A former Amazon warehouse in Romulus is now home to one of Ford’s most prized possessions: 125 vehicles spanning more than a century of the automaker’s history, tucked inside a facility the public still cannot walk into. The building, known as the Ford Vault, sits at 11457 Hannan Road and represents the culmination of a multi-year effort to gather the company’s scattered heritage fleet under one roof.
“We have 125 vehicles here at the Ford Vault,” said Ford archives and heritage brand manager Ted Ryan, according to MLive, which got a first look inside the newly constructed 79,000-square-foot building this week. As Metro Detroit News reported, the Vault houses the Ford U.S. Heritage Fleet, a sprawling assortment of cars, trucks and experimental models meant to document Ford’s engineering and cultural footprint since the company’s founding.
For now, the doors are mostly locked to outsiders. Due to zoning laws, the building is only open to employees and offers limited opportunities for media, according to Car and Driver. Ford has said the Vault will eventually open to the public and serve as a Ford event space, per the same MLive report, though no firm date has been set.
What’s Actually Parked Inside
The collection ranges from the earliest days of mass production to Hollywood and racing fame. Among the highlights is a 1911 right-hand-drive Model T built in the United Kingdom, according to MLive’s report. The Vault also holds the final Mustang produced at the Dearborn Assembly Plant in 2004, marking the end of an era for the nameplate’s longtime home…