POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

1935 Ford V8 De Luxe model 48 sedan

Object No. B2571

This Model 48 Ford V-8 De Luxe four-door sedan was built in Canada in 1935 by the Ford Motor Company of Canada Limited. The Canadian Ford factory produced vehicles for the British Empire market excluding the British Isles. In 1932 Henry Ford introduced the first economical V-8 engine to his low-priced cars. Previously the V-8 had only been found in the world's most expensive vehicles, but Ford simplified its construction, eliminating some parts and casting the V-8 cylinder block, crankcase and exhaust passages in a single integral unit. Ford's V-8 engine stayed in production for 21 years without major change, longer than the Model T's 19 years. The V-8 engine was Henry Ford's last major engineering achievement, and this 1935 car is representative of his success at the time. Fords in the 1930s were quite unlike their competitors, such as Chevrolet and Plymouth, which had excellent engines supplying speed and stamina and a variety of lighter weight body styles. Ford's conservatism and refusal to take up new engineering solutions saw his cars fall in popularity by 1940. According to Paul Woudenberg, Ford was the last major automobile company to resist corporate conformity and retain the clear stamp of its founder. Henry Ford's ideas and design philosophies persisted, despite technological advances in brakes and suspension in the automotive industry during the 1930s. This car was purchased new and used by members of the Betteridge family in the Burwood, Parramatta and Blue Mountains areas of NSW for almost 50 years clocking up about 150,000 miles (241,000 km) in that time. Many of the these Ford V-8's were used as stock cars in the early post-war years and were later rebuilt as hot rods. The car is in very original condition and has all the instruction books, receipts and certificates associated with its use. The first Ford to be imported into Australia was the Model A in 1904. From then on they were imported through agents and distributors from manufacturing plants both in Canada and the United States. After the Ford Motor Company of Australia was formed in 1925 the famous Model T was assembled in Australia, initially from rented accommodation in Geelong, Victoria. Ford assembly plants were subsequently built in Brisbane, Fremantle, and Adelaide. A Ford assembly plant opened at Homebush in Sydney in 1936, and the first Australian factory to replace the wooden body frame with an all-steel frame onto which body panels were welded. The following year Ford began making the Model 78 steel turret-top bodies manufactured with an enormous stamping press. Sorensen, Charles E., "Forty Years With Ford", 1957. Woudenberg, Paul R," Ford in the Thirties", Petersen Publishing Co. 1976. Margaret Simpson Curator, Science & Industry April 2008