The curious story of thousands of new Ford cars that were stored in an old mine awaiting better times that never came.

In the early 1970s, Ford Motor Company began to feel the impact of the arrival of European and Japanese competitors on the sales of its budget models. The decline particularly affected the Maverick, the compact car on which the Detroit company had pinned all its hopes in the segment and which the Ford brand wanted to promote as the "great practical American car" aimed at young people and as a second car in the home.

To this end, and to give a more dynamic look, he even painted them in bright, pastel colors with fun names like “Anti-Establish Mint,” “Hulla Blue,” “Original Cinnamon,” and “Freudian Gilt.”

To be fair, it must be said that the Maverick's sales figures weren't bad at all. From its launch in 1969 until 1976, Ford sold a not inconsiderable 579,000 units. It could even be said that they were very good, considering that the rivals it faced from Volkswagen, Toyota, and Datsun were significantly cheaper, fueled less, and were technologically more modern.

The problem was that Ford had adjusted the price so much—just $1,995 at the time, about $16,000 today—that to be profitable, the car had to sell at sustained figures that were impossible in a market conditioned by the onset of the oil crisis. Fuel consumption had already become a major purchasing argument for the average American, and in that context, the Maverick stood out from the crowd with its 2,800 cc, 105 hp, or 3,300 cc, 120 hp, inline-six engines.

That caught Ford off guard, and in 1970, the brand found itself with a significant inventory of thousands of unsold Mavericks that had to be stored until better times for the model. But where could these cars be stored, fresh off the assembly line, without them deteriorating?

The solution lay in a vast underground facility located 50 meters below the surface of Kansas City called Subtropolis. It was a former limestone mining complex of more than 17,000 square meters owned by Lamar Hunt, owner of the Kansas City Chiefs football team. Hunt wanted to convert the old mine into a quaint shopping mall, and Ford immediately realized that, despite the exotic location, Subtropolis was perfect as an auto storage facility, so he leased it.

First, its entrance was at ground level, allowing vehicles to enter and exit the complex without an elevator. Second, and most importantly, the site offered a constant, natural microclimate—a stable temperature of between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius year-round—which protected the cars stored there from the extreme conditions outside.

Ford's idea was to keep its Mavericks locked away in the caves and bring them out as they were sold, but the fact is that many of those cars ended their days within the chiseled walls of Subtropics because demand never allowed it. The Maverick ceased production in 1977, and today it's a prized collector's model, especially if it's one that has been through the old Kansas City mine.

In any case, Ford's initiative sparked interest in Subtrópolis, and dozens of companies currently operate there, benefiting from the advantage of the stable temperature. These include the United States Postal Service, the National Archives and Records Association, data storage companies, food wholesalers that store perishable products, and even Hollywood stores the original film reels of movies like The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind there to prevent them from degrading.