Ford’s original wild van has been rebuilt from the ground up as the countdown to the Transit’s 60th anniversary begins.
The SuperVan first appeared in 1971 as a promotional tool for the then-six-year-old Transit, though little of the van’s mechanicals were used, with its body built atop the chassis from a mid-engined Cooper Monaco with the 4.7-litre V8 heart from a GT40.
It turned heads when it broke cover, and has lived on in multiple iterations all the way up to the most recent, all-electric SuperVan 4.2.
More than 50 years since its debut in 1971, the original SuperVan has been rebuilt from minimal remains, using original components, by an ex-Ford engineering apprentice.
Andy Browne embarked on the restoration journey as a homage to friend Terry Drury, who was instrumental in creating the first SuperVan.
“He (Mr Drury) built the original van in three to four months, off the back of an orange Transit build by Ford apprentices, who stuck a seven-litre Ford Galaxie engine in it,” Mr Brown said.
“Terry was well-known to Ford and, with the help of some spare GT40 parts and funding from the Ford Truck sales division, it was the billboard of all billboards.”
When the SuperVan campaign ended, Mr Drury’s team stripped everything from the van, including its drivetrain. The shell reportedly went through multiple different hands before it was purchased by Mr Browne in 1973, who picked it up for £500 (about £5300 now, or A$10,200).
“There was nothing; all it had was a shell and four wheels. Nothing else,” Mr Browne said.
“Luckily, I had access to machine shops so I could produce parts, and bough a transaxle off Terry for another £500. Back then, I was a Ford apprentice on five pounds a week.”
Mr Browne was then tasked with getting the van registered and insured, which turned out to be a lengthy and expensive process. By the 1980s life got in the way, and so he was forced to sell it and move on.
By the time Ford revealed the SuperVan 2 in 1985, the original van had already been through several owners and its trail was lost.
Mr Browne received multiple calls from strangers asking to confirm if the van they had found was the original van. As he had done most of the work himself, he says he knew what to look for when suspected SuperVans popped up.
Many years later and with more money to spend, Mr Browne made the decision to pursue the SuperVan again, this time pursuing the vehicle in honour of his friends and colleagues which made the memorable vehicle.
“Originally, I wanted to build a replica. Then one day I got a call and somebody said to me they thought they knew where the remains of SuperVan were. I’ve lost count, but this must have been at least the twentieth time, easily.
“I went to see these remains, ran my hand under the sills and knew that it was the van that I’d owned. It wasn’t even a van at all – just a floor pan and a bit of bulkhead, and some parts of a chassis that had been cut.”
Instead of building that replica, Mr Browne bought the remains and set about rebuilding the SuperVan using original parts.
With the restoration almost complete, it made its first appearance at Ford’s Transit Day celebrations in the UK, where it was flanked by SuperVan 3 (an evolution of SuperVan 2) and SuperVan 4.2 – the first time three generations of the promotional vehicles appeared together.
The Ford Transit celebrates its 60th birthday on August 9, 2025 – the day the first example rolled off the production line.
Transit examples from across the years were put on display at this year’s Transit Day, which kicked off the countdown to the van’s actual anniversary.
MORE: A brain-rearranging ride in the electric Ford SuperVan
