Description
Author: Bill Tuckey, ISBN: 9781875359721, Hardback, 288 pages, Published in 2000, Excellent Condition
On July 1 1925 the first locally produced Model T emerged from the Ford factory in Gheringhap Street,
Geelong, ready to drive Australia into a new industrial future. Long before local assembly began Fords had brought dramatically improved mobility to Australians. In the very early years of the century the Model T (Tin Lizzie') began changing the possibilities of life. Before Lizzie's arrival few people ever travelled further than about 20 miles from their birthplace.
In 1999 an international panel of judges chose the vehicle which put our world on wheels to be the Car of the 20th Century: how could the T not have won?
In its first 75 years the Ford Motor Company of Australia has played a major role in our industrial, social, and cultural history both in peace and war; the Ford blue oval is patterned into our national patina, our way of life.
In the 1930s V8-powered Fords seemed to shrink the distances between farflung Australian centres; secondary industry aiding and abetting our primary one (sheep or pigs in the tray of theV8 ute). Indeed, even now, if we chink V8', we think Ford, and, if we think 'ute', we think Ford (Lewis Bandt's 1933-34 world fast). That single word'Customline conjures images of big, fast 1950s Fords, V8s of course, offering trademark value for money. After Customline came Fairlane and then LTD, all of these key words in Ford liturgy, if not finally as pivotal as 'Falcon'. In June 1960 the first locally manufactured Falcon was driven off the line at Broadmeadows. So 2000 marks two Ford birthdays: 75 for the local company 40 for Falcon.
In more recent years the thoroughly indigenous Falcon has been Australia's top-selling car range more often than not, ideally suited to this country's unique demands.
Author Bill Tuckey tells the story not just of the cars that have marked these 75 years but of the people and events behind them. Tuckey's rapid, humorous prose will keep you reading long past bedtime and guarantee True Blue: 75 Years of Ford in Australia an immortal place on bookshelves from Geelong to Geraldton and from Launceston to Longreach, and beyond.
