Ford Courier is a model nameplate used by Ford since the early 1950s. First used in North America for a sedan delivery, the Courier nameplate has seen use worldwide for multiple types of vehicles. The Courier nameplate was also used by Ford for a series of compact pickup trucks (produced by Mazda) and would also see use by Ford of Europe denoting a Fiesta-based panel van. Ford Brazil used the nameplate for a Fiesta-based coupe utility pickup marketed across Latin America.
During the 2000s, the Courier pickup truck was replaced by the Ranger nameplate (which replaced the Courier in North America for 1983); the Courier panel van was replaced by the Ford Transit Connect in 2002. For 2014, the stand-alone Courier name was withdrawn, but returned as the Transit Courier, the smallest vehicle of the Ford Transit van series.
From 1952 to 1960, Ford applied the Courier nameplate to its sedan delivery bodystyle. Intended as a commercial vehicle (serving as the forerunner of the modern-day cargo van); Ford also offered a similar configuration derived from the F-Series pickup truck named the panel delivery.
Sharing its body with two-door Ford station wagons, the Courier was designed with a large storage area behind the front seats, replacing the rear seating area and rear side windows (replaced by painted steel panels).
Marketed exclusively as a two-door vehicle, the Courier was initially designed with a side-hinged rear cargo access door (unique to the model line). For 1957 and 1958, the Courier adopted the two-piece "clamshell" design shared by the two-door Ford Parklane and Ford Del Rio station wagons, sharing their body design (without rear side glass).
For 1959, to lower production costs of the model line, the Courier took on the body of the two-door Ford Ranch Wagon in its entirety, distinguished only by its rear cargo area.
After the 1960 model year, Ford retired both the Courier sedan delivery and the F-Series panel delivery, replacing both model lines with the Ford Econoline cargo van for 1961; the two-door sedan delivery bodystyle was moved to the compact Ford Falcon model range and offered through 1964.
