The Ford Thames 300E is a panel van produced by Ford of Britain from 1954 to 1961. [1] The Thames (or Thames Trader) name was given to all available sizes of commercial vehicle produced by Ford in Britain during the 1950s and until the arrival in 1965 of the UK built Ford Transit.
The 300E was introduced in July 1954, based on the Ford Anglia / Prefect 100E saloon range and it shared its bodyshell with the station wagon versions of the line. and 1172 cc sidevalve four-cylinder engine with those models. Oddly, the bodyshell was optimized for use as a panel truck rather than a wagon with its two, short passenger doors and shorter overall length than the sedans. Initially produced only as a single model with 5 cwt (250 kg) carrying capacity, the range was later expanded with the introduction of Standard and Deluxe 7 cwt (350 kg) variants. 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.[2]
300E production ended in April 1961 and the van's replacement, the Anglia 105E based Thames 307E, was introduced in June of the same year. [3]
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