AHA Conference Program

DAY 1 -Friday 22 September

7:45 / Leave University of Adelaide to travel to Holden Plant
(limited places available)
8:30 – 11:30 / Tour of Holden Plant
Required: long pants and long sleeves, and fully enclosed shoes with a heel of 4cm or less
12:00 / Leave Holden to travel to University of Adelaide
1:00 – 2:00 / Lunch and registrations – University of Adelaide
2:00 – 3:30 / Manufacturing
  1. Matthew Lombard, ‘Bodies, Bombs, Boxes and Boats: How the South Australian Automotive Manufacturers prepared for and coped with the Second World War’.
  2. Don Loffler, ‘New Insights into Laurence Hartnett, the “father” of the Holden car’.
  3. Norm Darwin, ‘Holden – A History U-turn’

3:30 – 3:45 / Afternoon Tea
3:45 – 5.15 / History
  1. Justin Chadwick, ‘Empire Trade Preference and its Impact on Australian Motor Body Builders’.
  2. Louis F. Fourie, ‘The Evolution of Manufacturing Engineering in the Automotive Industry’.
  3. Allison Russell and Pauline Cockrill, ‘Motoring Memories’.

6:30 for 7:00 / Conference Dinner – Sporting Car Club of Adelaide
51 King William Road, Unley
Guest Speaker: Phillip Guilfoyle “3D Printed Moults – Keeping Australia’s Automotive Heritage On The Road

DAY 2 - Saturday 23 September

9:30 – 10:30 / Ron Tauranac Address
Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide, Mr Martin Haese
10:30 – 10.45 / Morning Tea
10.45 – 12.15 / Museums
  1. Andrew Grant, ‘When the Rubber Shouldn’t hit the Road’.
  2. Mark Thomson, ‘The Interactive Conundrum’.
  3. Michelle Toft, ‘If Cars could Talk what would they Say?’.

12 – 1:30 / Lunch (includes AGM AHA)
1:30 – 3:00 / Vehicles
  1. Matthew Lambert, ‘When the Hunter became the Hunted – How the Victorian Registration Archive was used to Determine Australia’s Hillman Hunter production History’.
  2. Michelangelo Bolognese, ‘Washed Up: Adelaide’s Ill-fated Lightburn Zeta Microcar’
  3. Daryl Meek, ‘Oiling the Wheels: helping RACV members research historic vehicles 2.’

3:00 – 3:15 / Afternoon Tea
3:15 – 4:15 / Design
  1. Harriet Edquist, ‘Research and Innovation in the Australian Automotive Industry: a Forgotten Legacy’.
  2. Simon Lockrey, ‘A Missing Link – Changes to Design at the Closure of Australian Automotive Manufacturing’.

4:15 / Closing Comments

DAY 3 - Sunday 24 September

Bus departsTorrens Parade Ground (TPG) , Victoria Drive, Adelaide 9.00
arrive National Motor Museum(NMM) 10 am
Depart NMM 4pm arrive TPG 5pm
Bay to Birdwood Classic
Conference attendees have the opportunity to participate in the world renowned historic motors event, the Bay to Birdwood Classic. Imagine for a moment over 1750 classic vehicles and their drivers and passengers gathering at a location on the Adelaide coastline in the early morning. They are waived off by legendary Grand Prix flagman, Glenn Dix, and the vehicles make their way through the streets of Adelaide all the time being cheered on by up to 80,000 sightseers gathered on the sides of the roads. Once through the city and the outlying suburbs, the vehicles make their way through the picturesque Adelaide foothills and Adelaide Hills townships finally reaching their destination at the National Motor Museum in Birdwood, where we once again gather all the vehicles together, celebrate the day's achievement and some of the stand-out vehicles, before making our way home once again and doing it all again next year.
The Bay to Birdwood is the largest, continually held motoring event for veteran, vintage and classic vehicles held anywhere in the world. It is an event that is on many motoring enthusiasts 'must do' and bucket lists. The Automotive Historians Australia conference is proud to be associated with the Bay to Birdwood in 2017 and conference attendees are encouraged to participate in the event.The Bay to Birdwood is on Sunday 24 September, the day after the conference and will be open to classic vehicles of all types built between 1 Jan 1956 and 31 Dec 1981. Conference attendees with vehicles of this period are encouraged to enter.