Around 180 Ford Australia official photographs and brochures from 1960-2002 have been added to Ford's global online "Heritage Vault" - which means they are available and free for anybody to view and/or download. Ford says the new material covers "Anglia to Zephyr and everything in between including Escort, Econovan, Falcon, Meteor, Spectron, Transit and more".
Ford claims the Heritage Vault is one of the world's largest online automotive databases. Head office in Detroit has been digitising material since last year, the with site now containing over 12,000 brochures and curated images. More than 5000 requests per day are being received from visitors.
“We’re opening up in a way we’ve never done before,” said Ted Ryan, Ford archive and heritage brand manager. “Making our archives accessible for everyone online is a real passion project for me and the team. Looking back through Ford’s history not only helps to educate but can serve as inspiration as we accelerate our transformation as a company.”
Given Ford Australia's near 100-year history, 180 documents seems like an incredibly small number. And that's where an interesting backstory emerges.
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When Australian manufacturing shut down in 2016, Ford Australia moved all of its archive material to a warehouse in Melbourne. According to Ryan, who spoke to journalists during a media day in Detroit last year, Ford Australia was keen to the send the documents to Detroit for digitisation and Ford head office badly wanted to have them.
But Australian law prevents the export of historical or culturally significant materials; ironically, there is no law that says Ford Australia must preserve them, either.
Ford has said it's too expensive/logistically complicated to digitise in Australia, and would like to call the material home to Detroit to join the rest of the company's history.
The current situation is unclear. But the recent Australian uploads aren't necessarily a sign that the stalemate is over.
A story on Australian motoring publication drive.com.au says that Ford Australia has declined to offer further clarification on the issue and speculates that the items currently online were made from duplicates already on site in Detroit.