A history of the Ford Transit

The Ford Transit was the most stolen vehicle in the UK in 2015

Supervan 2, based around a mid-engine racing sports car chassis, had a F1-based Cosworth V8 and hit 178mph at Silverstone

A mid-1990s Ford Transit tackles the Nürburgring

6.6 tonnes of Transit with axles from a US military personnel carrier and automatic transmission from a London bus

A custom Transit with chrome exhaust stacks from 1978

In 1965, a Transit was employed by London Zoo to move animals

Wildlife wardens tour the grounds at Woburn Abbey Safari Park in zebra striped Transits

For twenty years Transits were taken apart and reassembled in Britain's only salt mine. They were buried when they wore out

Michael Caine on the set of the movie The Fourth Protocol. The Transit also had a role chasing Pierce Brosnan as the villain

A dog fancier from Denmark arrives in London to attend the 1967 Crufts dog show

In 1975 Penthouse magazine sponsored a team of racing Escorts and chose Transits for support vehicles

In 1985 stunt man Steve Matthews jumped over 15 cars for charity

Justin Law launches a Jaguar XJ220-powered Transit off the line at Goodwood

Five decades separate these models, but they all led their class when new

In all, six distinct generations of Transit have been made

Transit Supervans carried mid-mounted engines, often in a race car chassis

Supervan 3 was a seventh-eighths scale replica of a Transit

It used a Cosworth HB engine, but now features a Ford-Cosworth unit

Inspired by Supervan, the Transit Super Sport has 200bhp and 347lb ft from a 3.2-litre five-pot

Lutons and box van conversions like this are popular configurations

The Transit Custom is the most car-like model yet

The Mk1 remained in production for 21 years. This is a later version with a longer bonnet

The Mk2 Transit was a heavily facelifted version of the original and was powered by a range of V4 engines

The Mk3 and Mk4 had a one-box design and some models adopted independent front suspension

This model was introduced in 2000 and took design cues from contemporary Focus and Mondeo models

The Sportvan featured a 18in alloy wheels, a bodykit, stripes and fake exhaust tailpipes

The Transit Custom launched in 2013 and took the nameplate upmarket to compete with models from VW and Mercedes