Ford’s obscure V8 swapped mid engine Van.

This little known V8 swapped mid engine Ford Transit is something you need to see.

Let’s journey back to the seventies, in Britain; Ford has established the Transit Van as the go to vehicle for urban cargo purposes, thanks to one of the craziest yet most admirable publicity campaigns, involving a V8 swapped mid engine contraption.

Dubbed the Supervan, this publicity oriented vehicle was built in 1971 to promote the Transit Van globally, instead of the typical engine at the front, it had a Ford 302 V8 that outputted 425 horsepower, thanks to quadruple twin barrel Weber carburetors, custom built racing headers, and other specialized tuning. Such an endeavor resulted in an engine which drove the rear wheels through a transaxle, and was powerful enough to get a 14 second standing quarter mile. A respectable time even judged by today’s standards.

This insane creation did it all, from track and circuit through Europe, to drag racing in America, and appeared in a myriad of magazines in between.

Below we see this beast in action, courtesy of this vintage film.