WASHINGTON, DC – As dozens of travelers arrived at Union Station Wednesday morning, many stopped to photograph historic Ford Motor Co. cars, trucks, tractors and artifacts celebrating America’s 250th anniversary and the automaker’s role in shaping the nation.
For two weeks, Ford is hosting “Driving America Forward: A Ford Experience at Union Station,” a free public exhibit showcasing vehicles and artifacts from the that trace the company’s legacy, from the Model T, the iconic mass-produced car, to a 1934 Ford pickup on loan from legendary late-night host Jay Leno.
The exhibit, part of Ford’s marquee America 250 celebrations, features 10 vehicles displayed behind museum-quality glass, including a 1941 Ford GP prototype that helped lead to the military Jeep, a 1951 Ford 8N tractor, a 1954 F-100 from Virginia’s Red Truck Bakery and a 2026 Oracle Red Bull Racing Formula One car. Visitors can also create a free postcard at an interactive photo station and shop for Ford merchandise.
“America’s celebrating its 250th anniversary,” Ted Ryan, Ford’s archives and heritage brand manager, told Fox News Digital. “We’ve been here for almost half of that journey, and we’ve had such a material impact on America.”
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“Whether it’s industrializing, building the moving assembly line, mass transportation with the Model T, the best-selling car in the world for a number of years, or even the tractor that transformed farming. Ford has been there.”
Ryan said the exhibit was designed to turn heads and reveal surprising stories about the company’s influence on American industry, transportation and pop culture over the past 123 years.
“I was challenged to create an exhibit that would stop people in their tracks to take pictures or learn new facts about the Ford Motor Company,” he said. “So we have 10 amazing vehicles that go throughout our entire 124-year history… These are cars that are stopping people in their tracks, and then the exhibit cases are full of material that will tell people stories they don’t expect to hear.”
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In a news release, Ryan said Union Station was a fitting location because it has “a particular kind of magic.”
“For more than a century, it has served as the front door to the nation’s capital, a place where presidents have arrived to be inaugurated, where soldiers have shipped off to war, and where ordinary Americans, by the millions, have stepped off a train and into the heart of their democracy,” he wrote.
But Ryan said Ford’s contributions to America go far beyond building cars.
“Ford built Mission Control at Johnson Space Center,” he said. “We developed tracking beams for airplanes. Ford invented the mail sorter. Hopefully we’re teaching people about the critical role that Ford has played in America during half of
