Introduction - transit county 4x4

Introduction - transit county 4x4

Author
Discussion

lukeJay

Original Poster:

9 posts

40 months

Friday 23rd July 2021
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Hi all, just thought I'd introduce myself.

I'm a mid 20's electrical engineer and tend to be more interested in older vehicles rather than fancy, shiny newer ones.

I had a 1975 MG BGT as my first car which i LOVED but sadly it lived outside and the rain got to it. I couldn't restore it myself so had to let it go frown

I then got a defender 110 with camper conversion in the rear. this was a great car to learn mechanics on as it broke down every 100 or so miles... It also had an ancient 4L Perkins engine which was horrible in every way. It would be a great contender for an M57 swap but I don't have the resources to do it.

My current project is this 1988 mk3 transit county 4x4. It has the super reliable 2.5DI Engine. non turbo but I've got one to fit. It was a medium roof when I got it but I raised it to a high roof. I'm converting the rear into camper but also use it as my daily.
I've done tones of work on it already and am planning more. once i take care of the minor rust patches I'm planning to raptor coat it and then get on with the camper conversion.
I love it in most ways but It gets 20mpg at best, and that's at 50mph so I'm looking for a second vehicle to use as a run around and for work. I'll create a separate thread for that but thought I'd introduce myself first smile


DannyScene

6,904 posts

162 months

Friday 23rd July 2021
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That transit looks kind of ridiculous, I love it! Following with interest!

Carlososos

976 posts

103 months

Friday 23rd July 2021
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That’s quality more pics of the van please.

lukeJay

Original Poster:

9 posts

40 months

Friday 23rd July 2021
quotequote all
As requested...
I do also have an instagram for it but i think it's against the forum rules to share it.




Carlososos

976 posts

103 months

Friday 23rd July 2021
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That’s triffic.

daver1184

109 posts

178 months

Monday 26th July 2021
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Fantastic!

We always had County tractors on the farm from when I was little but never a Transit 4x4.

Years ago while following Rally GB (RAC then) we hitched a ride on the outside of one of these with some bolt cropper wielding Welsh nutters en route to a stage.. Great days.

Superchickenn

693 posts

177 months

Monday 26th July 2021
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That looks awesome... looking forward to updates

Trevor555

4,504 posts

91 months

Monday 26th July 2021
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Love it, and that's quite a rare beast.

Please keep us updated, following with interest.

Geekman

2,887 posts

153 months

Monday 26th July 2021
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That's one of the best things I've seen on here for a while, congrats.

Jag_NE

3,100 posts

107 months

Monday 26th July 2021
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Cool car!

Darkslider

3,075 posts

196 months

Monday 26th July 2021
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Any interesting history to the transit? In my experience most of these were bought by utilities firms, wouldn't be surprised if this was owned by British Telecom or Scottish Power initially, they seem to favour the 4x4 Sprinters these days though.

Its Just Adz

15,031 posts

216 months

Monday 26th July 2021
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Very cool!

I remember seeing one of these on a 4x4 quarry day and it doing pretty well.

lukeJay

Original Poster:

9 posts

40 months

Tuesday 27th July 2021
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daver1184 said:
Fantastic!

We always had County tractors on the farm from when I was little but never a Transit 4x4.

Years ago while following Rally GB (RAC then) we hitched a ride on the outside of one of these with some bolt cropper wielding Welsh nutters en route to a stage.. Great days.
If it was anything like mine, that would have been a slow ride! sounds fun though.

lukeJay

Original Poster:

9 posts

40 months

Tuesday 27th July 2021
quotequote all
Darkslider said:
Any interesting history to the transit? In my experience most of these were bought by utilities firms, wouldn't be surprised if this was owned by British Telecom or Scottish Power initially, they seem to favour the 4x4 Sprinters these days though.
I think it was owned by BAE Systems.The guy before me had it for over 10 years but it was sat for a while before i got it. Very clean for it's age but after being a daily for 2 years it's starting to bubble... Time for me to learn welding, rust proofing, and painting!

Oh, and this is part of it's history as well.


pidsy

8,207 posts

164 months

Tuesday 27th July 2021
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My boss had a yellow county transit about 20 years ago. It eventually rotted and wasn’t worth fixing.

Fond memories of it embarrassing other “proper” 4x4’s at Devils Pit.

anonymous-user

61 months

Tuesday 27th July 2021
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That is fantastic!

lukeJay

Original Poster:

9 posts

40 months

Tuesday 27th July 2021
quotequote all
pidsy said:
My boss had a yellow county transit about 20 years ago. It eventually rotted and wasn’t worth fixing.

That's a shame! it would have been worth keeping the running gear and transplanting it to something else.

Was it the mk3,4 or 5? mine's the mk3 so to enable 4x4 i have to jump out and engage the front hubs. the mk5 has a button to do it from the cab which I've always been envious of.

Fond memories of it embarrassing other “proper” 4x4’s at Devils Pit.

pidsy

8,207 posts

164 months

Tuesday 27th July 2021
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lukeJay said:
He had to jump out too. I think his was an old BT van. Had a set of black bull bars and a winch when he bought it.

2Btoo

3,567 posts

210 months

Tuesday 27th July 2021
quotequote all
Carlososos said:
That’s triffic.
daver1184 said:
Fantastic!
Superchickenn said:
That looks awesome.
Jag_NE said:
Cool car!
Its Just Adz said:
Very cool!
JDB96 said:
That is fantastic!
Yup. What they said. smile

Book marked for reference. Bravo!

Megaflow

9,923 posts

232 months

Tuesday 27th July 2021
quotequote all
Useless fact. I quoted a package a work for the next model of Transit County 4 x 4, we went to visit the company that made them, somewhere down in Kent.

Because the next model of Transit could be bought as both FWD & RWD drive, they could be convert to County 4 x 4’s with zero changes to BIW.

Also, they were casting a new block for an Auto Union while we were there.

nerd