We brought a few Ford Social members to Detroit for one of the industry’s biggest events: the 2012 North American International Auto Show. They’d been posting amazing ideas and stories on Ford Social, and we just had to meet them in person. While they were here, we brought them to our coolest events at the show and took them behind the scenes at Ford HQ.

Check out the video posted above to get a peek at what they saw!

Our four Ford Social advocates got to do some incredible stuff at the auto show. They had prime seats at the unveiling of the new 2013 Ford Fusion and were some of the first folks anywhere to sit behind the wheel. Without having to wait in line for an hour, they got to take a 20-foot elevator ride into “the Cloud” (a high-tech sneak peek of what’s in store for Ford vehicles), stand in the center of a virtual Ken Block burnout, and enjoy an exhilarating romp in the ST drive simulator.

But that’s not all. Ever wonder what we do to design one of our vehicles? Our insiders got to find out, first-hand. They went behind the scenes in our Product Development Center and saw – and got to play around with – the actual clay that our designers use to come up with miniature models of the Ford vehicles. They went to our digital design lab to check out how our experts figure out how each automobile will look in different environments, weather, spaces, and so on. And they got to explore the simulators and talk to the designers and engineers who develop all the little comforts and features inside the vehicle.

Most important, they got to chat face-to-face and get real answers from top Ford executives and thinkers: CEO Alan Mulally, Executive Vice President Mark Fields, and Chief Technology Officer Paul Mascarenas, just to name a few.

But the best part for us, the best part was the chance to meet some of the most active participants on Ford Social, and talk to them about what mattered most to them. We learned what they like about Ford, what they think we can improve and how they’d like to get even more involved in everything we do at HQ. It was a reminder that we’ll need to keep having these kinds of candid, one-on-one conversations with fans to help Ford succeed.

Want to be considered for future Ford Social Insider activity? The first step is to become an Insider! Click here to create a profile and sign up!

Let us know what you think! And stay tuned: We’ll have more behind-the-scenes videos soon!

Speaking of letting us know what you think, we’d like your comments about the new 2013 Ford Fusion shown for the first time at the 2012 North American International Auto Show. Use the form below to let us hear your voice!