For decades, the Australia and North American automobile industries have shared components, parts, staff, engineering skills and design expertise, not to mention business and management structures as well as advertising and trade practices. The result has been many unique vehicles.
In September of 2022, the SAH co-hosted a virtual symposia on trans-Pacific automobile history with the Automotive Historians Australia (AHA). The symposium saw presentations on various aspects of Australian and North American automobile industries. Featuring papers by SAH and AHA members, topics ranged from the design of individual cars to the importation of Australian cars into North America, and from the relationships of women and automobiles in the United States and Australia to the challenges people and institutions face today with respect to preserving automobile history and presenting that history to the public.
Streamed live, and free for SAH and AHA members, the symposium was a great success. It’s hoped the 2022 meeting will be the first of many symposia on the trans-Pacific history of the automobile industry in the coming years.
If you are a member of the SAH, be sure to participate in the next Wheels Across the Pacific Symposium. If you are interested in the trans-Pacific history of the Australian and North American auto industries, be sure to submit a paper!