The Henry Ford II Collection

Please note! This item is supplied by pre-order only with a 100% advance payment. The delivery time from the date of payment is 4–6 weeks.

Henry Ford II, grandson of the founder of Ford Motor Company and one of the most influential figures in the automotive industry of his time, had a special connection with Britain. He visited the country frequently and stayed at his country estate, Turville Grange, in Berkshire. It was for these visits that the idea of creating something special for him first emerged in 1978.

The initiative came from Walter Hayes, a close friend of Henry Ford II, a fellow board member and Ford's global public relations chief. He promised to provide his friend with an exclusive car that would make travelling around Britain even more enjoyable. The first was a Ford Escort II RS2000, followed by three more cars over the years.

This was how Henry Ford II acquired his own small collection of specially prepared British vehicles: an Escort RS2000, two Ford Capris and a Sierra XR4i. These were not ordinary production cars in their standard form, but vehicles specially commissioned and modified to suit their owner's preferences. All four featured automatic transmissions, individual colour schemes and particular attention to interior trim. The aim was not to take away their sporting character, but to make them better suited to comfortable journeys. Powerful engines and lively performance were combined with the convenience of automatic gearboxes, carefully considered interiors and individual finishes. In essence, this was Gran Turismo in the spirit of Henry Ford II — fast cars for long-distance journeys, where sporting character went hand in hand with comfort and refinement.

The cars were based at Turville Grange, where their maintenance was carefully overseen by specialists at Ford's UK Press Garage in Brentford.

Today, these four vehicles represent a fascinating chapter in Ford history: not racing prototypes or simply standard catalogue models, but specific cars connected with the everyday life of the man who headed one of the world's largest car manufacturers. The Corgi Vanguards collection brought miniature replicas of all four together in a single release for the first time, preserving this small but unusual story in 1/43 scale.