Lincoln enthusiasts came from as far away as Norway and Finland to celebrate the centennial of Ford Motor Company’s purchase of the Lincoln Motor Company. Although most auto historians know that the Lincoln Motor Company was founded in 1920 to build automobiles, Ford Motor Company chose 2022 to celebrate the brand’s centennial because Ford acquired Lincoln in February 1922.
The primary celebration took place at the Lincoln Motor Car Heritage Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, but was preceded with optional pre-Homecoming events in Dearborn, Michigan. In Dearborn, the celebration began with a tour and light supper at Fair Lane, the home of Clara and Henry Ford. Attendees were greeted by Edsel B. Ford II, great grandson of Henry and Clara. Attendees also visited the home of Edsel and Eleanor Ford, toured The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village and enjoyed a private dinner at The Henry Ford Museum, where they heard from Joy Falotico, President of the Lincoln Motor Company.
Wednesday night’s reveal of the 2024 seventh-generation Ford Mustang kicked off the Detroit Auto Show in dramatic fashion. Not only did it introduce a new, sleek evolution of the iconic pony car in a festival setting at Hart Plaza, but it reset the standard for future vehicle introductions, particularly at the North American International Auto Show.
The lead up to the reveal was more than two weeks long, with the popular The Drive Home to The Mustang Stampede bringing at least one example of each of the six generations of Mustangs “home” to Detroit, along with a camouflaged seventh-generation prototype driven by the S650 Product Development Launch Leader Marty Mosakowski. Crossing more than 3,400 miles from its start in Tacoma, the tour invited Mustang enthusiasts from all across America to drive with the group for an hour, a day, or a week. Some diehard Mustang fanatics logged 1,000 miles or more to be a part of this historic event.
Mustangs from all eras filled the parking lot at Ford’s World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, for a sprawling Mustang lovefest prior to a police-led procession downtown for the reveal. Per Ford’s suggestion, many owners showed up in period costume, with the Sixties and Seventies styles most popular.
Joining the fun was the Allen family from Kansas City, Missouri. Sean Allen had owned a 1996 Mustang in college, and had been following the coverage of The Drive Home here on Hemmings. At 11 a.m. the previous day, he and his wife Caroline decided to have an adventure, and loaded up their seven kids – Israel, Carrianna, Olivia, Emily, Deborah, Sophia, and young Jackson – into their “Bustang GT” Ford Transit van, determined to catch up to our group. They arrived at 1 a.m. in Auburn, Indiana, only to find one hotel room available, prompting Sean to sleep in the van overnight. Arriving more than 750 miles later in Dearborn with their Transit playfully painted-up, the photogenic family quickly became one of the media darlings of the event.
No road trip really becomes official until you have a few hours of driving under your belt. So while Tuesday night’s cruise-in kickoff at the LeMay-America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington, was the official start of America’s Automotive Trust and the North American International Auto Show’s The Drive Home to The Mustang Stampede, it wasn’t until our 8 a.m. fire-drill start from Yakima that our trip began in earnest.
A contingent of Yakima-area Mustang owners had driven over the pass to the Tacoma launch party to escort us back to their home town. One of them was Captain Jeff Pfaff of the Yakima Fire Department in his white 2012 Boss 302. Captain Jeff left word with his colleagues at the Yakima Police Department, who put our hotel parking lot on their overnight patrol, allowing for a measure of comfort in our short sleep. Jeff is also a co-founder of Cars, Chrome and Coffee in Yakima, an inclusive event with emphasis on turning out young car enthusiasts. As we are finding out, passionate and helpful Mustang guys are all across this country.
Yakima Fire Captain and Mustang enthusiast Jeff Pfaff stops by for a morning chat.Photo by the author.
Joining us on the trip is one representative of each of the six generations of Ford Mustangs, along with the yet-unreleased Gen 7 car, wearing a thick armor of skunk works camouflage vinyl and prosthetics. Designed with a fair amount of science involved, the wrap was tested at Ford’s wind tunnel at 150 mph. The mimicked porthole opera windows, a nod to the iconic 1955 Thunderbird, were just the S650 production team having some fun.
The interior of the car is cloaked as well, and none of us are allowed inside. We get it. Keeping secrets has been a problem on the Gen 7 rollout, Ford’s biggest and most anticipated in years. First, pictures of the gauge cluster and interior were caught by Dearborn paparazzi, and images of the front end hit the internet. Then, the reveal at the Detroit Auto Show as leaked. “We’ve fired five people over this,” said S650 Launch Leader Marty Mosakowski. “Three (breaches) were accidental. Some engineers had to pull over in a Kroger parking lot to gather analytics, and raised up the cloak on the dash, and pics were snapped by industry spies. Two other in-house guys purposely took photos of the front end, and were caught on camera at our facility. Two hundred and fifty engineers attended a mandatory ‘stand down’ meeting, where camouflage policy was discussed and disciplinary actions reinforced. Secrecy has been a top priority on this project.
The usual enjoyable visit to historic Brooklands, this time for the Summer Classic Gathering and Auto Jumble.
Weather conditions where ideal, warm with a breeze and plenty of American transport on show.
Car of the Day for me was the 1929 DeSoto Model K, really beautiful car.
1929 Chrysler DeSoto Model K 1929 Chrysler DeSoto Model K 1929 Chrysler DeSoto Model K 1929 Chrysler DeSoto Model K 1929 Chrysler DeSoto Model K 1929 Chrysler DeSoto Model K 1929 Chrysler DeSoto Model K
One of the more unusual cars to be seen on the UK show scene is the 1910 Stanley Steamer Runabout which was in fine running form.
1910 STANLEY STEAMER MODEL 60 10HP RUNABOUT1910 STANLEY STEAMER MODEL 60 10HP RUNABOUT
Station Wagons are becoming very popular, this Torino Squire has nice patina
Good selection of trucks
Not the biggest fan of Rat Rods but the attention to detail here on this 27 T is something to behold
A few snakes, real and otherwise
Mustangs were also pretty well represented as you would expect, here’s a couple of the nicest on show. One with power added!
Yattendon is a village here in West Berkshire and they have an annual classic car day opening up this very picturesque village to the car community and the general public. The Show is free to attend and free to exhibit. The organisers just ask that you make a contribution which goes to the Thames Valley Air Ambulanceand other local charities.
The show had a huge turnout of very diverse vehicles and other transport related exhibits.
This included a really good selection of American vehicles from Mustang’s to military
Click on images for full size view
Stunning 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 LTD
Studebaker Commander
Very tidy Model T
1959 Galaxie1962 Corvette1962 CorvetteShelby Daytona by Factory FiveShelby Daytona by Factory Five
A varied selection!
A couple of very clean Mustangs
GM Muscle..
GT 40s of varying types
Not a lot of American trucks in attendance, but those there were of very good quality
It was nice to see the Pangbourne College Classic Car Show back in the calendar after the COVID break, it was a shame that the threat of bad weather stopped a number of entrants venturing out. However there was a varied selection of American vehicles amongst the attendees at the excellent college venue.
In the end the weather held off and it turned in to a very nice day.
Nine men are behind bars for allegedly stealing five brand new Chevrolet Camaros from General Motors’ Lansing Grand River Assembly plant.
BRIGHTON, Mich. (FOX 2) – A wild police chase early Monday morning ended with several people arrested after suspects broke into a Lansing-based auto plant and stole multiple sports cars.
Five stolen Chevrolet Camaros were recovered and nine people were arrested, police said. They’re now face multiple charges including fleeing police and concealing a stolen vehicle.
State police put out a BOL notice around 1 a.m. Monday for agencies in and around Metro Detroit and Lansing after vehicle thefts were reported on I-96.
Michigan State Police eventually located five of the stolen vehicles, observing them traveling at a high rate of speed.
After police attempted a traffic stop, the vehicles failed to stop, prompting the chase.
According to a Twitter post from police, the stolen vehicles eventually separated into two groups, consisting of two to four cars each. Multiple agencies pursued both groups while they traveled eastbound on I-96 through Ingham, Livingston and Oakland Counties.
At one point during the chase, police utilized stop sticks to disable the vehicles.
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