(alarm bell ringing) - Alright, so you're in
London, England in 1972.
You and your droogies just robbed a bank
and guess what?
You're the getaway driver, "But James," you say,
"It's 1972, what car do I even drive?"
Well, you need something comfortable for multiple people,
big enough for large enough of cargo,
that handles well enough to go on a track.
It's gotta be efficient, versatile,
and have lush, shag carpets.
What you need is a Ford van.
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on Ford vans.
(electricity sparking) (electronic music)
(horse neighs)
I know you see Ford Vans running around every day
and you probably don't even notice them.
That doesn't seem like it would be an interesting
Up To Speed, but there's a ton about vans
that's totally sick.
I'm talkin' furry upholstery, off-roadin',
Hashtag Van life, where guys get hot girls live
with them in vans somehow.
The fri--
That's crazy.
(lounge music)
What if I told you that my next car
is gonna be a Ford van?
And I decided that before we even decided
to make this video?
If you have a Ford E-series
with a four by four conversion,
hit your boy up. (beep)
Most of Europe and especially UK
is obsessed with the Ford Transit.
It's practically a British national treasure.
They make up so many of the commercial vehicles
sold over there that people will call any van a Transit
no matter what kind it is.
Ford has achieved Kleenex status
with a practical box on wheels.
You know, because no matter who makes the tissue,
you call it a Kleenex?
The idea for a modern do-it-all van
started in the 1950s.
There wasn't a lot on the market
that could haul a lot of people or stuff
that wasn't also excessively big, hard to park,
and just generally crappy to drive.
The Volkswagen Bus was pretty much it
so in 1961 Ford launched a new compact van competitor
in the U.S. called--
- [Announcer] Ford Econoline.
(goofy music)
- It was based on the front engine, rear wheel drive Falcon,
One of Ford's small passenger cars.
Now the fact that the engine was up front
gave it a huge advantage over it's rear engine competitors
that had a hump in the back.
The Econoline had a totally flat floor
all the way from the front to back.
Small van buyers didn't want more power, baby.
They wanted, more cargo, baby.
More cargo, baby.
And the Econoline can be ordered
in a huge number of different configurations
to handle any job so it was an instant American success.
Just like me. (beep)
Ford of Germany and Ford of Britain
we're making their own competing vans in the 50s,
the Taunus Transit and the Thames 400E.
Then Henry Ford II, Hank deuce himself,
came along and figured things
could be streamlined a little bit.
So he brought engineers from both companies together
come up with one perfect van to haul the beer
and by 1965 they had their own instant success.
- [Announcer] Transit, the super van.
Big, fast, efficient.
- The cream cheese on the tea sandwich
was that the Transit handled like a car, not a van.
It was wider than its competitors
and it looked kinda like its distant but cool,
American Econoline cousin.
It was actually faster than a lot of new cars at the time.
Short wheel base, long wheel base,
low roof, tall roof, panel van, passenger bus.
There was a Transit for every conceivable job.
By 1970 there were 1000 different combinations
that you could order.
Best of all, it was very affordable
so small businesses bought 'em up.
And then they got stuff done.
♪ If you've got a job to do ♪
♪ Then I've got one car for you ♪
♪ It is big or square or blue ♪
♪ It's a van and he'll get it done ♪
♪ Yeah vans will get it done ♪
♪ Woo vans will get it done ♪
♪ Yeah (humming) ♪
With vans flying off the lots on both sides
of the atlantic, Ford didn't just sit back and watch.
No, they made constant improvements
to both Transits and Econolines
like moving to truck based frames and upping max payload.
But, they also built some pretty bad-ass,
one-off race versions.
(engine revving)
On the heels of their four consecutive, 24 hours
of Lemal wins in 1971, Ford joined forces
with a local race shop to drop a Transit van body
onto the drive train of a little a-more power, baby.
A 435 horsepower, five liter V8 was mounted
in the middle of a space-framed chassis
with independent race suspension,
GT40 disc breaks and a five speed manual.
The thing went over 150 miles per
and they called it the Transit Supervan.
Lightning!
Bah!
12 horses!
Oh wow, look at 'em.
They're majestic!
They demoed the Supervan at racetracks
all over Britain and loaned it out to the press to drive.
I'm technically part of the automotive press.
You still got it?
Ford took a pretty ho-hum practical work vehicle
and made it exciting for the public.
(engine roaring)
When they had new diesel engines to offer,
they sent two Transits with the new motors
to do seven days of non-stop flogging
around Monza racetrack in Italy.
That pair of vans set three world endurance records
including averaging more than 73 miles
per hour over 10,000 miles.
Meanwhile, the 70s really got swinging in the U.S.
And the free wheeling attitude of the decade
turned people onto Econolines for leisure.
The popularity of conversion vans exploded
as families picked them up, threw a mattress in the back
and hauled their dirty, ugly, little kids
across the country.
Meanwhile, younger single people,
- Us?
- saw them as a means to more freedom.
They got custom paint jobs with groovy stripes
and glittery flames.
Some painted vessel names like Frito Vandito
and Ripped Van Winkle on the sides.
The most enthusiastic owners went
with airbrushed murals of wild west, waterfalls,
or naked viking ladies riding unicorns.
The insides were fully decked out
with swiveling velour captain chairs,
shag carpet, fake fireplaces and even waterbeds.
People took 'em surfing, they took 'em on road trips,
they took 'em to concerts.
If you wanted somewhere to escape from reality,
you just hopped into your bedroom on wheels,
closed the curtains,
and the rest, ask your parents about it.
(soft jazz music)
They became so popular that there were huge van shows
and meet-ups and the movement got it's own name.
Vanning, the original hashtag van life.
Vanning culture slowed down with rising gas prices
and a general shift in mood in the 1980s.
It didn't slow down sales to regular folks
who needed a practical van, though.
It didn't slow down Ford's race van dreams either, baby,
because the Motorsports team in the UK
put together a new and improved Transit Supervan
and they called it Transit Supervan 2.
Yes!
Lightning!
Bah!
12 horses!
Oh wow, look at them.
They're majestic.
With a lowered fiberglass body
over a 590 horsepower Cosworth V8.
It did zero to 60 in three seconds
and zero to 100 in 6.5.
They're almost as fast as modern super cars.
To show that it was still practical,
they hooked a camper to the back
and set a world towing record at 170 miles per hour.
Now apparently the Supervans were good for business
because in the mid 90s, Supervan 3
topped them all with a 650 horsepower Cosworth engine
out of a Benneton F1 car.
Hell yeah, dude.
(engine screaming)
Lightning!
Bah!
12 horses.
Oh, wow, look at 'em.
They're majestic.
The grandson of Supervan and son of Supervan 2
could supposedly hit 200 miles per hour
and went through a few different motors over the years
to, you know, chill it down because it was too fast.
Production vans were never quite as quick as the Supervans
but Ford continually improved their functionality
along with better handling, more comfy cockpits
and more power, baby.
(clicks tongue) (chuckles)
Huh? (tires screeching)
In Europe, everything from the smallest mum and pop,
mum and pop business to huge corporations
with massive fleets bought Ford Transit vans.
And by the turn of the millennium, Ford vans
had more than proven their reputation
for quality, durability and reliability
which is the most important thing
if you're running a small business, alright, guys?
At one point, over 60% of the American van market
since 1980 was Ford Econoline.
More than half of the vans sold in Britain are Transits.
And they didn't just do mundane jobs and family vacations.
No, boy.
Transits worked underground in harsh salt mines,
crossed the scalding Sahara desert,
hauled service crews and equipment at rally events
and starred in TV shows and movies.
(dog yelping) (metal crashing)
Sabine Schmitz almost did a sub 10 minute lap
in a stock Ford diesel Transit.
(engine growling)
Independent companies have been doing custom conversions
on Ford vans ever since they came out
which started with campers that featured beds,
ice boxes and kitchenettes turned into full
four wheel drive adventure van conversions
as people started wanting to take their rigs
further off the grid.
I want one of these so bad, baby.
(engine roaring)
If you think it's rad that Jeeps can climb
over all kinds of crazy rocks and stuff,
just imagine a freaking cabin doing it.
Oh hey, you guys should come over,
we're gonna fire up the hot tub and maybe do some bowling.
If there's one thin I always say,
it's that everything that goes around,
comes back around sometime or another
'cause the van movement is back, baby,
in full force, only now it's called hashtag van life.
Real estate prices are higher than ever
and living in a stationary, modern corporate life
just isn't for everyone, including me, baby.
So lots of people are turning to Ford Transits
and using Econolines as full-time living situations.
It's huge on YouTube.
I shoulda done that.
It seems so much easier than what I decided to do
which requires tons and tons of research and writing.
And then it takes four days to do an edit.
(chuckling)
What were we thinking, guys?
And now that the Transit has replaced the Econoline
in the U.S. with available all wheel drive I might add,
there aren't many places that you cant' go.
(tires squealing)
I wanna give a huge, huge, huge thank you
to our friends at Ford for helping us make this episode.
During our research, we found out that Econolines
used to have V10 options which is sick.
They might not still have V10 options
but their engine options now are still plenty powerful
and honestly way more efficient.
There's a twin turbo, 3.5 liter, eco-boost V6,
I love this engine so much I wanna put it in somethin'.
And you can even get Ford's wheels from the factory.
If you go for full cargo capacity,
you can fill the back up with dirt bikes and quads.
If you need to haul both passengers and stuff,
the new crew cab model has got ya covered.
Today's modern family road trips will be peaceful
with the kids all hooked up to the onboard 4G LTE wifi,
plus they got a USB port in every row.
These kids can watch Netflix and charge their iPads
while on a road trip.
Do you know what I got?
I got watching the sweat fall down my dad's fat neck.
If you wanna know more about the new Transit,
hit the link in the description below
and again, thank you to our literal friends at Ford
for helping us make this awesome, awesome episode.
(electricity crackling)
I'm not allowed to go to the office
so this is the new me now.
You know what else is new?
This fricking shirt.
We started a gang while we were filming High Lows
called the Boost Creeps.
You want in?
Swipe up and get yours right now
so people will know right off the bat
that you like spitting boys and whooshy sounds.
(funky techno music)
(car tires skidding)
And thank you guys for watching this episode
of Up To Speed and supporting what we've been doing
at Donut over the last few years.
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