Essexman's BT Ford Transit 120SWB

[HMC]

Pity poor commercial vehicles. They lead hard, tough lives. Then, after years of faithful service, and strings of owners, they get chucked away, often without a second thought. Theres something honest about a used and abused old commercial vehicle. Battered and grimy, theyve earnt their keep and in a way have nothing to prove.

 

I have always fancied a Ford Transit, budget dictating a sheddy 90s example rather that anything older or newer. In fact a few of the later generation were in budget but my shiter's instinct told me to avoid these. No, what I really wanted was a " smiley" transit made from 95-00.

 

For a while it seemed destined not to be. I browsed over loads of mk5 transits. Short ones, long ones, minibuses, recovery trucks- the lot. Everything was at the lower end of the market, where rust (especially rust) and battle scars are commonplace, and service history is something that has usually vanished, if it ever existed in the first place. Time after time, there was a fair bit of interest and I was outbid or not fast enough to make contact. Until an ex BT 120SWB came onto the radar. It carried its fair share of rust and battle scars, but was solid where it mattered and had a decent wedge of MOT.

 

In a deal where Robt collected said tranny on my behalf, and brought it over to Devon. After catching up, and a few test drives of chod later, Rob set off back in the black MK3 granada Ghia. Many thanks to Robt for his Grey Van Man driving skills, it was great to catch up!

 

As befits a man smoking about in a Ropey transit, and then a sinister black Granada, he was "the fixer" of the whole deal. Cheers Rob your a diamond geeser!

 

The entire service history as found in the antigravity glove box..

.

Impressive bodgery- some sort of adhesive padding later and we have a wheelarch again

Scene from a 1990s gangland TV Drama...

[Pillock]

It looks too light in colour to be BT, but then it has the fully-authentic Letter O in the middle of the reg so must be real.

[Twiggy]

It`s A OK though................

[Cavcraft]

Still the best van ever made.

[Timewaster]

I like a Transit.

 

Those smiler ones are probably the best if the tin worm hasn't eaten the whole thing.

 

That one IS BT grey but is a bit pogweaseled. Unlikely to have been washed never mind polished.

[scruff]

SHIT HOT

[danthecapriman]

Brilliant vans. They are vastly more reliable and hassle free than the later Transits. That 2.5DI engine is IMHO the best diesel engine of ever. I miss my old smileys.

 

That one has very impressive 'rake' on it! Unusual for a 120, they are usually a lot more level than that.

Does it still have the heater system with it?

[320touring]

lovely!

[Cavcraft]

Possibly got h/d springs on the back, I think you could uprate them to try and hide the fact you'd have several hundredweight of sand/stolen copper/an IBC full of cherry in the back.

 

I'll have numbers 1-49 inclusive when you raffle it.

[EssDeeWon]

So is RobT currently making his way home in the Granny? That's a proper load of driving in one day.

[HMC]

Yeah, that's a fair stint behind the wheel, especially in unfamiliar vehicles. He'd got the transit set up well though, he'd left today's The Sun on the dashboard.

[scruff]

My Transit tale.

 

My dad was a builder throughout the 80s and early 90s, he worked his arse off through the slumps and recession, did the whole Auf Wiedersehen thing when work dried up and worked in Germany and Gibraltar. His vehicular tools were always shitters but he always wanted a Transit, he thought they were the dog's. When he changed careers in the mid 90s, retraining as a sparky and working for a long-time pal, he inherited a ex BT Transit and fookin' loved it. J431 VOM became part of the family, it was absolutely essential that it worked and it NEVER let us down in the 8 years we had it. 

 

I knew it was good but by the time it departed I hadn't been driving long and due to insurance couldn't take the beast on the road. However I was stoked to bits when I joined a contracting firm and was given the use of an S reg SWB Smiley. Mega van!! 

[EssDeeWon]

Yeah, that's a fair stint behind the wheel, especially in unfamiliar vehicles. He'd got the transit set up well though, he'd left today's The Sun on the dashboard.

 

Hope he gets back ok, then he will probably sleep until next Wednesday. I know I would after that distance in one day...

[danthecapriman]

Is yours a turbo? All my old ones were non turbo and, although went ok for a van weren't quick. But I also drove a turbo'd R reg LWB semi high roof for work and the difference was immense! This thing absolutely flew compared to my non turbo's.

 

When I was in the garage we used to do lots of British Gas smiley's. All SWB ones in purple. One of the regulars with one was a right tosser. Apparently he'd destroyed every van he'd been given. The smiley he had was mercilessly ragged and mis treated even by commercial standards. One day it was towed in as a breakdown.

This guy was deliberately trying to break it so he got another new van! He'd ragged it and snapped the cam belt, hoping the resulting damage was enough to finish the van off.

We put a new belt on it and replaced one of the pushrods and away it went as if nothing had happened!

 

It was so funny watching him come in and pick it up. He was so pissed off! Never saw him or the van ever again.

They are indestructible!

[RobT]

Yeah, that's a fair stint behind the wheel, especially in unfamiliar vehicles. He'd got the transit set up well though, he'd left today's The Sun on the dashboard.

Got back about an hour ago, and that's around 12 hours behind the wheel and 500odd miles. Don't know the exact tally as the speedo and odometer in the transit packed up at some point on the A303. Bloody knackered but was a great day. I want a transit now as despite being a bit shonky to look at, i really enjoyed driving it and found the upright and high driving position quite comfortable. The homeward leg in the Granada was much quicker and quieter in comparison, for such a big barge the 2.0 DOHC pulls it along well. Now time to sleep...

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Possibly got h/d springs on the back, I think you could uprate them to try and hide the fact you'd have several hundredweight of sand/stolen copper/an IBC full of cherry in the back.

 

I'll have numbers 1-49 inclusive when you raffle it.

A couple of likely lads of my acquaintance, had, in the mid 90's, an S reg facelift mk1 Transit flat bed. They used it to nick slate of derelict buildings a sell it to a reclamation yard.The back springs had about 15 leaves each side and they reckoned the 2.0 Pinto struggled a bit on hills with more than 4 tons on the back.

[HMC]

So it turns out that its mild hot rod stance........

 

Is probably due to a former owner (not BT I suspect) fitting it with heavy duty 190 LWB leaf springs. Even unladen the ride doesnt seem too bad, but their inflexibilty means you have to watch your step over uneven ground. Last week I was on a dirt track and one front wheel came to rest in a deep pot hole. The HD rear leaves jacked up one end of the beam and a willing passenger had to be lobbed into the back to act as extra ballast. Fun times! A light rear end and crap tyres have made some damp and greasy lanes things to treat with respect, but some decent continental van tyres are on their way which should help matters.

 

Earlier today SWMBO touch parked into it.....

 

'smiley' Transit frowney

 

Apart from a broken front plate on the Transit, no harm done. Afterwards it was basically still smiling. In fact the rear plate is a post 2001 font replacement, my numberplate OCD kicked in and I now have a set of DMB plates on order. It did make me think about the bleached out front bumper, and I couldnt resist having ago with some linseed oil...

 

Linseed oil on a battered transit- Whatever next?

 

Clearly the van was unused to such TLC and promptly locked me out of it!

[dollywobbler]

Wow. Missed this! The wiper geek in me wonders if the arms have got switched around at some point though. That'll lose you some Concours points, so I thought I'd better mention it.

 

I really do feel that I must own one of these before they really do all disappear. I said it about the Mk2 Transit and now there really are very few left.

[Lord Sterling]

Sweet! Actually, it's a shame your so far away, I could do with a transit-sized vehicle this coming weekend to haul my stuff over to new place.

[Ghosty]

Will there be an altitude adjustment, or has KNOB VAN gained an accomplice: ROD VAN?

[RichL]

I used to regularly steer a 2000 2.5Di Turbo SWB, Y929 XAK. It was possible to change gear without using the clutch as demonstrated by my work mates, I never tried it.

 

The engine was faultless when it got sold and is probably still powering something.

[cms206]

I used to regularly steer a 2000 2.5Di Turbo SWB, Y929 XAK. It was possible to change gear without using the clutch as demonstrated by my work mates, I never tried it.

 

The engine was faultless when it got sold and is probably still powering something.

We had umpteen, latterly my steed was N302 URJ (SWB panel van) which was GR15 but my favourite was L993 VLW which was a twin-wheeler flatbed. When we got taken over I ended up with twin wheel flatbed R501 AOA which wasn't bad either. The only one which really rotted out was V173 JWK which was an MT van and was maintained using thicker and thicker paint to try to stop the rot.

 

The only other memorable one was J241 FYJ which jettisoned a ramp manager across the tarmac when the drivers door fell off going round a bend at 20*mph. In fairness we had lashed it shut but apparantly that was "against health and safety as it prevented access in the even of a rollover" so he removed the ratchet straps. We were fucking lunatics but in all the time I worked for the company no-one managed to roll a sodding Transit.

 

This was my best effort with J243 FYJ but I ended up just getting the fucker stuck.

 

[CHRIS1980]

I'm now searching ebay for Transits....twat.

[HMC]

This old transit has been great. Despite its hard life it still feels quite tight to drive, and it's been (as reputation suggests) totally dependable. The clutch has been on its way out since I got it and eventually I threw in the towel before it let go totally and had a local garage replace it. It's not a hard job on these apparently but I've not done a clutch before and didnt fancy having my (then) only transport on the drive in bits as I learnt my way around it. I was out today in it and papped another old smiley still doing the rounds....