Day after day, Bill Ford drove his Mustang GT along Michigan Avenue between Dearborn and Detroit, past the graffiti-covered train station. And he started to wonder about his legacy, his family\u2019s legacy and the future of Ford Motor Co.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept staring at the train station thinking, \u2018What if? Wouldn\u2019t that be amazing?\u2019 \u201d he told the Free Press. \u201cIf all we did was to restore this fabulous building and make it sparkle, that would be great. But we\u2019re going to do much more than that. It\u2019s really about creating the future of transportation. And doing it in Corktown.\u201d<\/p>\n
The purchase of the Michigan Central Station brings to life Ford\u2019s vision, a vision designed to navigate a changing future rather than falling victim to it.<\/p>\n
Bill Ford, great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, sat in the depot’s cavernous, long-neglected lobby for an interview with the Free Press on Wednesday, two days after the company’s audacious purchase was announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout most of my adulthood, when I would travel anywhere outside of Michigan, people would ask where I was from and I would say \u2018Detroit.\u2019 Often people said, \u2018Gee, I\u2019m sorry.\u2019 Or \u2018Why? Why would you live there?\u2019 I was always very proud of this area. And I love Detroit. Even this building we\u2019re in. It was always photographed as the symbol of what had become of Detroit. It was the symbol of the ruin of our city.\u201d<\/p>\n