ROMULUS (WWJ) -- Ford has found a home for its “Heritage Fleet,” a collection of vehicles that are important to the company’s history.
A former Amazon fulfillment center in Romulus is being transformed into the Ford Vault. It’s a collection of Mustangs, Navigators, concept vehicles along with a few ambulances, fire trucks and police cars.
“The goal was to bring them together in the way we can tell the Ford story,” said Ford corporate historian Ted Ryan.
This is a long time dream of Ryan, who today showed members of the media the collection, which is broken into categories that help tell that story. There are a lot of performance cars, as well as important luxury vehicles. But there are also a number of concept vehicles that were the inspiration for production cars. Some have never been shown in public.
The fleet includes vehicles that have been in storage for decades. Some others were donated to the company by collectors. Others are on short term loan.
The idea, says Ryan, is for people to leave the Vault knowing more about Ford than they did when they walked in.
“I want them to walk away and have a little bit deeper knowledge of Ford Motor Company and the role we played in American history.”
For the near term, the Ford Vault will be kept private, and opened only for special events and special occasions.
“We’re doing a special event on Saturday, internally with employees,” says Ryan. “3200 employees sold out in two hours. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Eventually Ryan would like to turn the vault into an automotive attraction. He’s had talks with people at the Henry Ford, and has also been in discussion with authorities in Romulus, who would need to re-zone the property. There’s no timetable, and–as yet–no specific plan.
“The goal long term is to work with the city and have this be available to the public in whatever way, shape and form we can.”
