The Ford Heritage collection

[trigger]

On Sunday i was lucky enough to get a invite to view the Ford heritage collection, they ran a competition online to allow people to visit and both my sister and her partner won a pair so me and my dad were invited as their plus ones (although my sister couldn't make it in the end).

 

You rocked up at the factory and had to follow a Transit van across the plant to a old shed and then parked up.

 

 

There was seas of ST's and RS's... YAWN.

 

 

Although the outside was a good sign!

 

 

 

 

 

 

around one side of the shed was all the catering vans which were supplying as much free food and drink as you wanted (that was the best bit) as well as these.

 

 

 

 

 

and around the other side was modern cars like the new Focus St Line X complete with a screw in the tyre and a new Fiesta ST but the inside was better.

 

 

The first beauty was this Fiesta just like my mum had in 2001, i hit a fox in that on the A12 at 70mph and ripped the front valance off, the day after she agreed to trade it in :/

 

 

I'm guessing this was awaiting restoration.

 

 

 

This Thames was nice, it was donated by the first owners family and Ford restored it in his bushiness livery.

 

 

 

I got a woody for the LWB Tranny

 

 

[trigger]

 

Many of the cars were sandwiched in sadly, these was the closest i got get to this one.

 

 

The only yellow Cossie made.

 

 

 

the 10 millionth Fiesta, this had all the leather and only covered 282 miles.

 

 

 

Another one you can't see very well, still a beauty though with full black leather!

 

 

 

This looked a bit sad with flat tyres.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm guessing this was the last Escort?

 

 

This was lovely with a full power roof.

 

 

 

 

 

A Thunderbird Ka.

 

 

 

This was donated by the first owners family.

 

 

 

 

I never knew Ford had a Orion in the collection, this was lovely too, it was also a Candor of Colchester car where my dad bought his cars as a kid.

 

 

 

 

 

Thought of Dan when i saw this!

 

 

[trigger]

Some 10000 mile Focus that was used on the M25 i think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure if this was the last Capri?

 

 

 

 

 

Rather nicely Oldford visited the collection just before he died of cancer and brought along this Crusader badge and fitted on this, every time i now see it i think of John.

 

 

 

 

I'd still love one of these in saloon form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trigger]

Even the offices alone had lots of interesting stuff dotted about them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These look amazing in pacific blue 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that was it, not bad, there was people who had drove from Yorkshire, Cornwall and Derbyshire, not sure i'd been so impressed if I'd driven that far but for a hour down the road and a couple hours there it was worth a look.

[Felly Magic]

That Monte Carlo rally Zed was driven by Maurice Gatsonides, yes that bloke who invented the speed camera

[Captain Furious]

Oh my, as a certified ford licker I need to come back to this thread when I have some alone time! Amazing to think all these treasures are retained by Ford....kinda sad at the same time that this is all they will ever amount to.

[Ghosty]

Excellent pics, Trig. Ford did a great job of preserving their history, though I do feel it's a bit biased towards high spec and high end models.

 

 

The one thing that annoys me is how they'll slap a modern font yellow/white plate on any old car that needs a new plate, especially on those early Escorts and Cortinas it just looks plain wrong. They really don't have some facility to get period plates remade? Not even ask Tippers for raised digit? It's a slight letdown on a 'heritage' fleet that's restoring cars for historical significance and preservation, have them period!

[trigger]

I totally agree with that and even remarked about that on the day.

[Parky]

It’s a great facility and long may it last. Lots of the factory is being redeveloped but hopefully this bit stays as a reminder of how 30000 people once worked there. Including many of my family over the years.

 

I remember Matt Jones from Practical Classics once borrowed their Y reg Sierra Ghia and went in search of a Barratt homes style new estate in order to get some pics. We are only a few miles up the road from the plant and the photo shoot ended up being done outside my house! You can just about see a bit of my neighbours roof in the mag photos. Not much of a claim to fame but nice to meet Matt though

[New POD]

That seems like the saddest museum I've ever not been to.

So many fantastic exhibits and how many people have ever seen them?

Imagine house Manny people would come if they had a proper museum. Such a lack of vision.

[Parky]

Agreed. Pop them in a nice spacious new building and charge folk to visit. Dagenham basically wouldn’t have existed if it were not for that plant, so much history there and I can imagine most kids would be only too happy to go there for a history field trip

[Twiggy]

That is excellent Trigger, brought back so many memories ! Thank you !

[danthecapriman]

Lots to like there, the mk2 Capri looks lovely! It’s got a few more extras on it than my L though.

 

Love the mk1 Granny too, one of Fords best looking cars imho.

[egg]

Any Mondy Mk1's m8?

[mercrocker]

There's a good few motors there that I remember still being out in the wild.....It would be absolutely fantastic to get the Ford and Vauxhall collections amalgamated properly with the BMH stuff.   The "National" Motor Museum at Beaulieu is anything but a "National" representation and I would be happy to see that revert to being the Montagu collection with all the more important stuff put somewhere more central.  

 

What we did as a nation, for nearly a century, was build cars that the world should never forget - not just the Bentleys and the like - but FX4s, Cortinas and Vauxhall Novas that were part of our street scenes across the years.   I think these collections will become increasingly important as classic car useage drops and they gradually get legislated out of daily life.  As pointed out with reference to Oldford and his Crusader badge, preserved vehicles are untold testaments to folk that came into contact with them or actually made them in the first place.

 

Great post, thanks for sharing - its not something we are likely to see often......

[Parky]

With Dagenham there is a load of back story. The place was a swamp and the area decimated post depression. As well as the plant, the town became the largest council estate in Europe as the council built and built and built to ensure there were enough homes for families to supply the factory. Not to mention the associated supply chain. They built military kit during the war, they mobilised thousands who wouldn’t have been able to afford a car, and let’s not forget their part in the equal pay act.

 

In many ways Dagenham was a successful collaboration between public and private sectors to create something valuable. Maybe the area is not so glamorous these days but much of our nations recent history is reflected in the legacy of that plant.

 

And in between they boshed out the occasional motor.

 

Grandad was a draughtsman there and had loads of sketches for random bits of car. He kept them for years but when he died, Nan had a big clear out and binned the lot! Dad was gutted, it included provisional sketches for a small car with a reverse angle rear window - bloody original Anglia design sketches! Binned!!

 

Nan had no interest in history. She said if that if she had lived through it, it probably wasn’t worth remembering. She had a tough life and sentimentality didn’t put food on the table. Would have been nice to have my Grandads mid fifties sketches though

[Faker]

What an epic post and pics. Cheers trig

[lesapandre]

Rather than a museum as a living exhibition if the cars do get out and about for magazines, shows and photoshoots and car launches thats another way of doing it. Keeping the cars alive is an aim - good to see them out on the road out and about. Is the collection also a reference for Ford and its designers? At least the collection exists. 

 

Ford never had a really ugly car did they - 90% of their output looked good

 

If you do live in the Dagenham area it would be useful to track down as many workers as you can so they can reminisce. This kind of oral history is important and easy to record these days.

 

Great post.

[Jewel25]

Lovely that 1996 Fiesta Ghia / Ghia X. I really wish they had not dropped the Ghia spec.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Very nice pictures, thanks Trigger!

 

It is a shame they are sort of hidden away but as someone says it's nice that they get used and aren't just sat there.

 

That blue Fiesta is exactly the same spec as mine but I think my favourite has to be the mk1 with the vinyl seats. Who in 1982 decides 'sod it I'll save a pittance and have zero options'

[trigger]

Someone said a few of the cars were out that day at other events, there wasn't any MK1 Mondeo's or Sierras which I was surprised about.

[sierraman]

Shame that they don't seem to have bothered to preserve any Mk1 or Mk2 Mondeos. A lot of the 4x4 ones have either been broken or have been modified. Last one I saw was in a breakers, a saloon 4x4 in white with full leather Recaros and a genuine RS kit. Looked like it had been a demo. Engine was fucked hence it was there.

[egg]

With Dagenham there is a load of back story. The place was a swamp and the area decimated post depression. As well as the plant, the town became the largest council estate in Europe as the council built and built and built to ensure there were enough homes for families to supply the factory. Not to mention the associated supply chain.

 

My wife's grandparents lived on the Dagenham estate (and exercised their right to buy like so many did on that estate in the 80s), but her grandad didn't work at 'Fords', though my wife did do some work experience at the plant once I think.

[lesapandre]

I think one estate was the Becontree - built on garden suburb principles when people were being moved out of London slums to somewhere nicer.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becontree

[Captain Furious]

I'd love that 1.6i Ghia Orion to put 20k a year on it doing my daily commute.  One car I do genuinely miss from my past.

[Guest Hooli]

What a great selection of motors & some shit (not shite) scattered within.

[Kringle]

Great pics!

[fordperv]

Great pics trig must say im more than a little jealous, I'd love to see these in the metal, I have wanted to get a picture of my saph with the Pacific blue sapphire cosworth purely because of its reg

 

[stuboy]

 211 of these were made (some hatch and some saloon) which was 1 for each Ford main dealer.

 

 

god knows why theres not 1 in the heritage collection..??

[sheffcortinacentre]

The mk1 zephyr is a replica, the silver mk5 crusader is the last European cortina built,shame that mk4 has mk5 seats.

 

The 1600E plate is road legal it's actually 16 00E.

 

Can't understand why they sold the auto mk2 RS2000 that was built for Henry ford the 2nd??

 

It's crazy that theyve allways kept this stuff hidden away.