Phew! I just arrived home from one of the biggest and best car-days I've ever had in my life! I could go on and on about it but I'll try to keep the typing and pictures to a minimum (and by minimum I mean three forum pages long )

This morning I got up extra early so I could drive down to Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn (Ford's Corporate Headquaters location, just outside of Detroit) with my father. Today they are having an old car exhibit where people bring their collecter's cars to show off. It's similar to the one I posted pictures of a couple months ago in the "interesting/funny/special car sightings" topic, only this time the cars really were old,only from 1897-1929! A full half of the cars were Ford Models T's and the slight newer Ford model A's, and there were quite a bit of car "firsts" at the show too.

For instance...

The very first car ever! Built in 1893 by Henry Ford himself. Who says American cars are unreliable? This one's 115 years old and it still runs!




The first Ford F-150




The first Ford LTD Coutry Squire




The first Crown Victoria Police Interceptor






A delightful selection of hood ornaments on these old cars
Sad, the only cars that still have cool statues like this are Jaguars, all the rest of today's hood ornaments are just boring, flat logos












A big, beautiful Caddy I saw in the museum. I didn't remember seeing it there last time...




The car show was not the only thing going on at the Museum today. There was a also a huge "auto literature" sale at the "Ford Reasearch Center" where all the extra Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brochures, owners manuals, and press kits have been stored for the last 50 years. Every brochure, manual, and press kit from every Ford brand, year, and model was there (and even quite a few non-Ford brands like GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan). And they were finally selling them to the public, or at least the extra ones they had, but there were still a LOT! And here's the kicker... each brochure cost only ONE DOLLAR! Obviously, I went absolutely psycho in this place, I was almost unable to contain myself. In the end, I bought a total of 65 brochures, 2 press kits (they were more expensive at 5 dollars each), and one owners manual (for a 1993 Ford Taurus, since my grandpa seems to have lost the one for his). When I told the lady at the cash register how many I had, she gave me a look like I was some sort of serial killer The good thing though, is that they were having a "12 for 10 dollars" deal so I got them for even less! Here is a list of all the ones I bought...

1974 Ford full-line
1974 Ford Pinto
1974 LTD/Galaxie/Custom
1975 Buick full-line
1977 Cadillac Eldorado
1977 Dodge full-line
1977 Ford full-line
1977 Toyota full-line
1979 Ford Annual report (not press kit)
1979 Mercury Marquis
1980 Ford Fairmont Futura
1980 Ford Fiesta
1980 Ford Granada
1980 Ford LTD
1980 Mercury/Lincoln full-line
1982 Lincoln full-line
1983 Ford full-line
1984 Oldsmobile Forenza & Omega
1984 Plymouth Voyager
1986 Chevrolet Caprice
1986 Mercury Sable
1986 Oldsmobile 88/98
1987 Ford Annual Report
1987 Ford Annual Report (not press kit)
1987 Ford LTD CRown Victoria
1987 Ford Taurus
1987 Oldsmobile Ciera/Supreme/Crusier
1989 Dodge Caravan C/V
1989 Honda full-line
1990 Ford LTD Crown Victoria
1991 Ford Annual Report (not press kit)
1991 Infiniti full-line
1992 Mercury Grand Marquis
1993 Ford Taurus owner's manual
1994 Ford Annual Report (not press kit)
1994 Ford Aspire
1994 Ford Press Kit
1995 Ford Crown Victoria
1995 Ford full-line
1995 Ford Taurus
1995 Honda full-line
1995 Lincoln full-line
1995 Merucry Sable
1995 Merucry Tracer
1996 Dodge Caravan Motor-Trend magazine
1996 Ford Annual Report (not press kit)
1996 Ford Crown Victoria
1996 Ford Taurus
1996 Mercury Cougar (or as antp calls it, "the one with the strange C-pillar")
1996 Mercury Grand Marquis
1996 Mercury Sable
1997 Ford Escort
1997 Lincoln full-line
1997 Mercury Tracer
1998 Ford Crown Victoria
1998 Toyota Press Kit (includes brochures for all models)
2000 Mercucy Sable
2000 Mercury full-line
2000 Mercury Grand Marquis
2001 Lincoln full-line
2001 Lincoln Town Car
2001 Mercury full-line
2001 Mercury Grand Marquis
2003 Lincoln full-line
2004 Lincoln Town Car
2005 Ford Crown Victoria
2005 Mercury Montego

and a picture of just a few of them...




But wait! That's not all!

After visiting the museum we decided to look around a bit. It was simply incrdible how many Fords, Lincolns, and Mercurys were driving around in this this town! (obviously due to the fact that FoMoCo's world headquaters is situated there, as I said earlier) Most of these cars were the big, full-size Ford/Lincoln/Mercury sedans such as Grand Marquis, Town Car, Crown Victoria, and also the more modern Five Hundred/Taurus and Montego/Sable.

While walking through the parking lot, I saw this very nice looking black colored Crown Vic. The thing you must remember about the Crown Victoria (or at least the 1998+ ones) is that while their sisters the Town Car and Grand Marquis are very commonly seen as civilian cars, the Crown Vic is not nearly as common. This is true everywhere, not just Dearborn, and the probable reason being is that people don't want to look like they're in a police car, and therefore they instead buy the slightly different looking Grand Marquis or Town Car. So as you can see, I was a little surprised to see this non-police Crown Vic in the parking lot, especially painted in black.



But then lo and behold, I saw another one! Two 1998+ civilian Crown Vics in one parking lot? What are the chances?



And then while driving out of the lot, I saw another...



And another...



And another!



I guess it just goes to show how Ford-crazed this town really is!

So then, after we were finally out of the "Panther central" museum parking lot, my dad and I decided to go and look around the town, and what do you think was the first thing we came upon? Well a Lincoln Mercury dealer of course So I thought, what the hell? I'm not quite completely tired of cars yet, why don't we get out and gawk at the shiny new rides? So we did.

Now as if I hadn't seen enough Panthers cars already today, I was in for quite a shock! Here's just a sample of the massive selection...

Brand new Town Cars all in a row. How delectible...




A brand spanking new 2008 Crown Victoria LX, nearly fresh out of the factory. How I longed to buy it and drive it home, such a step up from my Camry



How handsome it looked in white



This shot is simply ionic. All three Panther cars in a row: Lincoln Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis, Ford Crown Victoria




Now this truly shocked me. And no, this is not an effext of the light angle or camrea, this is how the color looked in real life! How on earth could this have been missed at the factory?? I would expect something like this on a 60s or 70s car, but now? In 2008?? No wonder Toyota has taken over the American companies as the best selling automaker in the US...



The new Lincoln MKS, my first real-life sighting of one! Not only is this car very stylish, but it is big, and you really wouldn't know it from looking at the photos. Though still not quite the size of the Town Car, this thing is a lot larger in every dimension than it's midsize cousin, the MKZ.





Just a few more Lincoln/Mercury Panthers, in case you hadn't had enough yet...




And yet, more pictures... (don't worry, I'm almost done )

A very nice orange taxicab outside the museum (orange happens to be my favorite color) Judging byn the spotlights and roof antennes, this 1995 Crown Victoria probably led it's former life as a police car.



A very, very rare find in the musuem lot, a 1977-79 Pontiac Catalina Safari (basically an Impala wagon with different grille and taillights), and in mint condition too









A mint condition 1963 Dodge Polara. Not exactly my cup of tea, but my dad simply loved it. The 1960s is his favorite decade for cars, as that's when he grew up. If anyone wants this one, you're welcome to it as long as you can part with 8,000 dollars




Okay, I'm done now.