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All fans of Ford should head to Ballinascarthy, County Cork on the 27th of August as the West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Association will be holding a massive Ford Fest to celebrate 100 years of the Blue Oval in Ireland.
The event will feature a host of great (and perhaps some not-so-great; Consul Capri anyone?) Fords dating right the way back to the Model T. There will also be a huge gathering of Fordson tractors, which you might think would only be of interest to farmers, but which were actually the first Ford products to be built at the factory in Cork, and therefore the first ever Fords to be built outside of North America.
There will also be food and entertainment, threshing and ploughing competitions, and even helicopter rides on the day. "Where else could the Ford 100 Fest take place other than at the ancestral homestead from where Henry Ford's father and his family emigrated to the US in 1847", commented Ciarán McMahon, Chairman and Managing Director of Henry Ford & Son Limited. "We are delighted to sponsor the West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Association's Ford 100 Fest - it is really shaping up to be a great day out and all in aid of some very worthy charities."
Don Coakley, Chairman of the West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Association, said: "Our Ford 100 Fest will really be the highlight event of the summer in West Cork. We are indebted to Vivian Buttimer and the Ford Buttimer family for hosting the event on the Ford family farm. In this the centenary year of Ford in Ireland, we are also hugely grateful to the team at Henry Ford and Son Limited for their generous support of the event."
All proceeds from the Ford 100 Fest will be donated to the West Cork Vintage Ploughing and Threshing Associations chosen charities: Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin; the Alzheimer's Unit of Clonakilty Hospital; Cancer Connect; and West Cork Rapid Response.