Ford – like many automakers – has some pretty cool concepts and other rare/notable rides in its own personal collection, which only select employees of The Blue Oval are able to check out in the flesh. Since launching its Heritage Vault some time ago, Ford has been more keen to show off cool and interesting vehicles from its past, however, and in the UK, it also opened a brand new Heritage and Innovation Center with 120 different models a few years ago. Now, FoMoCo has opened its own special display in the U.S. at its Dearborn-based headquarters.
Ford has around 500 vehicles in its Heritage Fleet, but now, 50 of them are on display for U.S.-based workers to check out. Prior to last year, these vehicles were scattered around different global locations, at least, until CEO Jim Farley requested that they be brought together. While Ford has traditionally maintained heritage collections in England, Australia, and Germany, that wasn’t the case in North America, as many of those vehicles were either sold to the public or donated to the Henry Ford Museum.
Thus, the team behind the Ford Heritage Fleet began working to identify what vehicles should be included, with historical significance remaining the key motivating factor here. Ultimately, it wound up amassing a rather impressive array of models from Blue Oval history, including a 1914 Model T replica built for Ford’s 100th anniversary, a 1938 V8 Ambulance, a 2000 Ford Ranger EV pickup truck, and the Ford F-150 Lightning driven by former President Joe Biden, all of which are part of the Archives Collection.
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From the product development fleet, FoMoCo gathered up some Ford Bronco concepts, the Ford F-150 Atlas concept, and a Transit Connect Taxi concept. The communications fleet contains vehicles from various auto shows and the Ford Mustang that was placed top the Empire State Building years ago, as well as the 10 millionth pony car produced. Finally, the Ford Performance fleet contains vehicles such as the 2004 and 2017 Ford GT, the engineering bucks used to develop both, and a variety of Mustang Shelby GT350, GT500, and KR models, to name just a few.
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I don’t know of anyone that doesn’t enjoy looking at cars. Ford Motor Company ask me to be on a panel years ago, they flew everyone up, we enjoyed 1st class accommodations, were taken to dinner at special venues one was full of just about every car Ford Motor has ever produced and the history behind each one. It was great, just like the past 50 years of selling Ford and Lincolns. God bless Ford Motor Company.