Ford unveils its Ford Heritage Fleet
Ted Ryan, Ford’s archives and heritage brand manager, told FOX Business in an interview his team “got direction from senior management to begin to pull together Ford’s heritage fleet around the world” a “little bit” more than a year ago.
FORD INVESTING $4 MILLION IN SCHOLARSHIPS FOR AUTO TECHNICIANS
“We had a couple that we knew of already. Ford of England had 150-ish cars. Ford of Germany, 100. So we knew those were there, and they were activated in different ways, but we had never had an active fleet in the U.S.,” he said.
Different groups like Product Development and Ford Performance had kept vehicles over the years “but it had never been systematically organized and preserved and restored … so over the past year, we have tracked down about 175 vehicles in the United States from a variety of different partners,” Ryan told FOX Business.
Ford said Product Development, Ford Performance, Communications and the Archives sourced the vehicles that make up the U.S. Heritage Fleet.
2022 F-150 Lighting prototype (Ford Motor Co)
Ryan said some of the expansive Ford Heritage Fleet will be at its new Product Development Center and the company’s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, with plans to also “activate” vehicles for family days at its assembly plants across the country.
Overall, the “idea is to take what is essentially the Heritage Fleet and not look back at 120 years of history, but to find a way to use it going forward” for future vehicles, Ryan explained.
FORD, VETERAN GROUPS PARTNER TO HOLD BRONCO OFF-ROADEO FOR VETS AND THEIR FAMILIES
Selecting vehicles for inclusion in the Fort Heritage Fleet involved creating a “collection management policy” and a “collections storyline” focused on the “importance of the vehicle” and “how it can be used,” according to Ryan.
The 10 millionth Mustang, one of Ford’s first four-door Broncos, three generations of Cobra R Mustangs, a 10-cylinder Mustang prototype, a Lincoln Navigator concept vehicle and the three 2004 GTs that Ford “used to introduce the GT brand back to the world again” are among some of the vehicles in the Ford Heritage Fleet, he said.
2004 Ford GT
There are also some “really cool” Ford Performance vehicles and multiple experimental vehicles, among others, according to Ryan.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F | FORD MOTOR CO. | 9.55 | -0.13 | -1.34% |
