Fordson E83W The Fordson E83W was the brand's light commercial van offering, being offered on the segment. It was built at Ford's
Dagenham plant where the brand's tractors were also being produced. The E83W range was offered as a
van,
pickup truck and many special bodyshops produced various other bodies upon the chassis, such as mobile canteens, fire trucks and ice cream vans. The Fordson E83W pre-dated the name Thames. It was produced between 1938 and 1957. The van was sold in
Australia as the Ford Ten-Ten, and the E83W was available in various forms around much of the world as Britain strove to export after World War II. In some countries, the 'cowl and chassis' only was imported and local bodies built. The E83W range was powered by Ford's
sidevalve engine which produced 30 hp with a 3-speed gearbox, and was heavily geared down in the rear axle. This made the van much slower than a contemporary saloon with an effective top speed of not much over 40-50 mph. The E83W had a mostly unique body and shared few parts with other small Fords, although some parts were based on the larger
Ford Pilot while the headlamps came from Fordson tractors. Since 1952 the van was also sold under the Thames brand.
Fordson 7V The Fordson 7V or Fordson Thames 7V, depending on the dealer network, was a medium/heavy-duty commercial truck range. it was first introduced in 1937 as the successor to the
Ford Model BB (while still being based around the same chassis and mechanicals). Available with a payload of up to 5 tonnes, the then very modern truck in cab-over-engine design enabled greater manoeuvrability in urban environments. Two different wheelbases were available, and the chassis provided the basis for various bodies. For example, the Fordson Thames 7V was the most widely used fire truck during the Second World War. The model series was powered by the well-known
V8 Ford Flathead side-valve engine with 85 hp. By means of a three-speed (optional four-speed) manual transmission and cardan shaft, the drive was made to the rear wheels. For that time, the one-piece windscreen, which could be opened for ventilation, and a sunroof above the passenger seat stood out. Early 7Vs built in 1937 and 1938 had a curved rounded grille, while from the 7Vs built in 1939 it stood flat and was smaller as were the headlights. These measures were consequences of the beginning of the war and the associated shortage of raw materials. The production of the civilian 7Vs was maintained throughout the war. An armored version was also produced for use by the army. During
World War II, civilian production was halted for military vehicles, in 1945 civilian production resumed. Immediately after the end of the war, numerous improvements were introduced, the most outstanding of which were a new braking system and a tractor unit. A 4.7-liter
Perkins Engines inline six-cylinder diesel engine with 45 hp was available as an option from 1948. Until mid-1949, the model series was produced in Dagenham and replaced by the
Fordson Thames ET. One disadvantage of the 7V range was its somewhat cramped cab, something that its successor greatly improved upon.
Fordson Thames ET In 1949, Ford of Britain presented its new post-war truck range, this time under the Fordson Thames brand only (instead of offering a vehicle by both brands separately), replacing the previous
Fordson 7V models while still retaining the same chassis and
Ford V8 flathead engine. ET stood for
English
Truck. In addition to the
Commonwealth of Nations, it was also offered in
continental Europe, but not in Germany (where it was seen as unnecessary as the similar
Rhein and
Ruhr models were sold there). The model series was available not only as a truck and chassis, but also as a panel van and bus. A version with a
Perkins engine was also offered. The conventional cab with a hood muzzle and split windscreen had more space than its predecessor. It was built by coachbuilder
Briggs Motor Bodies and was supplied in almost the same form for the
Dodge 100 and the
Leyland Comet. The chassis had semi-elliptical leaf springs and now hydraulically operated brakes with vacuum brake booster. Payloads of up to eight tons and optional all-wheel drive were now also possible. A four-wheel drive 3-ton variant (ETF6) with the Canadian V8 engine with vertical valves and a cab-over-engine cab from British Light Steel Pressings was also built. This was also used by Commer. Because of the high fuel consumption of the outdated V8 engine, Ford launched the newly developed "Cost Cutter" in 1953 for payload variants up to three tons, a 3.6-liter four-cylinder engine with overhead valves. This engine was also the basis for Ford's first self-developed diesel engine with 3.61 liters of displacement and 70 hp (55 kW) of power. This was offered from 1954 as 4D or 6D. Production in Dagenham ended in 1957 and its successor was the
Ford Thames Trader.
Ebro built the Fordson-Thames ET models under license from 1956 to 1963 as the Ebro B series.
Ford Thames Trader The
Thames Trader was presented in 1957 as the successor to the Fordson Thames ET range. It shared almost nothing with its predecessor and was a completely new model, although it still shared some styling with the contemporary 1950s
Ford F-Series model line. It was offered all around
Europe except for Germany (like its predecessor) because the mechanically similar
Ford FK range was sold there and it was feared that offering both model lines would cause in-house competition between the models. The Trader was also exported to
South Africa,
Malta,
Morocco,
Indonesia and
Australia. From 1963, the Trader was also produced by
Ebro in
Spain as Ebro C-400, C-500 and C-550. Also from 1963, production began at
Otosan in
Turkey and at the Ford plant in
Rhodesia –
Egypt. Additionally, like its predecessors, some vehicles were also exported to
Canada but did not find much success there because Ford was also offering its more popular American products there and the British vehicles were quickly withdrawn from the market. Overall, the Trader was replaced by the
Ford D series range as Ford removed the Thames name from its products. Additionally, a normal control version using the cab of the discontinued
Ford FK range was also offered under the NC designation and was later renamed the K series. It was available at up to 7 tons as a rigid truck and 13.4 tons as a tractor. At that time Ford had Thames rigid models from 1.5 to 7 tons. In 1962 The Trader II was introduced, available as a 7.5 tons rigid and 17 tons tractor. Production of all variants ended in 1965.
Ford Thames 300E A light
car derived van based on the
Ford Anglia /
Prefect 100E saloon range. It shared its bodyshell and 1172 cc sidevalve four-cylinder engine with the
Ford Squire estate car versions of the line. It was available as a 5 cwt version and a deluxe model alongside a 7 cwt one was also offered. All three offered the same 66-cubic-foot (1.9 m3) load volume. Production totalled 196,885 examples comprising 139,267 5 cwt, 10,056 Standard 7 cwt and 47,562 Deluxe 7 cwt units.
Ford Thames 307E Similar to the 300E, it was a small car-derived van based on the recently introduced
Ford Anglia 105E. it was marketed again as the Thames 5 cwt or the Thames 7 cwt van. These names defined, in Imperial measurements, the recommended maximum load weights (approximately equivalent to 250 and 350 kg respectively) of the vehicles. Advertised load space was 73 cubic feet (2,100 L) including 12 cubic feet (340 L) beside the driver. From October 1962 the 5cwt and 7cwt vans were also offered with the 1198cc engine from the Ford Anglia Super and these were designated as Thames 309E. In March 1965 the use of the Thames name was discontinued and from that time Anglia-based vans were marketed as Ford Anglia Vans. Production ended in 1967 with over 200,000 having been produced by then. ==International variants==