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Irish Slumber: 1973 Ford Transit MK1 Camper

041016 Barn Finds - 1973 Ford Transit Mk1 Camper - 1

Now that summer is almost here, for those folks who have more than one season where they live, it’s time to load up the camper and head out onto the road. This 1973 Ford Transit MK1 Camper is located in the Stanstead area of the United Kingdom and it sure looks like a winner. It has been in storage in Ireland for the last eighteen years and has recently been taken out of its slumber and brought back to life.

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This would be a nice vehicle for me, that ladder would lead to a heck of a photo vantage point on the roof. This was the first-generation of Ford Transit to be built in the United Kingdom and it was introduced in 1965 and ran until 1978. They sure made some nice looking vehicles based on this van chassis.

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The seller doesn’t mention what the make of the camper is but it also looks like it’s in fantastic condition. It even has a compartment for, you know… which is very handy in a camper this small. The seller says that the interior “is totally original and everything works as it should.”

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The driver’s compartment looks clean as a whistle. There are only 82,000 miles on this camper.

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It’s hard to believe that a V4 engine could pull all of this weight around, but it does. This should be the infamous Essex V4 which was designed to fit in the short nose of the Transit van. This particular engine is the larger 2.0L version with about 93 hp. The engine is “infamous” because it’s a 60-degree V4 which is inherently unbalanced and it uses a balanced-shaft to try to give it some level of smoothness, albeit a small level of smoothness. It was also known for running rough and having head gasket leaks. I’m assuming that this engine runs as well as everything else looks on this great camper. It’s listed on eBay with current bids at £3,800 ($5,370) with less than a day left. Get this camper before it’s gone! Is this something you would use like I would, or do you prefer staying in hotels?

Comments

  1. Avatar Van

    For the grand tour on a budget.
    I would in courage any recent grad on either side of the pond to go for it.
    Just a matter of time before it becomes to difficult to cross borders. You have a lifetime to be conservative, just go live.

    Like 0
  2. Avatar DrinkinGasoline

    Perfect size for the wife and i (empty nester’s) and the pup !

    Like 0
  3. Avatar sheffield cortina centre

    that’s a very tidy example based on the swb chassis cab, conversion is a CI (caravans international) autohome , I know some one with a 77 lwb, with twin rear wheel axle (dually) same eng.
    these where the most popular base vehicle during the 70’s for a coachbuilt camper.

    the most popular during the 70’s of all types was the poptop steel van (vw transporter/bus style) conversion on the fiat 900/citi van (now extremely rare due to rust).
    look up the fiat amigo & Pandora camper vans you’ll be amazed if you thought the VW was compact!

    Like 0
  4. Avatar John H

    The Pandora must be small — Google it and the first images that come up are on key chains! ;-)

    This little Ford Transit really looks appealing, except I’m in the US and it’s in the UK. That, and I don’t think I’d do too well sleeping in one of those hammocks at this stage.

    Like 0
  5. Avatar renzo

    Never knew the Essex V6 grew to 2 Litres,,,Wish I had know this when I had my SAAB V-4..

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Thomas Bengtsson

    Me and a couple of friends owned a ´67 LWB in the late 1970´s, 2.0 Essex V4. Among other things we made a trip around Europe and covered 15000 kilometres in five weeks, it ran well except that we blew the headgaskets after a 8-hour stint on the German Autobahn (we got out of Munich a bit late because of some girls and had to catch a pre-booked ferry in Travemünde) with the speedometer constantly between 110-120 km/h. Thus, our stay in Denmark became a little bit longer than planned because of that, then we only had 1600 kilometres to our homes in the North of Sweden, but eventually we got back in time for work. The picture was taken when we reached Paris in the middle of the night

    BTW Renzo, The V4 Essex 1.7/2.0 is a completely different engine to the V4 Cologne 1.5/1,7 in the SAAB V-4

    Like 1

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