The 1970's were a time of highs and lows for workers at the Marina. As models like the Capri and Escort kept Ford as a brand leader, the global economy and industrial strife had adverse effects.

Sport played a big role in the social activities of workers and an edition of the plant’s newsletter, Ford News, in December, 1968, highlighted this.

The Marina plant in Cork marked its 50th anniversary in 1967 with a £2million revamp — and it was a golden era for motorists, as the iconic Cortina, Escort and Capri hit the ground running.

The first half of the 1940s saw the Marina plant virtually shut down due to wartime problems. The workers there survived on scraps, while others moved to blitz-hit Dagenham to find jobs.

The Ford factory in Cork really got into its stride in the 1920s, at it stopped producing tractors and made cars, writes John Dolan.

When the Car of the 20th Century was named in 1999, voted on by industry experts, journalists and the public, the winner was so far ahead of its rivals, it almost lapped them, writes Jessica Casey.

Plunkett Carter tells of the remarkable story of how Fordsons upset the odds in 1926 to become the first Cork team to win the FAI Cup trophy.

When John Dolan attended an outing with Muskerry Vintage Car Club, he was struck by the number of members driving classic Fords.

The decision by Henry Ford to expand into Ireland and the county of his ancestors would transform Cork’s industrial landscape forever, writes John Dolan.

Elaine Duggan explores the social phenomenon of the Ford crates which have remained part of the country’s landscape.

When Ford opened a UK plant in Dagenham in 1931, so many men from Leeside got work in the Essex town that it became known as ’Little Cork’. Cork balladeer Jimmy Crowley remembers his family links to it.

Henry Ford, a son of the County Cork soil, produced a tractor that revolutionised agriculture in Ireland and around the world, writes Jessica Casey. 

Ford Cork workers Noreen O’Mahony and Michael Ring went on an unusual first date — a spinning fitness class.

What was life on the Ford production line in Cork like? Here, John Brennan, who worked in the factory from 1948 to 1952, gives a vivid insight into his job.

As catchy advertising slogans go, Ford breaks many of the rules of the genre, writes Jessica Casey.

Henry Ford paid an emotional visit to Cork in 1912 and here, Denis McSweeney imagines the scenario that unfolded.

Ford collector Michael Rigney tells Jessica Casey about his passion for the brand and the one ultra-rare motor that is missing from his remarkable line-up of classics.

There was an air of optimism when Ireland took her place in the EEC on January 1, 1973, writes Miriam Nyhan Grey.

Denis McSweeney recalls his first day on the job at the Ford plant on the Marina in Cork in 1971.