My F15A reached another milestone: 75 years young!

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Thanks all! The Ford enjoyed the extra attention and it purred along nicely as a young kitten. I'll try to make sure it reaches 100 years of age.

Originally Posted by lynx42

You have done well Hanno. On your advice, we visited the Den Hartogh Ford Museum the day after we met with you in 2009. (boy that seems a long time ago..) It was one of the best, except that they did not have any military vehicles at all. What happened? Did he pass away? What happened to the more than 200 Ford cars and trucks?

Rick, I still remember your visit well (indeed, time flies....).

The life work of Piet Den Hartogh, collecting and restoring 214 (others say 260) Fords - the largest collection in the world - was on display in his museum for nearly 20 years. Mr. Den Hartogh passed away in 2010, and in 2016 his museum had to close down due to his children retiring and the museum needing an upgrade. Although several vehicles have been for sale before the museum closing down, the plan is to sell the collection as a whole. The collection can still be visited on appointment for groups of 20 or more people. So it is very much a dormant museum, waiting for the collection to be sold to a new owner.

I do not know why Mr. Den Hartogh did not collect military vehicles. Via one of his friends, I did try to let him buy one of my friend's Ford/Marmon-Herrington SnoGo, but then they both got ill and passed away. On Sunday 9 November 2016 the museum organised "Blue Sunday" as a wave off: it combined a model auto show, a "cars & coffee" gathering of pre-1985 cars, plus the opportunity to visit the museum with like-minded "petrol heads". I made sure at least two Ford CMPs were present that day!

Hanno

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