Ford Australia is celebrating its 100-year anniversary this week, with a special event to mark the centenary on April 4 to be held in Melbourne. In addition to that, thousands of Australian images have been added to the company’s online vault for Aussies to celebrate.

Established on March 31, 1925 in Geelong, Victoria, Ford Australia was first planned in 1923 when
North American Ford executives visited Australia to seek out a base for local activities of the company.

By 1925, Ford Australia opened with Hubert French as its managing director and the first model to
be produced was the famous Model T, which quickly became one of the most popular cars in history. In Australia, the Model T cost 185 pounds, equivalent to around A$18,500 in today’s money.

According to the company, Geelong was chosen as Ford’s base thanks to its closeness to the sea
port, available land, access to nearby railways and a good labour force.

Ford’s Geelong connection runs deep, forging a partnership with the Geelong Football
Club – which is also celebrating its 100th year – since 1925. The Cats also celebrated winning the club’s first Victorian Football League Premiership that year, too.

Geelong also managed to imprint on the Model T. In North America, the car was affectionately
known as ‘Tin Lizzie’ but in Australia, it was given the nickname the ‘Dalgety’, a reference
to the Dalgety Wool Store where the first vehicles were assembled. Eventually, the original factory
moved from the old Dalgety’s Wool Store to larger premises in Corio.

Ford Australia is also celebrating its connection to the greater Victorian community, including the company’s original stamping plant at Norlane, site of the current Research and Development Centre, and the 900ha You Yangs Proving Ground at Lara, where Ford develops and tests its vehicles. Ford’s Campbellfield facility in Melbourne is also home to Ford’s International Markets Group Product Development Centre.

To mark the occasion, Ford will hold a special “History in the Making” event in Melbourne on April
4. The event will showcase a selection of Ford’s own Heritage fleet, including the first 1960 XK
Falcon, which was introduced in September 1960, as well as the first Ford ute, the 1934 Coupe-
Ute, a Ford Australia invention.

Ford will include modern cars like the Mustang Mach-E EV, Ranger PHEV, Everest, and some key
Ford GT sedans and race cars that helped put Ford Motorsport on the map in Australia, and the
company will also support the All Ford Day in Geelong on April 6.

In addition to the event, the Ford Heritage Vault can be accessed to celebrate the company’s 100th
year, including 2,300 new brochures and images of Ford vehicles sold in 1925. It can be visited
here: https://fordheritagevault.com/

The vault is also home to over 19,000 digital items, 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.

Over its more than 70 years of existence, Wheels has covered nearly every significant development in the Ford Australia story. Many famous Wheels covers will feature in Ford’s anniversary celebration in Melbourne.

Perhaps most famous of all of Wheels‘ Ford stories was Mel Nicholls’ infamous drive down the Hume Highway in the mighty Phase III GTHO Ford Falcon, documented in the October 1971 issue, which many believe led to laws around speed limits changing on Australian country roads.

As Mel later commented about his colleague Uwe Kuessner’s famous photo over his shoulder as he pushed the Falcon to its limit on the Hume south of Wodonga in Victoria: “Peering at the instruments, I can still see the tacho cranking past 6000rpm and the speedo nudging beyond 140mph…”

Ford cars have won Wheels Car of the Year seven times since the award was established in 1963, the Ford Everest the most recent winner in 2023.

The Ford Australia 100th year anniversary celebration will commence on April 4th in Melbourne.