Abandoned Ford Dealer Is Filled With Perfectly Preserved ’80s Cars

[MaxPC]

I daresay that the gasoline in the tanks is solidified or partially solidified by now.

Abandoned Ford Dealer Is Filled With Perfectly Preserved ’80s Cars

[Neto]

1980s cars in brand-new condition that still look pristine.

I would not tend to agree with the part I set in italics, but would agree with the word I set in bold print. Cars do not just "stay brand-new" when left to sit for over 30 years. Of course it would help a great deal if the whole building was kept as "conditioned space" - temperature & humidity levels regulated, for instance. (I didn't read the entire article, just the first part, so maybe that WAS done.) But rubber parts will deteriorate even with those precautions, and not just easily replaceable parts like the tires and hoses. However, it's got to be a lot better than putting them in an underground vault for 50 years, like they did back in Tulsa in 57. (That poor car would have looked better if it had been left in an open field for 50 years.)

[Ken]

They certainly picked the wrong decade of Ford cars to preserve.

[RZehr]

That is so neat! I wonder if the building glass was oriented to the north. I think if glass was facing south, the sun would have cause more deterioration than I see.

[ken_sylvania]

I guess I'm too much of a sceptic. There might be a thread of truth somewhere in what's being reported but I simply don't believe that these cars haven't been touched in the last few years.

[Neto]

I guess I'm too much of a sceptic. There might be a thread of truth somewhere in what's being reported but I simply don't believe that these cars haven't been touched in the last few years.

Like the deal where someone makes a "barn find" claim - "This car has not been out of this barn for 50 years! Let's see if it will run." (And it does. Probably because it was run regularly until the owner passed away a year or two before, and he always winterized it each Fall.) It's gotten to where anytime I see those words ('barn find') I just move along.

[ken_sylvania]

I guess I'm too much of a sceptic. There might be a thread of truth somewhere in what's being reported but I simply don't believe that these cars haven't been touched in the last few years.

Like the deal where someone makes a "barn find" claim - "This car has not been out of this barn for 50 years! Let's see if it will run." (And it does. Probably because it was run regularly until the owner passed away a year or two before, and he always winterized it each Fall.) It's gotten to where anytime I see those words ('barn find') I just move along.

Yea, pretty much. Tires are porous - there's no way those tires haven't been aired up in two years. Two years' accumulation of dust would show. And those walls and radiators were painted within a reasonable number of years ago.

[MaxPC]

I guess I'm too much of a sceptic. There might be a thread of truth somewhere in what's being reported but I simply don't believe that these cars haven't been touched in the last few years.

Like the deal where someone makes a "barn find" claim - "This car has not been out of this barn for 50 years! Let's see if it will run." (And it does. Probably because it was run regularly until the owner passed away a year or two before, and he always winterized it each Fall.) It's gotten to where anytime I see those words ('barn find') I just move along.

Yea, pretty much. Tires are porous - there's no way those tires haven't been aired up in two years. Two years' accumulation of dust would show. And those walls and radiators were painted within a reasonable number of years ago.

As I understand the article, the showroom and cars were kept clean and maintained by the widow. I had thought that regular attention may include airing the tires. Whether or not the engines were regularly cranked, they did not mention as I recall.

[barnhart]

I don't want to own any of them but I would like to drive that Merkur for a minute.

[Szdfan]

The 1980s were a low point in automotive design.