I have one . I bought it in 1988. I first saw it at Hershey in 86. It was just the body, on a frame in the back of a pick up. It was sticking straight up in the air, you could see it from almost anywhere in the swap meet. It is now restored as a V8 left hand drive car. I always wonder how many are out there.
How many 32 Ford Aussie Phaetons out there?
- Thread starter 32phil
- Start date
Ralph Moore
Well-known member
Not sure if it's Aussie or not, but the Fountainhead museum here picked up a RHD 32 Phaeton last year.
Deuce-Merchant
Senior Member
I got one a few yrs ago right from Australia, it has since made its way to England.
I bet it has more miles on it now then when it had wheels.
I bet it has more miles on it now then when it had wheels.
uncle buck
Well-known member
34 GAZ
Member
Argentina had RHD in the 1930s too. I,ve had 3 RHD model A's over here and they all came from Argentina. Not UK. Now if your phaeton still has a made in Geelong body tag then it,s Aussie for sure.
uncle buck
Well-known member
No body tag on mine either.
uncle buck
Well-known member
DavidG , Were the South American / Argentina RHD phaetons built with the US style body? What about other parts of the world?
DavidG
Well-known member
It's only the Australian bodies that are unique and they were not originally exported. So, all of the '32 phaetons sold in other RHD countries were either manufactured in Canada or the U.S. (there were no differences between the Canadian and U.S. bodies).
As Ford of Canada had the marketing rights to all of the British Commonwealth countries (except Great Britain), they would have been the source for RHD phaetons sold in India, Egypt, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia, etc. The U.S. was the manufacturing source for the RHD phaetons sold in non-Commonwealth countries such as Argentina, Japan, Sweden, and Uruguay.
During my South American job assignments with Ford I encountered a large number of '32-'37 open cars, mostly in Argentina and all had U.S.-manufactured bodies and Dearborn-built engines.
As Ford of Canada had the marketing rights to all of the British Commonwealth countries (except Great Britain), they would have been the source for RHD phaetons sold in India, Egypt, New Zealand, South Africa, Rhodesia, etc. The U.S. was the manufacturing source for the RHD phaetons sold in non-Commonwealth countries such as Argentina, Japan, Sweden, and Uruguay.
During my South American job assignments with Ford I encountered a large number of '32-'37 open cars, mostly in Argentina and all had U.S.-manufactured bodies and Dearborn-built engines.
Tudortomnz
Well-known member
This has come up a few times. Some European countries required local content for Ford to operate there, eg. England, France, Germany & in the Sth. hemisphere, Australia.
The Sth American RHD Fords were complete US export cars & had the same bodywork etc as domestic cars.
After the War, all countries assembling cars had varying degrees of local content but Australia got in very early with this, about 1919. The result was a local car industry making Australian designed cars , creating jobs & industry for Australia.
DavidG wil know much more about this topic of Ford Production.
The Sth American RHD Fords were complete US export cars & had the same bodywork etc as domestic cars.
After the War, all countries assembling cars had varying degrees of local content but Australia got in very early with this, about 1919. The result was a local car industry making Australian designed cars , creating jobs & industry for Australia.
DavidG wil know much more about this topic of Ford Production.
uncle buck
Well-known member
Thanks for your input.robert hayward
Junior Member
Ford Geelong archives indicate there were 792 Phaetons ... production commenced in August 1932 and ceased in September 1933. There were 445 Phaetons and 347 Phaeton Sports..
Robert Hayward
Robert Hayward
robert hayward
Junior Member
According to Ford Geelong archives there were 792 Phaetons ... production commenced in August 1932 and ceased in September 1933 ... there were 445 Phaetons and 347 Phaeton Sports..
Robert Hayward
Robert Hayward
DavidG
Well-known member
The concept of "local content" has been around for a long time and Australia was probably ahead of the pack back in the thirties. Local content requirements were mandated by national governments, usually in concert with stiff tariffs or even an outright prohibition of built-up vehicle imports. The idea was to create local manufacturing capability and the jobs that go with that capability while at the same time reducing or even eliminating the drain on the country's foreign trade balance of payments that high value automotive imports represent. Often it took place in countries where there were already assembly plants (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and France are all examples).
In some countries with small vehicle markets, like Uruguay, for example, the attempt to impose local content requirements led to an effective end of the availability of new cars for all but the truly wealthy who could afford to pay for the huge import taxes imposed on imports, which helps explain why walking around the streets of Montevideo in the mid seventies was akin to walking the streets of a U.S. city in the late 'thirties (judging from old movies).
In countries with historically modest car markets, this led to much longer product life cycles than in markets where the greater sales volumes justified the investments required. The decades-long life of the sixties' model Ford Falcon production in Argentina and Australia are examples of that characteristic of markets where local content requirements were extreme.
As markets grew and governments started to dismantle trade barriers through the creation of regional trade blocks, bi-lateral and multi-lateral trade agreements, and tariff reductions, many local content requirements evolved into regional arrangements like in western Europe, where engines were produced in one country, transmissions in another and assembly in several all for the entire trade block. The same ultimately became a reality in Argentina and Brazil via the Mercosul trade agreement. In Canada, the Auto Pact led to the demise of the unique-to-Canada models such as the Monarch and Meteor and eventually the Auto Pact was displaced by the North American Free Trade Agreement which imposes no local content requirements per se.
In some countries like Australia and to some extent New Zealand, the reduction/elimination of tarliffs and other barriers to the importation of built-up vehicles in recent decades is in some quarters seen as unfair to those companies (like Ford and GM, aka Holden) who played by the rules of local content and made the local investments in plant and equipment that entailed for decades only to have the doors thrown open to imports from mass producers in Asia at prices that could not be matched by the relatively-low volume operations of the local automobile manufacturers. Ultimately, this led to a severe retraction of local automotive manufacturing.
It is complex subject and the experience varied considerably by country and by decade. The above is but a very brief start.
In some countries with small vehicle markets, like Uruguay, for example, the attempt to impose local content requirements led to an effective end of the availability of new cars for all but the truly wealthy who could afford to pay for the huge import taxes imposed on imports, which helps explain why walking around the streets of Montevideo in the mid seventies was akin to walking the streets of a U.S. city in the late 'thirties (judging from old movies).
In countries with historically modest car markets, this led to much longer product life cycles than in markets where the greater sales volumes justified the investments required. The decades-long life of the sixties' model Ford Falcon production in Argentina and Australia are examples of that characteristic of markets where local content requirements were extreme.
As markets grew and governments started to dismantle trade barriers through the creation of regional trade blocks, bi-lateral and multi-lateral trade agreements, and tariff reductions, many local content requirements evolved into regional arrangements like in western Europe, where engines were produced in one country, transmissions in another and assembly in several all for the entire trade block. The same ultimately became a reality in Argentina and Brazil via the Mercosul trade agreement. In Canada, the Auto Pact led to the demise of the unique-to-Canada models such as the Monarch and Meteor and eventually the Auto Pact was displaced by the North American Free Trade Agreement which imposes no local content requirements per se.
In some countries like Australia and to some extent New Zealand, the reduction/elimination of tarliffs and other barriers to the importation of built-up vehicles in recent decades is in some quarters seen as unfair to those companies (like Ford and GM, aka Holden) who played by the rules of local content and made the local investments in plant and equipment that entailed for decades only to have the doors thrown open to imports from mass producers in Asia at prices that could not be matched by the relatively-low volume operations of the local automobile manufacturers. Ultimately, this led to a severe retraction of local automotive manufacturing.
It is complex subject and the experience varied considerably by country and by decade. The above is but a very brief start.
Elmo Rodge
Senior Member
I remember a fellow in Monrovia, California in the mid 1970s that had imported one. Wayno