Original V8 Supervan restored to former glory

The Ford Transit is never far from the headlines, but is especially newsworthy for PH at the moment. It beat an AMG around Bathurst (in lightly modified form, yes), and it helped Nic C move house – both Herculean efforts in their own right. This time it’s a much older Transit that’s in the limelight, as the great grandad of that record-breaking Ford Pro electric Supervan – plain old Supervan 1 – is being brought back to its former glory. 

The Transit turns 60 in 2025 (August 9th, to be exact) and so an exhibition of the greatest hits is being prepared for Ford’s Dunton Technical Centre. And no such collection would be complete without the original Supervan around which so much myth and folklore still surrounds. Was it built from a GT40? Was there more than one? Was it really sold to an apprentice for £500 back in the ’70s?

One of those statements is true. Andy Browne was a Ford engineering apprentice in 1973, and knew Terry Drury, whose team had built the 1971 Supervan. Andy paid £500 for “a shell and four wheels”, made a few parts at work and spent another five hundred quid on a transaxle for it, various parts having been nabbed since its iconic Nurburgring debut. At some point, it acquired a 4.7-litre V8 as well, all while parked outside Andy’s parents’ house. So the ’70s weren’t all bad. 

Having battled with fixing troublesome parts like magnesium wheels, fending off police interest in the truck that looked like a racing car, and finding any time to make use of it, Andy sold the Supervan later in the decade. What’s amazing is that he came to own it again many years later, and has embarked on bringing a Ford icon back from the brink. Now retired, with a decent pension behind him (that engineering apprenticeship worked out well), Andy wanted to scratch the Supervan itch again. Which was going to be with a replica, of course, because there was no chance of getting the original more than 50 years later. But then there was a phone call…

“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 felt confident 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.” But it was the real deal alright, and that’s where the rebuild began, using some knowledge and experience from the original folk involved as well as modern expertise. Andy’s daughter is a 3D design engineer, so is working on making sure this looks as close to how it would have in 1971. 

Given how it appears in the pics, the epic Supervan resurrection isn’t very far away. It promises to be quite a sight alongside the rest of the Supervan clan next year. Quite the sound, too, if it gets up and running in anger again, because either 4.7 or 7.0-litre – the latter as it was first fitted with – will make a wonderful racket out of the side exit pipes. And that’s exactly what Andy is planning to do: “When it’s finished, I want to recreate that photo of it up on three wheels at full speed and have people experience what we did back then. I can’t wait.” You and us both, Andy.