Ford Australia's history war

Ford faces determined resistance to its planned relocation of historical documents from Campbellfield to the company's new global archiving facility in Dearborn, Michigan.

As reported by Bauer Media earlier this month, a handful of former Ford Australia executives have expressed their anger at the plan, which they believe short-changes local fans of the brand, plus Aussie journalists and other researchers in need of access to the irreplaceable documents.

Not surprisingly, Wes Sherwood, Communications & Public Affairs Director at Ford Australia, doesn't see the issue in the same light. In conversation with motoring.com.au yesterday he advised that the precious records will be safer in Ford's new global archive facility than they are in the current Ford Australia archival system.

"For those who have physically been in our local archives, they will see it differently, but for somebody 50 years from now, they will have certainly better access to our Australian history, because we reduce the risk of things walking away from the archives [and] we make it more accessible with full business-hour operation," he said.

"So we genuinely do feel that this will be better for our Australian fans and historians and reporters – as well as for the company."

The current archival system at Ford Australia has been run more along the lines of a library rather than a secure archive. Researchers and fans have been able to borrow hard-copy material from Ford – and that material has not always returned.

Just like that Star Wars DVD that's been lying under your couch for 10 years, or the dog-eared Tom Clancy novel from the local library that's been sitting alongside it – Ford press kits from the early 1960s are just as likely to be lost in the mists of time. And unlike the DVD or the novel, Ford Australia press kits were never published in huge numbers. If there's just one kit remaining in all Australia, and it's tucked away in someone's sock drawer, that unique press kit can be considered lost for all time.

With the new global archiving system housing all that precious material from Ford Australia's past, Ford is putting an end to borrower-based attrition. Or theft, if you wish to put it more bluntly.

It's believed that Ford Australia's archival material was bound for Detroit, whether or not the local manufacturing operation closed down. Ford announced the end of local production as long ago as May 2013. Keeping archives in Australia over the longer term was never on the table for discussion, says Sherwood.

As Ford Australia moves to full-line importation – starting from next month – and the old head office in Campbellfield (currently being refitted) morphs into accommodation for Ford's local R&D team, there was an even greater risk that the accumulated history of Ford Australia would have been 'lost' in local storage.

"Even this year, access has been difficult because we've been going through so much work refurbishing head office, which meant we had to close down the main archive facility as part of that, when everybody – nearly all the staff – had to leave that building.

"Fortunately, we prepared for that..."

The transfer of records to the dedicated storage facility in Dearborn represents the best hope for the democratisation of record retrieval by local Ford enthusiasts.

"When you're operating to archived industry standards, you're not passing original material to people anyway," says Sherwood. "You would be getting copies, so whether you're getting an email with an attachment or somebody hands it to you physically in a location, we see that people in Australia and elsewhere will have better access to our Australian history."

Ford Australia's history has been well documented, through the efforts of historian, Adrian Ryan, who sadly passed away in 2009. With the closure of Ford's Discovery Centre in Geelong back in 2012, there has been no easy way for enthusiasts to learn about the brand's legacy in Australia. As Ford Australia's history is parcelled up and shipped off to Dearborn in Michigan, key elements will be digitised for downloading by enthusiasts and journalists.

But it's a wrench for Australian Ford fans, knowing that the 'touchstone' documents will be on the other side of the world. The company will be sensitive to the cultural aspects of the heritage material however, says Sherwood.

"Ford takes our history very seriously. It's a very rich history and it's a unique history that gives us a competitive advantage, so we're going to do everything possible to tell that story over and over again… in Australia and elsewhere."

According to the Ford spokesman, the family-owned business would not be investing as much money in the new global archiving facility if the company – and the family – didn't care about history.

There's a legal element to shipping the Ford Australia archives overseas, and the company will comply with a "conservative" reading of the applicable regulations, Sherwood says.

"This is a regulated area... it's certainly something we're absolutely planning to honour. If anything we're going to take a conservative approach to the permitting process to remove materials..." Sherwood said.

As of yet, no Aussie material has left the country. Documents are currently being sorted and will then go through a permitting process. Shipping is expected to commence before the end of the year. A "significant" amount of material remaining in Australia, because it's either duplicated or not worthy of archiving, will be donated to museums. Other records will remain in Australia, including employee records as one example. These are to be retained for legal reasons, or to support a claim by a former employee or family member for new-car purchasing discounts, for example.

All documents of real significance to car enthusiasts and history fans will be eventually transferred to soft copy. Many already are, thanks to the efforts of the local archivists. But the process will speed up in the USA.

"It won't all immediately be digitised, because we've got so much material flowing into this area, but still, with a full-time staff… it will be more accessible when it's available there – beginning early next year," Sherwood explains.

Sherwood recognises that scanning images and documents is a very time-consuming process, and expensive with it, but Ford's local archivist only acquired a digital scanner for this purpose after Sherwood was posted to Australia – back in 2013. To say that the Ford spokesman was astounded that there had been no hardware available for copying records digitally is an understatement. And the local archivist, a part-time staff member, has been "quite frankly overwhelmed" by the magnitude of converting hard copy to soft copy, according to Sherwood.

The clear implication is that Ford's global archive facility will have a lot of work to do scanning Australian records that have been on the back burner for a long time.

"I know that the global team's going to be dealing with a lot of material, but that said, when you send them an email and say you want information on 'that vehicle', then they will scan it," says Sherwood.

With the GTHO Phase III Falcon's half century due in just a few short years – and a mystique already surrounding that car and other high-profile models developed by Ford Australia – how diligent will Ford be when it comes to transferring records to soft copy?

Sherwood expects the company's global archiving facility to give priority to such high-profile models from Ford's past, pre-emptively digitising material well ahead of deadlines.

"Once we get through October 7 [the plant shut-down]... we can actually give them a list, saying: 'hey, here are some key dates coming up, why don't you get ahead of the game?'"

Sherwood believes that the work in arrears will approach completion as a matter of course, with each new request for a scanned document or image marking another milestone along the path.

"When they get requests, they will naturally have to digitise them. It will happen over time and it will pick up pace as technology keeps improving," he said.

Sherwood is well aware of the need for Ford to acknowledge and honour its heritage, having worked in communications with the company during the launch of the 2005 model year Mustang, which was launched right around the time of the pony car's half century.

Asked how extensive the archiving and scanning will be – would it cover the works Escort rally team that successfully competed in the ARC during the 1970s and 80s, as one example – Sherwood simply said: "If it's archival at this point, it won't be lost."

"That risk is going away with that move."

Far from Ford's Australian history being buried in a giant warehouse of equally anonymous boxes – like the arc of the covenant at the end of that Indiana Jones movie – the local material will be treated with deference and care, Sherwood insists.

"I think people, honestly, would have been more outraged in what would have happened, if the material stayed here... because we would not have had the justification to have an archive service, going forward."

About Ford's global archive facility
Situated in Dearborn, near the Henry Ford Museum, the new archive facility is a converted engine lab – the Ford Engineering Laboratory – next to Greenfield Village and adjacent the company's test track. It's climate-controlled and measures just under 3000 square metres in floor area.

Around 10 per cent of the floor area is chilled to four degrees (Celsius) for the safekeeping of photographic and video material. Paints and building materials were chosen for containing fewer volatile gasses that could damage archival content, which is also stored in acid-free folders and boxes.

It's a rolled-gold commitment in acknowledging and sharing Ford's past with its fans, but Wes Sherwood isn't saying just how much is invested in the facility.

"I'm not going to tell you how much we're spending on this, but it's considerable," he said.