The cars of the 50's : a history of cars manufactured and assembled in Australia during the 1950s / Gavin Farmer
- Bib ID:
- 8688485
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Farmer, Gavin, author
- Description:
-
- Wahroonga, NSW : New Holland Publishers, 2022
- ©2022
- 192 pages : illustrations (some colour) ; 24 x 29 cm.
- ISBN:
-
- 9781760795252 (hardback)
- 1760795259
- Summary:
-
"After WWII the Federal Government of Australia made the decision to establish a functioning automobile industry in this country. The circumstances experienced during WWII made such a decision imperative. As we know, General Motors was the successful applicant for full manufacture while Ford continued with their assembly process in Geelong and Chrysler continued with their arrangement with Ruchards Industries in Adelaide. Ultimately both Ford and Chrysler would follow GM into full manufacture but that came later. Meanwhile, Lord Nuffield purchased the old racecourse at Victoria Park south of the Sydney CBD and established an assembly plant for his Morris and Wolseley cars and Morris commercials. From 1954, after the merger of Austin and Morris, the assembly of Austin cars was added to the range on offer. Previously Ausins and been assembled by Ruskins in Melbourne. The Rootes Group began assembling Hillmans and Humblers in a factory previously used to assemble aircraft during the war and while successful in a modest way the company stayed with assembly and never moved to manufacture. Volkswagon from Germany, however, did make the leap as the ubiquitous Beetle quickly became the top selling four-cylinder car in Australia. Along the way a variety of entrepreneurs tried their hand at building their own cars but without any notable commercial success. However, their cars have become very collectable since and for each there is a flourishing club of intrepid enthusiasts who love and cherish them. The commercial diversity in the 1950s in Australia was astounding and showed the world that we could build anything we needed, usually better than our international competitors. It was an exciting decadethat led to bigger and better things in the 60s and 70s."--Back cover.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Subject:
- Also Titled:
- The cars of the fifties.
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
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Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Published
- Publication date:
- 2022
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