It’s rare to hear the word “performance” and “van” without adding “lack of” somewhere with it. Ford used the bodies of their vans to test chassis and engine component for years. Here’s a quick history lesson:
Supervan
The first generation used a Mark 1 Transit shell over the chassis and engine of the GT40. With 400 bhp, its top speed was claimed at 150 mph.
Supervan 2
With a Mark 2 Transit shell as the exterior, Ford added front and rear air dams, a spoiler, and huge side air inlets. They used the chassis of the Ford C100 class C racing car. The engine was a Cosworth CFL engine making about 590 bhp. It was clocked at 176 mph on the Silverstone circuit.
Supervan 3
Supervan 3 used a 7/8 reduced scale Mark 5 Transit shell to design Supervan 3. It first used a Cosworth HB V8 with power estimates at 650 bhp. Top speeds were estimated at 150 mph. It later updated its engine to the Cosworth 3000 V6 to make the van more drive-able. This smaller engine put out 300 bhp.
Supervan 4?
Here’s what I would build for Supervan 4. The latest gen Transit shell will be used (I’ll use U.S. spec for my own leisure). Add all the spoilers and air dams one can do.
Take either the race spec engine from the GT LM GTE, or the factory Ecoboost from the production GT.
I wish I had good Photoshop skills to design what I am picturing.
Note: I don’t count the one off Transit Super Sport Van as the next gen Supervan. Although cool, not wild enough to make it a Supervan