In 1995, the Ford Transit van celebrated it's 40th birthday. The Transit had been a help to many people across the world since the 1950's. Ford had already messed around with it, to make the Supervan and Supervan 2, but this was the 40th birthday, and Ford wanted to go extreme.
Beforehand, in 1984, Ford has made the Supervan 2. This needs a small introduction to help form the beginnings of it's younger sibling. Ford got the chassis of their four litre V8 C100 racecar. It had a custom fiberglass shell built roughly around the design of the mark 2 Transit.
The Supervan 2
It had a top speed of 174mph/280kph and kept in line by multiple aerodynamic features, such as a front lip, 2 side air inlets and a high mounted spoiler. It was also lowered considerably from the stock van. It was fitted with a naturally-aspirated Cosworth DRL, V8 with around 500 horsepower. It was built in the village of Woolaston, on the Welsh border. The Supervan 2 made it's debut at the British truck racing grand prix, at Donington Park, in Derby. However, the 2 was only around for a year, as they Transit mark three came out, and the 2's value to Ford wasn't enough to keep it.
Now, 1994 came around, the Transit mark 3 had been in production for ages. The mark 3 was having a facelift, and Ford wanted to celebrate it, and what better to do than making the best Supervan so far. They went through the same process as they did with the 2. They got the same platform, from a C100 racecar, and built a fibre glass shell based on the new Transit. At 7/8ths scale however, it was smaller than the real deal. Again, it had air inlets, large spoiler, massive front splitter, but the engine was different. Instead of the large, heavy motor in the 2 , there was a lighter, F1 Cosworth HB, another V8. This engine would later be used in the Benetton F1 car. It had 650 BPH to add the lightweight frame and monocoque chassis made from aluminium. As a track car, it had to be rear wheel drive with independent coil spring suspension. However, The supervan 3 could only reach approximately 150 mph/241kph. This may've been added weight from safety features not needed in 1984 that weren't included in the prior model. Considering it only weighed 900kg, there isn't that much logic to this thing.
Top speed is relative.
From 1994 to 2004, the Supervan toured car shows and racetracks, and people were always surprised to be passed by a van. In 2004, it was retired from road-use, and was given a V6 to reduce power output to 295 BHP. It was toured around the world in car shows and car exhibits, but it was still driven by people who could pay do do track experiences at racetracks and other events. Since 2004, it has still been driven around and used, at drag races, track days and cars shows.
The Supervan trio was an advertising scheme. It was ridiculous. It was a success. Ford made the Frankenstein of all cars. Would Mercedes put an F1 engine into a Vito. No, they wouldn't. To me, it seems doing outrageous stuff for no good reason doesn't happen anymore. I would rather have the Supervan 3 than a Bugatti Chiron. This supervan isn't a van or a supercar. It's a joke. Jokes are meant to make you laugh, and you don't get that anymore.
This is my first article as well, so please tell me how I did, and how I can improve.
Thank you for reading. 👍
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