The Ford Heritage Vault launched last June as a massive historical online database containing thousands of photos and product brochures, dating all the way back to 1903. Ford teamed up with graduate students from Wayne State University’s library and information science program in Detroit, as well as Ford employees and retirees, to pilot the Heritage Vault in advance of its launch, but once it went public, the site was quickly overloaded with traffic, causing it to quite literally crash. Regardless, the Heritage Vault’s popularity hasn’t diminished one bit, according to Ford CEO Jim Farley.
1 million downloads from 167 countries! @Ford fans are loving the #FordHeritageVault. Awesome work from our archives team 💙 https://t.co/a7mjbE5ZEk pic.twitter.com/YBH2RFNJ2C
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) February 2, 2023
According to Farley, the Ford Heritage Vault has now reached a pretty significant milestone, as users from 167 different countries have downloaded one million items from the site in just a few months. This is notable as the automaker continues to expand its offerings in that regard, most recently adding its digital UK archives to the site – a batch that includes 1,600 new photos and brochures from FoMoCo vehicles based in that country.
As it stands, there are plenty of interesting tidbits of historical Blue Oval data that can already be found in the quickly-expanding Heritage Vault. That includes the fact that the 2004 Ford Bronco Concept was powered by a 2.0L intercooled turbo-diesel engine, which was mated to the automaker’s six-speed dual-clutch PowerShift transmission, and had nitrous for an extra power boost. Other cool and notable finds in the vault include the Ford Edge Hybrid Concept, as well as the Ford Model U Concept – which was a bit ahead of its time with some truly innovative features.
We’ll have more on the Ford Heritage Vault soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for comprehensive Ford news coverage.
Comments
It’s a cool site when you have some idol time to spend, or are looking for some archival media from days gone by.
I’ve found the searches to be a little frustrating.
Partly due to still missing or very limited material and partly due to the search results not being easy to quickly scan thru.
MR Ford don’t forget you have a mountain of great heritage items down in Australia where you have been since 1925 🙂 🙂
Problem is no none down here seems to know what to do with it or even cares enough to even think about preserving 98 Years of History. 🙁 🙁 🙁
Bookmarked!! Cool site.
Enjoy look at what Lincoln was instead of the garbage today with nothing inspiring for us to drive.