Ford Taunus Transit
1964 Ford Taunus Transit FK 1250
Retired (temporarily?) in July 2021
Mindeparken, Aarhus, Denmark, May 2015 at the 2015 CRAA car show
The very first Ford Transit, that wasn't actually "born" with that name, and is not acknowledged as a "real" ford Transit in some countries, which is the reason why there's a generation discrepancy for all Ford Transits even to this day.
The model was "born" as the bottom of the FK-series (FK being short for Ford Köln) range of german trucks and vans in 1953. The first versions were named Ford FK 1000 and Ford FK 1250, but in 1961 Ford decided to ditch the FK-range, but the 1000/1250 versions survived, under a new name.
At this time, Ford used the name "Taunus" for all german-built cars (Taunus 12M, 15M, 17M etc.), so the FK 1000/1250 got this name as well, while "Transit" was chosen as the proper model name.
Meanwhile, Ford UK were building the Ford Thames 400E vans, but the mother company found it quite a waste to have two different model ranges developed and produced in England and Germany, respectively, so it was decided to come up with one common concept for the future... the "real" Ford Transit, launched in 1965.
To Ford UK, this would be the first Ford Transit, but in Germany, they insisted there had already been one, the Taunus Transit, so to them, the 1965 model would be known as Transit MkII... 56 years later, and a common agreement has yet to be reached on this subject!
For the particular Transit on this photo, the digital records start in 2005, so it may or may not be an import. It's also uncertain, whether it was born with this strange bed configuration.
#CarsOf1964 #CRAA
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I was aware there was no ''proper'' Transit before 1965, but I only knew about the Thames, had no idea the Taunus Transit existed. Pretty incredible how long Ford Europe was almost run like two competing brands. 
