Ashley Ford Sales - Community

We Invest In Our Community

Over the past 40 years Ashley Ford has been investing in New Bedford and the surrounding communities. Robert Bancroft, owner and President was born here in New Bedford has strong ties to the community. Ashley Ford’s commitment to giving back is evident in the thousands of dollars they donate each year.

Ashley Ford proudly supports local police and fire associations as well as local school sports teams. Over the past several years we have also been a proud sponsor of the New Bedford Youth Baseball League and the New Bedford Youth Soccer Association. In addition to youth sports, we are also heavily involved in the co-op program at New Bedford Vocational Technical High School. In fact, we have been supporting New Bedford Voc. over the past 20 years by working with Co-op students in the automotive program to provide them with experience in their chosen field.

Ashley Ford also works closely the Mayor’s office in supporting youth groups within the city. For the past two years Ashley Ford has teamed up with Mayor Lang and his “New Directions” program by providing free t-shirts for the youth group that cleans up the city each weekend over the summer months.

We also support other organizations throughout the city including Better Community Living supporting children and adults with disabilities, the Working Waterfront Festival, celebrating the culture and history of New England’s commercial fishing industry and the New Bedford Council on Aging, sponsoring the entertainment for their yearly celebration. In the past we have also been a sponsor of both the Whaling City Festival and the New Bedford Festival Theatre.

Being in the automotive industry we are compelled to sponsor a couple of local race car drivers! Michael Brightman has proved to be a champion and we are proud to be a part of his success. Mr. Brightman was awarded Seekonk’s track 2004 “Rookie of the Year” then followed that up with a Championship year in 05. Brightman was also a 3-time D.A.V. feature winner and finished 06 as the highest Rookie in Seekonk Pro Stock. With a new season on the horizon look for good things from Michael Brightman in the Seekonk #27 Pro Stock. We also sponsor the Swift brothers of the Seekonk Youth Racing Association (SYRA). Adam Swift #75 races in the 600 Series and Jacob Swift #56 in the 700 series. Both have seen some success and we wish them well!

Ashley Ford also feels it’s important to give back to the community by taking part in some public service endeavors. In the past we have organized a Child Safety Seat Inspection, free of charge, to teach parents the proper way to install a car seat. We worked closely with the Mass. State Police, the United Way, the Governor’s Highway Safety Bureau, the City of New Bedford, the Bristol County Sheriff’s Dept., and local police, fire and EMS depts. We just recently sponsored a VIN Etching Program in conjunction with the Governor’s Auto Theft Strike Force, the New Bedford Police Dept. and the Mass. State Police. Participants could take advantage of having their vehicle chemically etched with their VIN (vehicle identification number) to help deter thefts or assist in recovering a stolen vehicle.

Lastly, each year, we organize a Mustang Car Show sponsored in part by the SVT Cobra Club, the Mustang Car Club of New England and the Downshifters Car Club of New England. Each year this event grows bigger and bigger. In fact during this year’s car show we had over 250 people in attendance with 45 vehicles registered in the show. We gave out a total of 27 trophies out of 12 classes with the Best in Show attending the Super Wheels Showdown in Boston.