Photo: Ford USA
No matter what the tuners will want to have you believe, there’s not much that can be done with the interior of a passenger car. Yes, you can change the materials, put hundreds of speakers and dozens of screens, but you’re still crammed inside a congested metallic body.
Vans, on the other hand, now that’s an entirely new proposition. They have similarly metallic bodies, but their size and shape open a lot of new possibilities for customization, and as you’ll see browsing through our gallery, they don’t all have to do with luxury. Not by a mile.
When thinking about modifying a van, it pays to start off with the most versatile of them. The Ford Transit offers the biggest number of possible configurations in its class - 58 of them, to be more precise, with the introduction a dual sliding door option for the 2016 model. This broad range of options might explain why the blue oval van is leading the sales charts in America, with over 100,000 2015 model year units built at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant.
Some people, though, are not happy with the 58 variables offered by the manufacturer and turn to third-party outfitters to make the vans more suitable for their activity. And that gives birth to some interesting/odd/inspiring setups.
For example, we have the classic limousine makeover, complete with leather seats, hardwood flooring, and two flat screen televisions. Then there’s the substitute for a winter ski resort, equipped with a boot dryer, snowboard rack, and portable DJ booth. Another Transit - actually, this was the first one bought in the US - is used to transport art to museums and art galleries.
Similar to the snowboarder’s mobile lodge, there’s one owned by champion surfer Izzy Paskowitz who now uses his skills to introduce kids with autism to surfing; his Transit is a retro-looking surfboard and life jacket carrier. Another Transit in Massachusetts is used to transport orphaned dogs to a private farm, saving them from being euthanized until they can find a forever home.
And the list can go on, but it’s just as simple to have a look at the gallery below. If there’s one thing this is teaching us, it’s that vans are awesome. And they’re also a hoot to drive.
When thinking about modifying a van, it pays to start off with the most versatile of them. The Ford Transit offers the biggest number of possible configurations in its class - 58 of them, to be more precise, with the introduction a dual sliding door option for the 2016 model. This broad range of options might explain why the blue oval van is leading the sales charts in America, with over 100,000 2015 model year units built at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant.
Some people, though, are not happy with the 58 variables offered by the manufacturer and turn to third-party outfitters to make the vans more suitable for their activity. And that gives birth to some interesting/odd/inspiring setups.
For example, we have the classic limousine makeover, complete with leather seats, hardwood flooring, and two flat screen televisions. Then there’s the substitute for a winter ski resort, equipped with a boot dryer, snowboard rack, and portable DJ booth. Another Transit - actually, this was the first one bought in the US - is used to transport art to museums and art galleries.
Similar to the snowboarder’s mobile lodge, there’s one owned by champion surfer Izzy Paskowitz who now uses his skills to introduce kids with autism to surfing; his Transit is a retro-looking surfboard and life jacket carrier. Another Transit in Massachusetts is used to transport orphaned dogs to a private farm, saving them from being euthanized until they can find a forever home.
And the list can go on, but it’s just as simple to have a look at the gallery below. If there’s one thing this is teaching us, it’s that vans are awesome. And they’re also a hoot to drive.
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