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JUL 12, 2018 | FORD PERFORMANCE STAFF

WE FIND SOME FORDS ON DISPLAY AT FAMED LINGENFELTER COLLECTION

A classic red and black hot rod on display

BRIGHTON, Mich. – When the Great Lakes Cobra Club went looking for a cool venue to hold its 2018 Season Opening Meeting last March, they were disappointed to learn that their original choice, the Fair Lane Estate– home of Henry and Clara Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, was closed for restoration. But when one of the club members was able to score the Lingenfelter Collection to host the members-only kickoff club meeting complete with a catered dinner and private tour, the GLCC jumped at the chance. Yes, of course they knew this famed collection of some 150 unique cars housed in a private 40,000-square-foot facility north of Detroit is purely Corvette, Chevrolet and General Motors centric. But it’s not open to the public, and is rarely available for specialty showings.

The collection is owned by Ken Lingenfelter, who grew up the son of GM exec so he was bitten with a Bow-Tie bug at an early age. He bought his first Corvette in 1977, and later sold off a successful real estate settlement company and began collecting significant Vettes, muscle cars and European exotics. In 2008 he bought Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, a firm founded by his late, distant cousin, John Lingenfelter, who had launched the business on the heels of a record-setting drag racing career. The Decatur, Indiana, shop specializes in Corvettes, Cadillacs, GM F-Bodies, B-Bodies and trucks, as well as Dodge Vipers. The GLCC saw a good enthusiast opportunity for its members by holding its meeting here, and they even invited Ford Performance to provide a guest speaker for the event.

Perhaps surprisingly, attendees discovered that more than a few outstanding Ford performance vehicles were included among the cars in the collection. After speaking to the group, our Ford Performance Enthusiast Communications Manager, John Clor, took some time to tour the facility and shoot photos of some of the outstanding Fords that were on display there for you to enjoy in the gallery below:

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY JOHN CLOR