Ford Australia celebrates a century

FORD AUSTRALIA was established on March 31, 1925, as an outpost of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, just as the reign of the Model T was coming to an end.

At the time, Ford Motor Company was already a well-established global presence, its Antipodean arm began more than two decades later, Henry Ford having first incorporated his business back in 1903.

It wasn’t until 1923 that North American Ford executives visited Australia to seek out a base from which to set up shop.

A six-person team which included senior Ford executives Hubert French and P.W. Grandjean, then secretary of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, decided Geelong’s deep seaport, access to railways, available land, and good labour force made the location a prime choice for the role.

“The time is ripe to carry on a business in Australia with our own organisation,” Mr Grandjean said in his report to Edsel Ford.

Mr Grandjean believed the Australian market deserved a cohesive Ford operation, and by 1925, Ford Motor Company of Australia was a going thing (if you’ll pardon the reference) with Hubert French as its founding managing director.

The Model T was the first vehicle to roll off the Ford Australia production line, costing £185 (or $18,542 adjusted) and known for its simple design and robust construction. Ford Australia built an impressive 15,273 passenger- and 15,248 commercial versions of the Model T before the Model A’s arrival.

“Tin Lizzy”, as it was dubbed, paved the way for a roll call of Australian-built Fords including the legendary Model A and subsequent V8; the world’s first Coupe-Utility; and both American and British derived models including the Pilot, Mainline, Customline, Prefect, Custom, Zephyr, Zodiac, Consul, Anglia, and Galaxie.

By 1956 Ford Australia had grown its market presence Down Under such that it required more land than Geelong could provide.

Building works began in Campbellfield north of Melbourne, opening as the Broadmeadows Assembly Plant in 1961. The new facility joined Geelong in producing “overseas” Fords but was increasingly under pressure from the stronger-selling and more affordable Holden.

After a visit to England and North America in 1959, Ford Australia executives decided the mid-sized North American Falcon was right for the local market, offering similar proportions and performance to the FC-series Holden (Ed: thankfully they didn’t choose the British Zephyr).

From 1960, the XK-series Falcon began to roll off Ford’s Australian assembly line. It quickly proved an ideal fit for Australian families, the model’s later upgrades proven at Ford Australia’s You Yangs Proving Ground to handle the worst our rough roads and oppressive summer heat could throw at it.

The Falcon line went on the spawn sedan, wagon, utility, panel van, coupe, and long-wheelbase Fairlane derivatives for more than five decades, joined over time by locally-made models including the related Territory; UK-sourced Capri, Cortina, and Escort; Mazda-shared Laser and Telstar; and Nissan-shared Corsair and Maverick (as well as myriad imported models from as far afield as Korea, Japan, Thailand, Belgium, and the United States).

Ford produced its last Australian-made vehicle in October 2016.

Since then, the Blue Oval has maintained an imported engineering and development presence in Australia assisting primarily in the formation of Ranger and Everest body-on-frame models.

“This is a significant milestone for the Ford Australia team, our Dealers and Ford fans around the country,” said Ford Australia and New Zealand president and chief executive officer Andrew Birkic.

“Just about every family in Australia has a Ford story and we love how Ford vehicles are such a part of the cultural landscape of the country.”

In addition to the vehicles and 2500 images and brochures on display at the event, Ford Australia also included the Mustang Mach-E, Ford Ranger PHEV, Ford Everest, and some of the key Ford GT sedans and racecars that helped put Ford Motorsport on the map.

Ford fans have complete access to the Ford Heritage Vault which currently contains over 19,000 digital items from the Blue Oval’s past, including product brochures, assorted regional issues of the Ford Times magazine, product and concept photography, images of global Ford facilities, and press releases detailing the innovations in historic concept vehicles.

Composed by Ford heritage brand manager Ted Ryan and senior collections archivist Ciera Casteel, the material is a window into a time where Australian-made Fords ruled the roads.

“It has been a mammoth undertaking, but we’re continuing to add to the on-line archive with Australian-relevant documents, brochures and images,” said Mr Ryan.

“We want to ensure the collection is made accessible online for the general public, so everyone can re-live their favourite moments.”