condensation also. In a camper van, the condensation is what you want to get rid of.

 

[bimble]

Dropping down towards the plains in bright moonlight the entire landscape was sparkling with frost and light snow.

Lovely motivational image thanks
(driving lesson in a bit)

 

[ska invita]

In my van driving days it was all Ford Transits...Ford are very drivable cars in general, and the Transit just works really well. ive not had a go in a brand new one...
Then I got moved onto a long wheelbase new LDV - it was okay but preferred the Transit

Nowadays I still do the odd bit of van driving a couple of times a month, its usually in VW Transporters, and its always the newest model (as its via Zipcar). The motor is great, as you'd expect for a brand new car, but I dont know if i like it any more than a transit.

My mate has an older Merc Vito compact, and Ive driven that over to France a couple of times...that is a good drive...nice seat position etc. Worth looking at, as its a bit smaller but still plenty big. "Punchy"

Vans are all good tbh, and thevye got a lot more comfortable and pleasant to drive as time has gone on.

I used to have an escort (till it went up in flames at a petrol station!) and a horrible tugboat of an early Sierra - feel fondly to them - ford seems to make cars that are very drivable.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

My old van was a Mercedes Luton, lovely old thing it was, the gearbox was upside down. As we were dragging a rig round illegal raves we had to ensure it was subtle. This was her in 2002 at Steart Beach...

The night before we'd parked up in Wales and on the day of the party we drove to Somerset, whilst still in Wales some kind folk threw stones at us. Can't think why...

 

[T & P]

I've rented a few vans for work over the last couple of years, and the Transit always handles nicely, better then the VW and Mercedes ones I've rented. The gearboxes on some of the VW vans were quite shocking.

I remember Hammondtwat doing a feature on the Transit in Top Gear and saying when it first appeared it was so powerful it became a favourite getaway vehicle for bank robbers and crims, as it offer far more torque for your £ than anything else

 

[SikhWarrioR]

Unless anyone can tell me any different and you are in the market for a good used well maintained Transit I have allways found EX BT trainsits good if and expensive buy

 

[A380]

Unless anyone can tell me any different and you are in the market for a good used well maintained Transit I have allways found EX BT trainsits good if and expensive buy

I used to work for BT, too many years ago?
I would concur. (Despite the fact that when we were apprentices we would fuck about in them). Most employees aren't stupid 18/19 year olds - especially now. The stuff they carry is not heavy, the mileage is mostly low and local, as they are not being used for deliveries just as a base to work from and they are 'proudly maintained by BT vehicle services' as the stickers on the back now say.