Your reference to your father's strong link to Fords made me smile. With my husband it is one particular Ford that will get him enthused - the Ford Anglia
Any reference to it will have him saying how it was his first ever car. He'd bought a second hand one in the 70s to learn to drive on when he was still living in Scotland. His dad was teaching him to drive in it, but not showing a lot of patience. On the first 'lesson' there was a bit of a humdinger of an argument at which point my husband got out the car, many miles from home and walked home.
He never got back in that car again and never did learn to drive. Shortly afterwards he got a job in London, moved down here and didn't need a car!
In hindsight I am glad he didn't learn to drive - it saved me from ever having to have that awful conversation about giving up the driving once dementia took hold.
Ford Anglias are no longer on the road but any time they crop up in an old tv series, film or reminiscence book it brings out the tale of the disastrous driving lesson and long walk home