At this point, it's hardly a surprise to hear about rare cars surfacing in the Middle East thanks to mega-rich collectors that often hoard their prized possessions in the unlikeliest of places. But while most of these car stashes involve limited-edition European sheet metal, sometimes—albeit rarely—they feature some serious American muscle. Interestingly enough, a warehouse in Dubai was recently found to be the home of a different kind of American muscle: nearly a dozen zero-mile Ford Excursions still wrapped in plastic and in pristine condition.

The story behind these Blue Oval rigs is murky to say the least, and we're working on uncovering more background info. Photos of the plastic-covered SUVs were first posted to a public Ford Excursion Facebook group late last week where they've since been shared thousands of times—you can view them here.

Still, we do know that there are 10 in total, eight of which are said to be 6.8-liter V-10 models while the other two are 6.0-liter Power Stroke diesels. In 2005, each Excursion fetched between $40,000 and $50,000, meaning someone certainly spent a pretty penny on this collection of American iron. That's doubly true when you consider these were never sold in Asia, so they each had to be transported to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at an undoubtedly high rate.

Of course, half-a-million dollars is nothing for those who bathe in rose water and pat their foreheads with Egyptian silk. Given most oil magnates' affection for all things trucks and off-roading, the only wonder is why they sprung for run-of-the-mill Fords instead of commissioning the Dearborn automaker to make custom models with 10 wheels and a matching superyacht?

Most examples have either been hot-rodded or driven into the ground here in the States. Even after all the abuse, it's no surprise to see a used Excursion sell for $40,000 thanks to the upswing in popularity for diesel models. It's anyone's guess how much these sealed-and-secluded examples could go for...if they were up for sale.

These Excursions are, as it seems, not up for grabs and are rather being kept until their values balloon even more. Hopefully, when the owner does decide to sell them, they'll replace all the parts that have surely fallen apart due to lack of use. Stale gas and diesel can do a lot of damage to a fuel system, and these somewhat-fickle big-boy engines don't need any help when it comes to (un)reliability. Combine that with the 15-year-old tires and they'll certainly need some TLC before being driven.

There is the possibility that these could be left forever to collect dust, but that's a version of the future we'd rather not consider.

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