Wider choice of Danbury 'vans
Converter Danbury is expanding in three ways: first with its range of base vehicles.
The ubiquitous Ducato has been added to the company's current products on Renault Trafic and Brazilian-built
VW Type-2 campers (the sister company is Beetles UK).
Have a dekko at its Ducato-based SpaceCruiser (pictured, right), a fully equipped camper/people carrier and MPV for just £21,999.
The second expansion is of the company's premises, to cater for a boom in demand.
The third expansion is the elongated VW Beetle (pictured, below). It was engineered in-house, in response to keen local Vee-dubbers who wanted something special as transport on their wedding day. How about that for customer service?
A transatlantic transition
'Transatlantic' is perhaps the best description of this unusual motorhome. It's a conventionally constructed Luton coachbuilt on a chassis-cab – hardly run-of-the-mill among British converters.
The model here (pictured, right) is a 1999 conversion of a 1992 pre-owned chassis.
Let's take a look at the underpinnings. British converters Foster & Day (F&D) bought 20 of them in the mid- to late-1990s. Some were long-wheelbase, though most were the short-wheelbase variants similar to the one pictured. They were all American GMC Vandura chassis-cabs with a 6.2-litre naturally-aspirated
V8 diesel engine, automatic gearbox, power-assisted steering and right-hand drive… Yes, I'll just run that past you again: right hand drive!
They were built to special order for my local ambulance service. However the bird-brains in the manufacturer's special vehicle division managed to put an unsuitable ambulance body on the Vandura which made it overweight – quite an achievement on such a heavy-duty chassis. The result of this stupidity was that they were withdrawn from service, the bodies either sold or re-mounted on top-weight Merc Sprinters and the GMC chassis sold at auction.
Enter Terry Day with not very many crisp tenners. He bought most of them and transported his booty back to his works where he designed and built two models: the short-wheelbase rear U-shaped lounge layout, and a six-berth long-wheelbase version with a forward Pullman dinette and kitchen, centre washroom and rear lounge.
When I tested the pictured motorhome after it had rolled off the F&D production line,
I thought it provided a great combination, a sort of best of both worlds.
In my review, I wrote: “Once that motor's running, boy oh boy does it bring a smile to your face. The exhaust note is a burble. No it's not… it's music! Appalling though it was, I kept giving the throttle a blip to hear the 'symphony' a little clearer.” I'd like to tell you that my behaviour has improved since then, but…
The price in 1999 was £22,995. Foster & Day ceased manufacturing after decades of innovative design and
build using a variety of base vehicles.
Transit not transitory
I am sure that many of you will want to join me in wishing the good old Ford Transit a happy 40th anniversary. The driver's van… the van that drives like a car… a van for all reasons… Britain's best-loved workmate… the van-man's white van… Dagenham dustbins…
All of the above descriptions, and hundreds more, have been applied to the Ford Transit during the past 40 years, but one with which
no-one can argue is that throughout those four decades the Transit has been Britain's best-selling light commercial vehicle by miles.
I am not supposed to have favourites, or show any bias, but I am a huge fan of 'the Tranny'. We have grown up together and I have travelled hundreds of thousands of miles in them. Currently they are my favourite motorcaravan underpinnings. The Bancroft dynasty has owned, driven and maintained loads of Tranny vans and minibuses, and my family currently owns two Transit-based coachbuilts.
Since 1965 there has been five series of Transit, but only three generations. It all started back in the early 1960s when, for the first time, Ford UK collaborated with Ford of Germany in the design and production of the company's first Europe-wide light commercial vehicle. It was intended to replace the Taunus Type FK in Germany and the Ford Thames 400E here in Blighty. (Both were forward control designs and coming up for replacement.)
Ford of Europe, as an organisation, was years away, so Henry Ford II had to bang heads together to get any sort of co-operation from the plants in different countries. Codenamed 'Project Redcap', it did set the style of European (and subsequently global) motor manufacturing with its one-product-range-for-all type
of retailing.
Project Redcap became known as the
V-series. I'm not sure anyone knows why, though many suggest that it might have referred to the V4 petrol engines used in the early models from both countries. So much for standardisation, because the British and German V4 units were totally different engines!
Eventually the V4 petrol engine was replaced by a British version of the American Pinto single-overhead cam, four-cylinder in-line, petrol engine, and then by a Dagenham designed twin-overhead cam unit, which itself – around six years ago – gained more valves for better breathing. British V6 engines (affectionately known as Essex motors) were dropped in favour of German-built (Cologne) versions and
I believe that these were still being used in special variants as late as 1999.
During the lifespan of the Transit, diesel power for light commercial vehicles (LCVs) went from being the choice of ice-cream vendors (and not many others) to being the default choice of the masses.
In 1965, there were five petrol engines available and one diesel engine. Today, there is one petrol and nearly 20 diesel engines.
The initial derv (diesel-engined road vehicle) option at launch was the venerable Perkins 4/99 (later 4/108) naturally-aspirated units which were almost unbreakable, but sluggish when pulling a heavily laden van the size of the Transit.
Later, a high-speed diesel was produced in-house and given the series name 'York'. Such powered vans actually performed very well and with good fuel economy, though I recall winter starting could be rather challenging.
1984 saw a direct-injection replacement for the York. The DI series, as it was known, became the standard in LCV diesel engine performance and economy. Almost overnight it became the most popular engine choice for Transit purchasers and today is still fitted in other makes of new van produced around the world. The York went like a bomb, was utterly reliable – if a bit rattly – and was easy to fix if it did go wrong.
A new range of Duratorq engines was produced for the latest generation of Transits, the most recent of which benefit from common-rail
fuel-injection.
Well, there it is. Take a look at our series of photographs of the Transit through the ages (above). Next month,
I'll take a brief look back at Transit-based motorcaravans, although these will be
post-1985 models because Mark 'Classics' Smith will be giving you the benefit of his encyclopaedic knowledge on pre-1985 lovelies.
Seller beware
A concerned reader of Practical Motorhome emailed me about not yet having received payment for a second-hand motorhome which had been sold by a company, on his behalf, over seven months ago.
According to the reader, a cheque issued by the company – which has now ceased trading – was returned from his bank with the message 'refer to drawer'. Well, we all know what that means.
My personal opinion is that anyone should think very hard indeed before placing their vehicle on sale with any other person or company on
a sale-or-return basis. Why? Because so often the vehicles are moved on to a third party and – importantly – I have documented evidence of about two dozen people having lost their motorhome during the past decade because the company they had thought was secure, got into difficulties.
It must be emphasised that hundreds of people sell their 'vans in this way every year, and are extremely satisfied.
I know I'm an old worry mutton, but I prefer to trade the old vehicle in against its replacement and just pay the difference in value, without having to find the full price for the new one, before I've got summat back on the old one.
My dealer always gives me a fair price at trade-in time.
I would be very suspicious, though, if it looked as though he would be unlikely to make any money out of the deal, because otherwise there would be no money in the pot to finance the service for which he is renowned.
Happy motorcaravanning!
Gentleman Jack Bancroft |
