Monday 13th March 2017

Ford Heritage Collection tour review

PH joined 50 very lucky Win on Wednesday... winners for an exclusive tour around Dagenham

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'Unassuming' is probably the kindest way to describe Ford's Heritage lock up at Dagenham. Tucked away in a tricky to find industrial estate, there are certainly no external cues that it houses such a fantastic collection of cars. Well there normally isn't, but yesterday Ford had brought out the flags (and some Mustangs) to ensure that PHers didn't simply drive past...

Inside there's everything, from a Model T to a new Focus RS. For fans of the brand, indeed for car geeks in general, the Heritage Collection is an absolute treasure chest of four-wheeled jewels - what a privilege to be allowed in!

All the cars inside had been unlocked by Ford, allowing PHers to get inside the incredible variety of cars. If you had forgotten just how far we've come in terms of perceived quality (and how far back we've gone as far as visibility is concerned), then a couple of minutes in a classic will remind you! Old cars smell amazing too, don't they? An odd point perhaps, but the combination of wood, leather and vinyl in certain classics creates an aroma new cars will never reproduce.

Anyway, to the actual cars. When there are three RS200s in one building you know it's a good collection! Particular highlights included one of Bjorn Waldegard's Mk2 Escorts, a lovely Capri 280 Brooklands and one of the very first Focus RS Mk1s, cars which seem to get better looking by the day.

That's just the start though. There were Corsairs, Cortinas and Cosworths of all varieties; Transits from before they were Transits, Transits with F1 engines and Transits for the rally stage; Fiestas from through the ages and Escorts too. That's before mentioning the GT, the original Mustang, the Sierras and the Zodiacs. For such a small place there's plenty packed in!

We hope that those PHers who came along enjoyed the morning as much as we did - there are certainly worse ways to spend a Sunday morning! If you have any additional photos we'd love to see them. A huge thanks to Ford for allowing us access to the collection, and for laying on food and drink as well. Hopefully we speak for all involved by saying it was a great morning.

[Photos: Dafydd Wood]

[mightymouse]

That looks superb

Do hope they protect the cars from the pigeons though

[Slippydiff]

Pistonheads in proof reading features failure shocker ! !

Banish them all to this :



I say

[Matt Bird]

Was it the 'coolection' one? I think I nabbed that just as you mentioned it - apologies! Anything else though?

[NeilAndHisMini]

Thanks for my ticket, I had a great morning. And thanks to the Ford Heritage staff for giving up their Sunday and sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm.

A real treasure trove of cars, being able to sit in some of them was a highlight.

[Slippydiff]

Just the "coolection" one (saved here posterity)

[ShampooEfficient]

Just wanted to say a huge thank you to all involved yesterday - MrsSE and I had an absolutely terrific morning!

[Shaw Tarse]

Matt Bird said:

Was it the 'coolection' one? I think I nabbed that just as you mentioned it - apologies! Anything else though?

I think "coolection" describes the place

[Dr Interceptor]

I loved this one... The Ford Zephyr Farnham Estate. Was operated by Hertfordshire Police, was once rear ended by an arctic and should have been consigned to the scrap heap, but was rebuilt







Matts ungraceful entry into an RS200 also gave me a chuckle At 6ft5 I didn't even attempt it, but fair play Matt for squeezing in.

[Butter Face]

Superb day (well morning) out.

We did 630 odd miles to get there and back and had s great time!

I loved being able to sit in a GT. Superb.

Edited by Butter Face on Monday 13th March 14:38

[ShampooEfficient]

Butter Face said:

Superb day (well morning) out.

We did 630 odd miles to get there and back and had s great time!

I loved being able to sit in a GT. Superb.

Edited by Butter Face on Monday 13th March 14:38

I hit my head getting out of that MrsSE was hugely sympathetic. ..

[MrAverage]

I enjoyed my morning out, my mate was in heaven (massive ford fan). was nice to see cars that have been used and in a condition reflecting that.
my only gripe if you can call it that, it would have been nice if any of the mechanics/engineers were in attendance to talk too rather than the PR team.

[Chris_H]

I really enjoyed the morning too. My highlight was sitting in a Ford Consul MKI as this was the very first car I ever owned in 1969. Very nostalgic.



The Mustang was a beautiful car. In very nice condition and I liked the colour.



Also, the Ford Anglia 105E as this was the car I remember my Granddad having as a company car when I was little.



Here's a few more pics:

A V8 Pilot


Ford Escort Mexico


Ford Anglia Van

[lucido grigio]

I also enjoyed this very much.
I also banged my head exiting the GT.
I also had trouble squeezing out of the 200.

Thanks to all.....

Point of order....Supervan 3 no longer has a F1 engine fitted.
Ford bloke said it's a supercharged V6 currently.
But still mental to drive.....

I made a pic thread in classics forum btw.

[Vroom101]

Article said: said:

Tucked away in a tricky to find industrial estate,

Tricky to find industrial estate? Ford has been at Dagenham since the 1920s! Granted, the building is a bit incognito, but it's hardly a secret nuclear bunker

MrAverage said:

my only gripe if you can call it that, it would have been nice if any of the mechanics/engineers were in attendance to talk too rather than the PR team.

It's only two blokes, Ivan and Colin who do the work on all the cars. The depth of their knowledge is immense.

[Leggy]

Surely a candidate for a Sunday Service?

[lucido grigio]

Leggy said:

Surely a candidate for a Sunday Service?

It's not big enough,or look at this another way,yesterday was a special ss for only 25 cars.

[106 gti]

Brilliant morning spent looking over the cars and being able to sit in them , big thanks to PH and the excellent team at ford had a great time chatting to Bill and a young lad on the team .
And to top it all off a burger van and a brew was laid on , fantastic .

[RenesisEvo]

There was another thread running http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

As above, I was fortunate enough to go along, fantastic morning out, huge praise to the friendly staff. So much to see - yes there was a GT70 there. Not a single Mondeo though..! perhaps it's just Dagenham-built stuff. They said there's a lot more to the collection, that's just part of it. Incredible to be able to sit in a priceless rally Escort, the RS200, a near-30 year old Fiesta that had done less miles than my 18-month old one, the Mustang, the Sierra Cosworth... every where you looked was something iconic.

Thanks again PH for making my brother-in-law's and my day.

[PAUL500]

A couple of years ago I gave them first refusal on my RS500, Moonstone Blue, 23k from new, completely standard, build number 499 the last known built car in existence, one of only 3 RS500s with Ford installed a/c

The curator was not interested, it ended up with a great enthusiast, but its rightful home should have been in that collection.

[Butter Face]

PAUL500 said:

A couple of years ago I gave them first refusal on my RS500, Moonstone Blue, 23k from new, completely standard, build number 499 the last known built car in existence, one of only 3 RS500s with Ford installed a/c

The curator was not interested, it ended up with a great enthusiast, but its rightful home should have been in that collection.

From what they were telling me, most of the cars aren't bought. They're first cars off the line/ cars owned by Ford from the start/donated to them.

Not sure how correct that is but it's what we were told.