June 7^th, 2000

Renault Cortinas and Ford Mack trucks?…

While Ford’s Australian plants have mostly made Ford vehicles, there have been a few anomalies during the 75 years that the company has been in Australia.

During World War II, Ford’s Homebush Assembly plant built Mack, Studebaker and Diamond T trucks for the armed forces, while the Geelong Plant produced Marmon Harrington 6-wheel drive trucks for the Australian and US armies.

Later, from 1977 to 1980, Ford sub-contracted the assembly of some Cortina models to the Renault Australia assembly operation at Heidelberg in Victoria.

These were mostly the Cortina station wagons, due to the fact that Ford’s Broadmeadows Assembly plant was undergoing facility upgrades and didn’t have the capacity to build enough vehicles.