Ford Thames (car)

Thames (also known as Ford Thames) was a commercial vehicle brand produced by Ford of Britain, a subsidiary of The Ford Motor Company.
History
The badge first appeared in 1952 at the Fordson E83W light commercial vehicle as the Ford Thames E83W, when Ford decided to retire the Fordson brand. That vehicle was produced from 1938, being amongst the top-sellers in its first years, but was antiquated when it took the Thames brand.
In the era of this model, there was a real need for something advanced in the light vans market segment. Automobiles in that segment were totally unprofitable. Aside from the fact that they were polluting and noisy, they needed skill to be driven. They had a very small turning radius, and when loaded they were dangerously unstable, so their owners were forced to load them with light loads. They were extremely fuel consuming, and this was increased highly with any load. Nicknamed the "bricks on wheels", their owners even preferred bigger trucks to transport goods, as they were slightly more advanced. This was noted by light van manufacturers (including Ford), but the most of them, instead of making a new model from ground-up, they preferred making models based on the existing ones, with modifications. These models were admittedly better than their predecessors, but they still used old technology and were still far away from what small enterprises wanted.
Instead, following the path the other companies did, Ford decided to instead build a model from ground-up.<ref name=":1" />
Thames 400E
That model was the 400E, introduced in November 1957. It was considered a lot more improved from its predecessors.<ref name=":1" />
The new car, being a forward-control one, was more comfortable in driving, having much more stability and turning radius. It had not the archaic transverse leaf springs suspension system, although it retained the live rear axle, which however was located in a pair of longitudinal leaf springs. The beam axle had been replaced by an unequal level wishbones system, along with coil springs with telescopic dampers. Additionally, the torque tube was also replaced by an open propeller shaft. It was featuring the same engine and the 3-speed gearbox also featured on the Ford Consul Mk2, but with modifications. This engine had a larger capacity from the car's competitors, subsequently having better performance from them.<ref name=":1" />
One of the features of this van that further differentiated it from its competitors was its chassis. While other vans had unitary construction or monocoque one, the 400E had a ladder chassis design, thus allowing the fitment of customized bodies for various uses. Also, in addition with that, the separate chassis did not need the bodywork to keep it rigid, so the options for custom body was even broadened; The 400E, except the van-bus standard body and the custom bodies by Ford, could be offered just as a chassis-front end or as chassis-cowl (with only the lower front panel and the floor pan-engine bay structure), so a custom body could be built inside the chassis.
Additional models
* Fordson E83W
* Ford Thames 300E
* Ford Thames 307E
* Thames Trader - a range of trucks manufactured by Ford UK built between 1957 and 1965.

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