Handful of historic Ford Australia photos uploaded to US website, complete archives still in limbo

US car giant Ford has uploaded a small selection of about 180 old photos and brochures from Ford Australia and made them available on the company's international archives website.

It means some of the most iconic images from Ford Australia's history can now be accessed by the public.

However, the future of Ford Australia's comprehensive archives – which includes never-seen-before photos of clay models, cars that never made it into production, and architectural drawings of historical vehicles – remains in limbo due to strict laws covering articles of historical convenience.

As reported exclusively by Drive late last year, the entire collection of almost 100 years of Ford Australia’s historical documents – including brochures, photographs, car designs and engineering information – could perish in boxes in a Melbourne warehouse unless permission is granted to ship the material to an air-conditioned time capsule in Detroit.

A warehouse full of precious historical documents from Ford Australia – that cover almost a century of local car design and assembly – could perish in a Melbourne warehouse, rather than be digitised and preserved in a special air-conditioned time capsule inside Ford’s global archive headquarters.

While Australian Government regulations ban the export of important historical documents due to their cultural significance, there is no legal requirement for the materials to be preserved locally by the company that holds them, in this case Ford.

Drive understands the situation has led to a stand-off between Ford and local regulators – and there appears to be no update since the story broke late last year.

Ford Australia today issued a media bulletin about 180 old photos and brochures had been uploaded to the company's global Ford Heritage Vault – believed to be one of the automotive industry’s most comprehensive online databases.

The historical assets are available to enthusiasts as "free downloads for personal use", the company said.

However, there appears to be no further clarity regarding the future of the complete and comprehensive collection of Ford Australia archives.

Drive asked Ford Australia for an update on the deadlock with federal regulators – and whether or not the archives will be uploaded here or sent overseas, as we were sent the following response:

"While don't have any news to share on the physical (Ford Australia) archives themselves, the Ford Heritage Vault is a great example of ensuring our history – local and global – is available to everyone.

"We're working with our global colleagues to continue to add digitised, local assets to the online collection."

The recently-uploaded photos and brochures cover some Ford Australia highlights from 1960 to 2002 but are by no means the complete collection of historical artefacts.

Drive understands the latest additions were duplicate copies that were already in Detroit – and the warehouse full of genuinely rare artefacts from Ford Australia's history dating back to 1925 remains in bureaucratic limbo.

To read the full story on the complete Ford Australia archives collection, click here.

Meantime, a statement issued by Ford Australia today said more photos and brochures would be added to the global historic website soon.

Ford's global digital archives centre opened in Detroit in June 2022, initially with 5000 images from the US. The UK, Europe and Australia are due to be added gradually to the online collections, for enthusiasts to access for personal use only. Commercial use of these images – such as for business advertising – is not permitted and is regarded as a breach of copyright.

Ford says, to date, almost 12,000 Ford and Lincoln photographs and brochures from the first century of the company’s history have been made available to the public online for the first time – and the site has approximately 5000 downloads per day.

"Visitors from more than 170 countries have searched the vault, with the Australian search volume making it one of the top five locations in the world," said a Ford media statement.