The Ford Motor Company is opening up its car vault for the first time in 100 years, allowing rare access to some of the nearly 500 vehicles that make up its heritage fleet. Through these cars, the company tells its story.

Dearborn

Ford Motor Company has granted rare access to its heritage fleet, a collection of nearly 500 vehicles that span the company's storied history. The fleet includes significant models such as early test cars, concept vehicles, and milestone production cars, many of which were previously hidden or preserved by employees who recognized their historical value.

The initiative to assemble and display the collection was prompted by Ford's leadership, inspired by similar efforts in the UK and Australia. While the display is primarily for Ford employees to study design and innovation, select events allow the public to view the collection, offering insights into the brand's legacy and its ongoing influence on future vehicle development.

Ford Motor Company car vault tracks brand's legacy

That's a taste of what zero to 60 in about three seconds feels like. This is a statement piece. For sure. And rolling around suburban Detroit with Ford's Nick Terzis, this Ford GT was definitely saying something. It was about going back to show that we have the engineering capability that's as good or better than the rest of the world. Interesting to watch the reactions of people trying to buy it. This is one of those cars that is beloved by all. It elicits an emotion. Terzis worked on the GT program, and this was one of its early test cars. This car will do 217 miles an hour. That head turner is among nearly 500 Ford vehicles special enough for the company to keep. Nearly 200 are in the U.S. About 50 are now on display in what's usually the executive parking garage at Ford's Dearborn Michigan headquarters. From a recreated Model T to a 1938 ambulance and some cars that never hit the road, like this 2007 Ford Airstream concept imagined as a plug-in hybrid hydrogen fuel cell crossover. We keep the best of what we've done in the past as a way to learn for the future. Ted Ryan is Ford's historian and says this heritage collection started with an email from the boss in December 2023. Go find the best of the vehicles in America and find a way to get them together so that our employees can learn from what we've done and enjoy the best of what Ford has done over the years. Why didn't they do that already? Henry Ford II had had a policy that we build cars, we don't collect them. And that had sort of been the mantra. So everything we built was either sold or given away or auctioned. So Ryan scoured warehouses like the one we visited in 2017 that was home to a collection of concept cars and race cars. And as word spread, employees flagged him to other vehicles that had essentially been tucked away. We had people coming out of the woodwork. The very first F-150 and the very last Mustang built at Dearborn Assembly, the plant managers had sort of hidden those cars. They knew the significance of the first and the last. Now they've got a home. Folks were hiding parts of Ford history. Hiding parts of Ford history because they knew it was significant. Without our employees, without their passion for the cars they built, we wouldn't have a fleet. Without the plant managers hiding those vehicles, it doesn't exist. Ford CEO Jim Farley got the idea after visiting this Ford facility in the U.K. Across the pond, the team had been carefully preserving Ford's British history for decades, curating a collection of about 130 vehicles from Ford's early models to a vintage Mustang and many that never made it over here. The thing with the collection, it's been very much a hidden secret for Ford over the years. Len Keane oversees the U.K. collection. You see, folks, emotions in people. This is their first car, the car their parents had. A similar heritage fleet calls Melbourne, Australia home. Ford has been making cars down under for more than 100 years. People think of like, well, that's the past and this is the current. That's not how it works, actually. Everything evolves off itself. Like this yellow Ford Bronco concept that evolved into the Raptor line of high-performance pickups. In fact, there are plenty of pickups in the heritage collection. The prototype electric F-150 President Biden drove. This Atlas concept became the F-250 and copious concept cars. While this 2004 Bronco concept almost made it to production, it did make it into a movie with The Rock. This one just looks otherworldly. Also, many a Mustang, from number 10 million to one that once sat atop the Empire State Building. It was supposed to have been destroyed. The communications manager didn't want it destroyed, so he put it in a warehouse in the middle of Michigan. They kept not only the car, they kept the fake elevator they used to practice to make sure they could fit the car pieces and get them up to the 86th floor. This is a 1993 SVT Mustang Cobra R, number one of only 107 made. But not all were success stories. This electric Ranger was not a winner. Great story about experiment and failing. The Ranger failed. It didn't succeed. But what did we learn from it? Well, we learned we have to get better with our battery technology. Eventually, the collection will have its own facility here in the U.S. It had to have a story, otherwise you're just keeping it just to keep stuff and we're not hoarders. Is there a fine line between being a historian and a hoarder? Yes, there is a fine line because you want to keep everything. For now, the cars are on display mainly for Ford employees to study, track design evolution and innovation, or just look for fresh inspiration. But on rare days, like Bring Your Kids to Work Day or a recent Cars and Coffee Weekend, the Heritage fleet can be seen by the rest of us. And it's a hit with car fans. By far the GTs in the back because of how fast they can go. Mine's the really big Bronco because I'm literally shorter than it. Of all ages. It is a really neat experience to especially see the concept cars because that's a little insider view that nobody gets to see. What kind of car do you want? A Ford. I'm going to Ford truck. You want a Ford truck? Yes. A Ford truck of the future that may just be inspired by this collection of Ford's past.

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