50 Years of ITOY – 1982 Ford Cargo

For 1982, two more judges – and they were now regarded as judges as opposed to the “jurors” of earlier years – were added from Finland and Switzerland to complete the 12-country voting block of Western European nations.

The shortlist was drawn up at 1981’s Frankfurt Show, and the Cargo achieved a convincing victory, securing 50 votes against Scania’s GPR “2-Series” with 34, and Mercede-Benz’s turbocharged 19.33 and 19.38 with 31. The Ford Motor Company was presented with the trophy at the Geneva Show on 21 January 1982.

The Cargo was the first vehicle to achieve a win in respect of an entire range, and in a remarkable feat of engineering coordination, the entire D Series line-up ceased production on New Year’s Eve 1980, to be replaced with Cargos spanning 6 to 28.5 tonnes.

The Ford D Series was a hard act to follow, being Britain’s market leader since 1977 with over 540,000 examples built, and Ford invested £150m into the Cargo. Development work had started in 1976 under the Delta code name, but this was swapped to Cargo when Dennis adopted the Delta tag for its own 16-tonner.

Of particular interest to the judges was the fact that Cargos were pretty-much engineered for each European market from the outset, with 2.3m-wide Swiss models, high-powered Norwegian variants and well-trimmed models designed for Germany all being included in the original programme.

The flexibility of the Cargo range also appealed greatly, although the flexibility of the high-tensile alloy steel chassis, which required flexible front body mountings, was a feature that some early operators and Ministry Inspectors were wary of.

The very modern cab design, good turning circle, quality ride, stability and handling and serviceability all scored in the Cargo’s favour, as did the reduced scheduled downtime, but the most popular aspect amongst judges was the way in which the wide range of specification options in the modular system could effectively produce the ideal vehicle for an operator in this class.

When launched the Cargo was powered by Ford’s own Dorset engine range, comprising of a naturally-aspirated 4-cylinder, and a 6- and 6.2-litre straight-six, with a 6-litre 150hp turbocharged engine at the top end of the in-house power range. These engines were carried over from the D Series and had received substantial re-engineering in 1979. For heavier trucks the Perkins V8.540 or Cummins V8.504 were offered, rated at 180hp or 186hp respectively.

Within a year of introduction, the Cargo received the new Dover range of Ford engines, which retained the bore and stroke of their predecessors but offered more power and better consumption courtesy of higher injection pressures, larger ports, and new manifolds amongst other improvements.

A V6 Deutz-powered 32-tonner was added in the Spring of 1982, and the Cargo was given a new lease of life with the introduction of Cummins 10-Litre engines in 1985, but like the Leyland Roadtrain before it, the Cargo was introduced into a depressed home market and arguably never achieved its full sales potential, before being phased out in the Iveco take-over.

Text : Will Shiers Photos : Richard Stanier