GRAFTERS: Taunus Transit
Ex-Fore Service FK1250 goes very low.
Think of a Transit and the standard British van springs immediately to mind. But there’s another; one that was native to Germany and is completely different from ours. We’ve featured a few but they remain very scarce in the UK — although this one’s been on the shores for several years now. On first glance though, you’d be forgiven for thinking they look a lot like a VW bus, which they do, especially from the back. And there’s good reason for that — because the designer had more than a hand in those, too!
But if you have something this mint, what do you do? Well, Sam Turner’s done the sensible thing and sent it to Rayvern Hydraulics to have Ray Ramsey fill it full of subframes so that he could fit custom front and rear suspension to it, naturally controlled via air bags. The sills touch the floor with the bags vacated of air although normal ride height is a mere 6 inches higher — even that looks slammed!
Bought five years ago, the Transit was already modified — although that was mostly an engine swap around standard running gear. It went to Ray to have the steering sorted out and, well, Ray does get carried away, convincing Sam that the only way to go was with a full body drop to the floor. “I can see the wisdom in Ray’s thinking now as it looks absolutely incredible,” smiles Sam. We have to put that bit in because Sam is always smiling — and you can see why when he’s got a van this cool…
There’s a few bits to be done yet, but what you see is the way it’ll eventually look, as Sam’s pretty fond of patina. There’s oodles of it, belying it’s previous history – which is pretty interesting.
One very rare, almost unique custom vehicle, which we can’t wait to see finished — roll on Christmas!
What’s the history?
It’s red so it’s not difficult to work out it was once a fire truck. In the sector it was working, they usually had three Taunus Transits, and this one’s duty was to carry pumps, and so it spent most of its time indoors undercover, waiting to get a shout. It seems it must have been deaf because the van’s only covered 1700 km — virtually nothing — which explains why it’s in such good condition, and I guess ripe for Ray to slice into. Although, we’ve tried to keep the original factory look, despite the suspension work being as radical as it is.
It was previously modified?
Yes, although that was mostly the installation of a Zetec around standard running gear. It had a few gremlins, which needed ironing out – most of those around the steering area. I searched for a while to find someone suitable to sort it and Ray came highly recommended. But of course, Ray’s stamp is always slammed to the floor — and I should have known that’s what I’d end up with. I realised he was right of course — the only way is slammed!
What’s the suspension?
Ray initially based the front around a VW T25 clip but he’s altered it so much that it’s now completely scratchbuilt, consisting of double-wishbone front suspension and fully adjustable front dampers, plus of course the air bags. The front is mounted via a custom-built subframe that Ray fabricated and tied into the original chassis rails. The steering is still to be finally sorted — it has a shortened Morris Minor rack with billet ends and Rose joints right now and we’ve just determined the column height, which links to a VW T25 transfer box sending the steering drive backwards to the front suspension. The rear is based around an Atlas axle, hung on a Ray-built four-link with Panhard rod again on a Rayvern subframe, grafted into the van’s chassis.
What’s the air bag system?
It has air suspension on all four corners via Firestone air bags, which are filled by Thompson compressors mounted in the back of the van. Most of it’s covered up by fabricated sheet metal, so you won’t really be able to see it. The whole lot’s controlled in the cabin via a gauge and switch panel — two gauges for the air, front and back and four independent controls for each corner.The bumpers touch the floor and there is no way you can get a foot under the sills at the side — they sit on the Tarmac!
And new running gear?
I thought it more appropriate to have a German engine in there rather than the Zetec, so I sourced a 2.8 V6 engine that came from Cologne.This one was bought from Specialised Engines (01375 378606). It’s mated to an A4LD automatic transmission
“THERE’S NO WAY YOU CAN GET A FOOT UNDER THE SILLS, AS THEY SIT ON THE TARMAC”
from a Scorpio.This will be controlled via a Lokar shifter meant for a street rod.They’re beautifully made and suitably tall, too — just right for theTransit’s cab.
There’s plenty of patina!
I really don’t want to paint the van because it’s spot on as it is. I like the fact that it looks genuine, while underneath is totally radical and nicely detailed. There are quite a few botched repairs dotted around the van. The roof has a few patched in repairs — mostly to hide the lights that were once there. There’s probably a bit to do around the gutters on the side and I reckon I can sort those and blend them in. I really don’t want to detract from the ratty look — slammed to the floor it adds to the whole package.
What about the wheels and tyres?
Right now, it’s riding on Peugeot 306 steels although I’ve just found a decent set of vintage hub caps that will be adapted to them. I’m in two minds right now — I like the look of the bodywork but I also like the theme of plenty of cars we’ve been seeing at SEMA recently, with the bodywork as is but a really radical set of big-rim alloys. I might do that at a later stage but for now, the tucked up steels are spot on. I’ve just got some old fold-away seats for the back so I can get my kids in — apparently they came from a vintage Rolls!They came from an autojumble, as did the front seats, which once lived in a Bedford truck. They seem to work well with Ray’s newly-fabricated boxes raised 8 inches to hide the wheels when the body’s on full drop.