It’s Thanksgiving! A holiday with some troubling history but, fundamentally, a solid message: be thankful for things. We at the Autopian are thankful for all of you readers, for example, and we’re a lot more fun to hang out with than that pack of weird buckle-hatted Puritans that started this whole thing. Today is also the day when turkeys get the most publicity, and as a result, traditionally I’ve tried to use this day to focus on Turkish cars. Most often, these would be Anadols, interesting fiberglass-bodied cars with input from Reliant of Britain, but all but unknown here in America. This year, I want to do something different, and focus on what may be the most well-known Turkish-built car in America: the first-gen Ford Transit Connect. Oh, and in addition to Turkey, there’s some chicken involved in this story, too.
There’s actually an Anadol connection to the Ford Transit Connect; the company that actually builds the Transit Connect is Ford Otosan, originally known just as Otosan when founded in 1959. They started building Ford Consuls under license, and then in 1966 began to build Anadols, the first mass-produced vehicles to be developed in Turkey.
By 1977, a deal was struck with Ford, and Otosan became Ford Otosan, which built a lot of Ford models. A plant was opened in Gölcük, Turkey in 2001, and Transit vans and Transit Connect smaller commercial vehicles were built there, with the Transit Connects coming to America. It’s a very modern, advanced factory, as you can see in this video commemorating the six millionth Ford Transit built there:
I just want to focus the first-generation Ford Transit Connect, built from 2002 to 2013 not just because it’s a car built in Turkey that has roamed American streets for years, stealthily, but also because I think it’s a genuinely wonderful design, and it has a fascinating and absurd secret related to the infamous Chicken Tax.
The Transit Connect could be had with a diesel engine and five-speed manual, but in America we only got it with a four-speed auto and a 136 horsepower 2-liter Duratec four-banger. A manual one would be pretty sweet to find, though.
Peter Hornby, the famous designer who penned the sporty-wedgy Volvo 480 and more recently, the Lynk & Co 01, was the force behind the Transit Connect, and I think the result is one of the most stylish and appealing mass-market commercial/utility vehicles of the modern era. It’s not a large vehicle, but it maximizes its useful volume, with a stubby hood and a large, tall cab/cargo area right behind. The side window line features an interesting little jog up, and there’s a series of three corrugations on the lower body sides, reminding me a bit of old Citroën 2CV-based commercial vehicles:
These little commercial vehicles managed to have a bit of charm despite their entirely utilitarian purpose, which I think is a pretty grand achievement. You could get Transit Connects in three common variants: the pure cargo version, lacking rear side windows and almost invariably white, but there were versions that had a rear side window and sometimes seats, as well as an actual passenger-hauling version with rear seats and multiple rear windows.
These passenger-carrying variants lead me to my favorite fact about the Transit Connect. You see, for a lot of complicated and now-ridiculous seeming reasons, after WWII the United States got into trouble because we flooded Europe with plump, juicy chickens, severely impairing the European poultry industry. European countries retaliated with a big tariff on American chickens, and in 1963, a pissed-off President Lyndon Johnson slapped a huge 25% tariff on potato starch, brandy, dextrose, and, most significantly for what I’m talking about, commercial vehicles.
The focus of the tariff was really aimed at West Germany and the Volkswagen Type 2 cargo vans and pickup trucks, which were making significant inroads into the American commercial vehicle market at the time.
The thing is, long after air-cooled VW Type 2 vans and trucks were gone and the whole chicken business had long been forgiven and forgotten, the Chicken Tax remained. And still remains. That’s why if you see a commercial vehicle from a foreign carmaker in America, it’s likely built in an American factory or some manner of shenanigans are used to get around the tariff, like how Mercedes-Benz’ Sprinter van factory in South Carolina is actually just re-assembling Sprinter bodies to their chassis, which have been shipped on separate vessels from Germany, so that they are technically “built” in America.
Perhaps even more bonkers was Ford’s approach with the Transit Connect. They all came to America from Turkey with rear windows and back seats, as “passenger vehicles,” not cargo/commercial vehicles and hence free from the Chicken Tax. This is sort of the same approach Subaru took with the BRAT, which had a pair of absurd seats stuck in the bed to make it a “passenger” vehicle.
Unlike the Brat, which just kept the seats, Ford actually removed rear seats and rear side windows from Transit Connects, converting them back into cargo vehicles when they got to America, circumventing the 25% tariff.
In 2013, US Customs and Border Protection decided that Ford shouldn’t get away with such a hilariously obvious work-around, and charged the company for all the back tariffs on the imported vans. I really want to know what they did with all the removed rear seats and windows, though – were they sent back to Turkey for re-use? Were they the same ones as used for the actual passenger variants? I haven’t found out yet, but I’m terribly curious.
Modern versions of the Transit Connect are made in Spain, and while the new one is a respectable machine, I think it lacks the charm and appeal of the original. I’ve always thought that a passenger version of the first-gen Transit Connect would make a great family car, and I stand by that.
So, the next time you see an old Transit Connect trundling around, take a moment and reflect on the fact that this little van is a low-key Turkish immigrant, and came to America pretending to be a passenger car, which it (usually) very much was not.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! I hope you have whole full-sized Transitfuls of things to be thankful for.
The tiny van reminds me to share my latest automotive amuse bouche, the shorty version of the second generation Renault Kangoo which dispenses with the center section and sliding doors to create a cute little 2 door panel truck.
Back on topic I’ve seen camper conversions of the Transit Connect. Also Otokar, Turkey’s other big vehicle maker license built Landrover Defenders and kept the 300 TDI in production during the early oughts after LR switched to the TD5
Whoa this story hit me like a full course turkey dinner. Tryptophan anybody? But I want to know taillight guru is what vehicle has taillights like the hit and run story vehicle?
This style Transit Connect is also the only Ford product sold in the US in recent memory that required the user to flip open the Ford emblem in the grille and insert the key in order to pop the hood/bonnet.
I was disappointed when the Transit lost the competition to replace the Crown Vic as New York’s official taxi The aesthetic felt just right for Manhattan: tall, angular, functional and no-nonsense. Plus the Ford continuity and the cosmopolitan origin story. Had it become just a little iconic, I’m sure they could have worked around the importation shenanigans.
Me too! Though I was even more disappointed that Ford didn’t enter the Flex as a contestant – plenty of cargo and passenger room, easy enough on parts/service, and had a funkiness that would have made a perfect iconic taxi in the years to come.
I don’t know if this would factor into taxi use, but the 60 side of the 60/40 middle row seats in the Flex have a notorious problem with the folding mechanism breaking with regular use.
Ours broke on our 2010 Flex and cost us $700ish to get fixed. Then it broke again later. We just worked around it from then on, didn’t bother repairing it.
In short, the seat would sometimes still be able to fold to a flat inclined plane with the folded-down back row, but pulling the latch again, which was supposed to tilt it forward for ingress/egress for the back row, would absolutely not work under any circumstances.
And what I found to DIY repair it did not look easy, although it’s been a while since I looked into it.
Apparently coolant got into our engine at 180,000 miles in 2018ish and that was the end of that car. Shame, cuz yeah, we generally liked the thing.
That could be (should be?) a factor I bet, at least in a contest for a good all-around transport vehicle. Of course the old Crown Vics didn’t really have such a feature (I’m not even sure if the seats could fold down in the taxi models), but these days, it would seem key to have that functionality.
I always liked the funk-factor of the Flex and appreciated that Ford kinda took a chance on an unusual solution to a modern family vehicle.
A few years ago I hopped on a Transit Connect taxi in Las Vegas and it felt particularly roomy. I liked the tall roof and sliding doors for easy in and out. And the cargo area was huge.
The driver said he was happy with the TC as it saved so much gas compared to the Crown Vic
So you thought smooth comfortable limo ride would be replaced by metal cargo hold ride? I guess you don’t taxi much?
Well, it was anyway. Although the Nissan was a flop.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Since there’s also chicken in this article, I have to share a long time joke which is just from an anti-drug commercial from the 90’s…basically, the kid says
“I’m not a chicken, you’re a turkey!”
(I was also given a T-shirt that says it!)
https://youtu.be/AqaocGXy1uM?si=UaUtnt-mKLffJl1n
You sure showed that drug pusher! Good job kid!
Now take your adderall, codeine and tramadol like the nice doctors told you to.
Useless factoid of the day: that 2CV commercial vehicle was called a fourgonnette. Some madman made a modern version that’s corrugated all around:
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/citroen-berlingo-2cv-fourgonnette-caselani-retro-coachbuilt-van/
The fourgonnette was basically sheet metal with a motor. Postwar Europe wasn’t exactly rolling in it so they made do.
Happy thanksgiving there over the big blue water from Belgium. Thankful for the diversity of topics and people swirling together here to maintain a wholesome community. Feels like my favourite car meeting !
I, too, am a fan of the 1st-gen Transit Connect. Very nearly convinced my wife to buy one when we were looking for a family vehicle but she liked the Escape better. Matchbox makes a nice diecast version.
So instead of a Cold Start today we have to go Cold Turkey?
Turkey makes some great stuff.
Personally I’m a big fan of their firearms industry. They’re still making revolver shotguns and they’re making the Beretta 86 Cheetah tip up barrel copies that Beretta won’t make.
From my recollection, the “rear seats” that were removed at port were simple hard plastic (or maybe fiberglass) shells, something like you’d find on a cheap city bus. They barely met the legal definition of “seat”, and weren’t anything you’d want to actually sit in for more than 10 minutes.
I mourn the US demise of the small commercial van. It’s not clear to me why Ford and Ram and Nissan gave up on them, but From the numbers I see on the roads, they weren’t poor sellers.
it started as a decently sized market with players from Ford, Nissan, Ram and even Chevy with a blatant badge engineered version of the Nissan.
Out of all these the Nissan had the biggest chance of surviving as it was made in Mexico hence no Chicken Tax.
But the best seller was always the TC and I believe it started off with a competitive MSRP. But when the 2nd gen debuted its MSRP crested past $30K quite easily and the sales never got above 50K. Chicken Tax might have kept profit slim and my guess is Ford was hoping to achieve more sales maybe in the livery business but it was never a good seller in that market. Business owners seem to love them, though.
If I wasn’t mistaken a few years ago there was this plan about building the next TC in Mexico which would’ve brought profits up and it was a no brainer given the platform mates Maverick and Bronco Sport also built there. But why build a lower margin TC while you could’ve built a higher profit and hot selling Bronco Sport instead?
Wow, the musical style of “Ford Transit” by dZihan & Kamien seems so appropriate now.
Hey, Charleston started building real sprinters a few years ago when they expanded the plant! Only the Metris is still just a knock down kit.
Also, the transit connect had poor seats and ride for family use. Great for trades in the city though!
Jason… what I want to know is… years ago you came up with a Ham-powered car idea. I would like to know if there have been any further developments on your Ham-power idea?
Maybe what you need is some inspiration from a Roast Beef transmission…
Yes! People want to know…sounds delicious!
As Jim Goose once said, “Hey fella! You’re a turkey, ya know that??” 🙂
There’s something satisfying about a Goose talking to a turkey in a comment about an article about turkeys and chickens, but frankly I’m winging it. Hope it wasn’t too fowl.
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Thursday to the Autopian birds of a feather!
Hope it wasn’t too fowl.
I dunno, I just got here myself… 😉
To be the anti-Torch, I always liked the headlights on this gen Transit Connect…remind me of the first gen Fusion and how both brought Euro styling back to the states in a way we hadn’t really seen since the ’80s.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and I’m always thankful for our non-USA autopians – our cultures may be different at times, but a genuine love of vehicles for themselves is something we all share and connect over. And dare I say, is the kinda thing for which the internet was intended.
The Transit Connect is a smart piece of functional design — I’m starting to see them converted into little camper vans, which strikes me as a sensible option for a weekend getaway.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Hoping David and his gf are bringing shower spaghetti to the Autopian holiday potluck.
Early North American Toyota C-HR’s were also Turkish-built, but there’s nothing else really fun to say about those.
Happy Thanksgiving to the USA folks.
Eat responsibly. (-;
Happy belated Harvest Festival to Adrian Clarke.
I’m still recovering from Canadian Thanksgiving and it was 5 weeks ago.
“Eat responsibly.”
Absolutely not! Else what’s the point?
Happy Turkey Day to all you poor bastards.
Thanks for another year of great content, and efforts.
Appreciate all of you there.
Regarding the seats and windows, maybe they just had a specific amount of stock juet for that – (1) ship the seats/windows on the new cars to the US, (2) remove them from cars, (3) repack and ship back to Turkey, (4) build “new cars” with the “used windows/seats”, (5) $$$
I doubt that’s the case, but it would be hilarious.
I would be very curious to know what they did really with them!
IIRC They shredded the rear seats. Recycling/reusing them would be too much effort I guess.
Happy Treason Day ungrateful colonials.
Adrian as our hapless politicians tout our “special relationship” I am comforted in knowing that our centuries old rivalry and bitterness still shine through! Happy Thursday to you good sir!
Hey now! Treason Day is Jan 6th here in the USA. And Revolt Against the British Overlords Day is July 4th. Thanksgiving happened long before revolution was even a gleam in the eye of the British colonists.
But we love you anyway, Adrian. And we’re thankful for your good natured grumpiness.
Bite me Adrian!
Careful, @Col Lingus! Before making such utterances, be certain if it will be received as an insult or as an invitation.
I’ll have the hounds do it, if it’s all the same to you.
It’s a multi purpose insult. The best kind of insult.
Nah, Treason Day is 4 July. Today is “the day we threw a dinner party and the guests never went home”, according to my Native friends.
Being a commit Amerophile I of course know this. But I never miss an opportunity to use a good insult
Bless you, you crazy bastard.
Oy! So little gratitude after we saved your butts in 1917 and again in 1940… Not even a word of thanks for all the spam.
😉
Those wars started in 1914 and 1939. And the US didn’t enter WW2 until December 1941.
So thanks for eventually turning up, we couldn’t have made those wars desperate enough without your early absence.
“thanks for turning up, we couldn’t have made those wars”
FIFY.
My understanding is it’s the far east that treat Spam as a delicacy. In the UK we have taste buds.
Mmm yes, taste buds for haggis, jellied eels, spotted dick and “meatballs made from minced off-cuts and offal” with a name which as an American I’m not allowed to say in polite company* even right after a British delicacy named like a nasty venereal disease.
By these standards Spam is haute cuisine.
* https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)
That’s the food we give to tourists, just to see if they’ll eat it.
We give ’em California pizza.
That’s an oxymoron if ever I heard one.
No less so than Hawaiian.
Besides have you had the pizza in southern France? I’m pretty sure that’s where California got the idea.
No, but I have had pizza from a local pizzeria in Lake Como. That is the standard my friend.
Yet another reason to buy one of those one euro Italian houses.
Funny that the Turks named their auto plant after Japanese Fathers….
…it’s not even Father’s Day.
Happy Thanksgiving, Torch and family! I’m thankful for The Autopian, the wonderful staff, contributors, and enthusiasts who comprise the passionate, knowledgeable and, so often, very funny readership. Have a great day; I’m off to stuff a Ford Transit Connect.
I DO like the looks of the Transit Connect. It reminds me of back when all Playmobil vehicles were generic. The 15 year old boxy Land Rover Discovery (don’t remember the number) also has that 🙂