Century for blue oval
One hundred years ago this week, the Ford Motor Company of Australia was founded in Victoria.
The story of how it came into being started in 1923 when North American Ford executives visited the lucky country to find a base to set up an operation to direct all the marque’s activities there.
Two senior executives were part of a six-person party scouting locations – Hubert Charles French and PW Grandjean, the-then secretary of Ford of Canada. After their visit, the latter wrote to Edsel Ford in 1924 that “the time is ripe to carry on a business in Australia with our own organisation”.
Grandjean believed the market deserved a cohesive Ford operation to serve the public across the Tasman. Geelong won out because of its deep seaport, available land, access to railways and good labour force.
By 1925, the Ford Motor Company of Australia opened with French as its founding managing director. The first car to roll out of the factory, pictured above, was the Model T Ford, the vehicle that forever changed the landscape of affordable transport for the masses.
Known for its simple design and solid construction, the 1925 Australian Model T cost about £185 or around A$18,542 in today’s money.
To mark the Ford Australia’s centenary year, a “history in the making” event will be held in Melbourne on April 4.
“This is a significant milestone for our team, dealers and fans,” says Andrew Birkic, president and chief executive officer of Ford Australia and New Zealand. “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.”
The event will showcase a selection of the company’s own heritage fleet including the first XK Falcon, which was introduced in September 1960, and is first utility the 1934 Coupe-Ute, a groundbreaking vehicle invented in Australia.
As a nod to today’s line-up, the blue oval will include the Mustang Mach-E EV, Ranger PHEV, Everest, and some key GT sedans and race cars that helped put Ford Motorsport on the map in Australia.
Ford Australia is also supporting the All Ford Day in Geelong, on April 6, which is expected to be one of the biggest events of its kind ever.
Relationship with community
Ford’s relationship with Geelong runs deep, with a partnership with the Geelong Football Club that’s also celebrating its 100th year – 1925 was also significant for the club as it celebrated winning the first Victorian Football League Premiership.
Geelong also managed to imprint on the Model T. In North America, the car was known as Tin Lizzie. But in 1925 in Australia, it was given the nickname the Dalgety, which was a reference to the Dalgety Wool Store in Geelong where the first vehicles were assembled. Eventually, the factory moved to larger premises in Corio.
Geelong can also lay claim to being where the world’s first coupe-ute was designed and built. The original model was the result of a request in 1932 from a Gippsland farmer to Ford, requesting the company build a vehicle that could “take my wife to church on Sunday and carry my pigs in the back on Monday”.
Ford engineer Lew Bandt was tasked with the challenge of delivering such a vehicle. In 1934, Bandt and his team delivered what became the Ford Coupe-Utility, pictured below.
Ford Australia’s story is a key part of Victoria’s history, particularly Geelong, which was home to Ford’s original stamping plant at Norlane, site of the current research and development centre, and the 900-hectare You Yangs Proving Ground at Lara, where Ford develops and tests vehicles. Ford’s Campbellfield facility in Melbourne is home to Ford’s International Markets Group’s product development centre.
History accessible online
As part of Ford Australia’s 100th year, fans can take a trip through the Ford Heritage Vault where thousands of archival materials are held. It’s the online repository for all things related to the marque’s history and heritage globally.
The vault contains more than 19,000 digital items including product brochures, regional issues of the Ford Times magazine, product and concept photography, images of facilities and press releases detailing innovations in historic concept vehicles.
Around 2,300 brochures and images of models sold in Australia from 1925 are now being added. Visit https://fordheritagevault.com/ for a trip down memory lane.
