Inside the incredible restoration of a 1970s Ford Transit that raced at Silverstone and hit 150mph with a GT40 engine

ONE of the greatest mysteries in the automotive world has been solved.

Supervan LIVES.

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The original fast ford Transit, which has been out of public view for over 40 years, has been brought back to life by a top executive named Andy Browne.

He won't say how much it cost him. He's not that stupid.

But he did tell me, “My biggest fear is that if something happens to me, my wife will sell it for the amount I paid for it.”

An absolute gem.

Let's start at the beginning.

Supervan was essentially a Mk1 Transit body fitted to a Cooper Monaco race car chassis with a race-tuned V8 from a Ford GT40 in the back.

It was so comically fast that it lifted a front wheel when attacking corners and kept going all the way to 150 mph. And it did donuts. This is 1971. Race fans at Brands Hatch And Silverstone I gobbled it up.

When Ford finished Supervan, the race car parts were dismantled for other projects and the leftovers were sold. Thus began Andy's lifelong obsession. At 19, he worked as an apprentice engineer at Ford.

In 1973 he paid £500 for the “bare shell and four wheels” – rebuilt Supervan with a Mustang V8 and made it road legal.

Family life eventually forced him to give it up. Supervan then went through several owners before the trail came to an end in the mid-eighties.

Until Andy got a phone call a few years later.

He said: “I've been looking for it for years, but nothing has come to light. It was like an itch I couldn't scratch.

“Then one day I got a phone call and someone said he knew where Supervan's remains were.

“I went to look, ran my hand under the sills and knew it was the bus I had had. It wasn’t a bus at all – just a map and a bit of a bulkhead.”

Andy took Supervan home to Essex and has spent the last 24 years secretly collecting original parts to rebuild the car.

It's almost ready now.

Andy said, “Some guys said if I didn't go through with it they'd put a Chevy engine in it, so I had to give it a go.

“I want to take it out and tear the tires off. I'm just the temporary caretaker. At some point, someone else will do the same thing. That's what it's for.

“It's not a paperweight. It's not there to be in a display case. If you want to take it out and wipe it down, that's fine with me.”

Like I said, top guy.

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