About a year ago Demaras Racing shared a story about an abandoned Subaru dealership in Malta that had zero-mile 1990s cars sitting on the showroom floor; like they were in a time capsule.
Now another abandoned car dealership has been discovered; this time it’s Fords from the 1980s that have been in suspended animation for decades.
A couple of UK petrolheads stumbled across pictures of the abandoned dealership, and went on a mission to find it. Their video posted to YouTube has gone viral with millions of views as the crew check out the Ford Sierra, Escort, Fiesta and Orion as they would have looked when they rolled off the production line 40 years ago.
The urban explorers spent months following clues that until they determined the dealership was actually located in Germany. Apparently the dealership used to be the main Ford dealer in Ingolstadt. It was established in the mid ’60s by Josef Stock, but after 20 years in business together, Ford and Stock parted ways. He was left with a stock of 300 unsold vehicles that Ford would not take back.
Most of the old Fords were sold off, and the last six (from the video) were moved to the indoor showroom to commemorate Josef Stock, who remained an independent car dealer until his passing in 1994. His widow maintained the building and its contents until she ended up in an old folks home in around 2010, and the dealership has been left untouched since then.
Seems the Stock family that inherited the treasure trove has failed to maintain the building or upkeep the cars, so and the video shows how the most original Ford Escort on the planet, with on 4 km on the odometer, stands today.
That is quite an interesting story. The whole idea of somethingvl being abandoned has an element of poignancy to it. I’m sharing this story with Greg. We may be a Toyota fam but this is a fascinating story.
The widow, Mrs. Stock, was really the hero of the story. Keeping the building and the cars in a good state of repairs for all those years.
Such a shame that they are basically just sitting in the abandoned show rooms, going to waste. They could be donated to a charity or something. That’s just my thinking though.
Interesting story. Thanks for sharing. 😘
Well I’m glad you liked it. I found it all kinda interesting.
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And you’re right; those cars could have been auctioned off for charity or something. I’m certain some aficionado would have paid top dollar for them.
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I bet now that the YT video went viral, somebody is going to buy them!
Let’s cross our fingers and toes, and hope. 😉
Wow, amazing! Bet there are plenty of collectors over here in the UK who would love to get there hands on them, if they haven’t already! Intriguing. Kind regards…Jay😊
It is quite interesting. But also a little sad.
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That Mr. Stock had one loving wife. For years after his death she maintained the showroom in his honour. The kids couldn’t have kept it up, too?
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Those cars should go to collectors or someone who would really care for them.