DEARBORN, Mich. – If you’re a true automotive enthusiast, you’ve likely been saddened by the knowledge that most concept, prototype and pre-production cars created by the major automakers end up in the crusher. Today we’re here to tell you that some super-enthusiasts at Ford Motor Company have been saving a few of these historically significant vehicles over the decades and they have recently been collected for an internal project called the Ford Heritage Fleet.
Earlier this month, Ford put together a sampling of these saved vehicles for a sneak peek by a select group of media and employees. Down in a top-secret portion of Ford World Headquarters lies a garage that serves as a temporary display space for dozens of these saved projects.
One area featured many of the projects spearheaded by Ford Performance over the years, from the 1993 SVT Mustang Cobra to the Ford GT Mk II, just about every variant of performance vehicle was on display here. Some were non-production project builds you may have only heard about or seen in magazines, such as the Ford SVT Lightning Bolt Ranger, a 2002 Ford Ranger Concept truck powered by a 5.4L Supercharged V8 from the second-generation Ford SVT F-150 Lightning.
In a separate section of the garage, there were some Ford concept vehicles that you may have only seen at auto shows, including the 2007 Ford Interceptor concept, the Ford Airstream concept, and a concept Ford Transit taxi. In another area, Ford had a display that included the 2015 Mustang GT that made a trip to the top of the Empire State Building in New York. Ford staff who were involved with the project were on-site to explain how they made it happen. One cool factor of this display is that they had to ensure every part fit in the elevator of the Empire State Building, so they had built a replica of the elevator to ensure all of the pieces would make the journey to the top.
While the collection is not open to the public, Ted Ryan, Archivist for Ford Motor Company, says that select vehicles will be making appearances at Ford events around the country. So don’t be surprised if you spot a Mustang prototype from the fleet or the 2004 Ford Bronco Concept at a big Ford show or event sometime this summer!
FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY MARCUS CERVANTES
