The Secret Fords project is unique. Former Ford product designer turned author Steve Saxty worked for Mazda, Porsche, and Jaguar – and spent decades consulting with car companies. His idea for Secret Fords was conceptually simple but stunningly ambitious; to take readers behind the scenes of the secret world of car design. They would embark on a 50-plus year journey back in time to see the secret prototypes, one-offs, and cancelled cars that Ford created as each new model was born. It was a unique idea and nothing like it had been attempted before.

To realise Steve’s ambition, he needed the help of Ford Motor Company to permit past and present employees to tell their stories – and allow the use of thousands of never-seen, previously confidential photos. Designers, engineers, and executives around Ford’s world rushed to help and share their tales. The result was not only a unique series of books but something greater. Ford encouraged Steve to interview more than 200 past and present employees without asking to review his writing so that readers see a true insider’s story. The never-seen Ghia archive was made available for the first time.

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Volume One

The author soon realised that he had too much material for one book and split it into two volumes. Secret Ford’s Volume One was released in late 2020 to critical acclaim. It was awarded Book Of The Month in several magazines, including the award of Classic Ford Magazine’s Best Book of 2021 and a finalist for 2021 RAC Book Of The Year. This first of the two Volumes covers Ford cars designed during the early ’70s from the Capri onwards, up to and including the four-door Sierra Sapphire. Volume One soon sold out and has just been reprinted as a special 600-off RS Icons two-book set. It expands the Volume One saga into nearly 500 pages, featuring an even larger treasure trove of untold stories and never-seen images. The two books in the new RS Icons Special Limited Edition are supplied in a boxed slipcase featuring a signed and numbered copy of Volume One and the new RS Icons Companion Book.

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Click here to see more about RS Icons.

Volume Two

The second book picks up the story in the mid-to-late ’80s and hurtles through time to the early 2000s, concluding with the Focus RS. Incredibly, Ford’s enthusiasm for this unique project went up a gear with Volume Two. Over 5000 images from Ford Design’s archive were digitised for the first time – many of them marked ‘STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL – bringing Volume Two one step, and two decades, closer to the present. The relationship grew so strong that something unique happened and the past met the present when Amko Leenarts, Ford’s Director of Design, decided to give his team – and enthusiasts everywhere – a gift. Volume Two of Secret Fords would, like Volume One, be created in single-book Standard and two-book Collector’s Edition PLUS the best-selling limited-run three-book RS Special Collector’s Edition.

Steve was determined that the RS Special Collector’s Edition lived up to its name. Volume Two contains the designers’ first-hand stories, in their own words, of how the Escort Cosworth and Focus RS were created. The third book then makes a dramatic nod to the future when Ford’s current designers reinvent an ’80s Ford RS icon for the 2030s. It’s a dramatic, conclusion – for now – of the five books that feature in Volumes One and Two of the Secret Fords project.