1980's were great for Ford in Europe. The brand had strong sellers like the Fiesta and Escort, and they were joined by strong new models like the Sierra and Scorpio at the top end. The company had hundreds of dealers across the continent, and Germany was one of its most important markets. But things weren't going well for one German dealer in the mid-1980s.
This Ford showroom in Germany is located in the city of Ingolstadt, and recently the folks behind the Auto Retro channel on YouTube made a 1,000-km journey from the United Kingdom to find the abandoned dealership. The team located the site using Google Maps, and a Street View image showed that the cars were still there at the time the photos were taken. However, that was more than a decade ago, so there's no guarantee the situation hasn't changed in the intervening years.
Without going into too many details of how the exact location was discovered, the video takes us to the abandoned Ford dealership and it turns out that everything inside remains unchanged. This means that the cars are still there, and while they are not particularly special, they are all brand new cars produced around the mid-1980s. You won't see any GT40s or RS200s here, but it's still an impressive sight.
The original owner of the dealership died and his widow had the cars and showroom cleaned regularly until a few years ago. The lady is now apparently in a care home and is no longer able to look after the showroom. According to Motor1, the cars were kept by the widow for her grandchildren, but they can't be driven on public roads anymore because they were never registered. As you can see for yourself in the video, the cars are dusty, but not surprisingly, they all look like new.
There are at least three Ford Sierras - a five-door hatchback in base trim, a red Sierra 1.6L, and a blue Sierra station wagon. Next to them is a Ford Fiesta S and an Escort 1.1. The beige car is the sedan version of the Escort, at that time known as Orion.
Unfortunately, we don't know much about the fate of these Fords. It looks like they will be sitting in this abandoned showroom for the next few years, but hopefully one day they will hit the road.
Source: Motor1
