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Front Page
Media Alert for Wednesday 15th October 2003
Staff, Tuesday October 14, 2003.
Page 1 of 1
Media are welcome to attend an afternoon tea for Charlie Sherson this Wednesday, 15th October at 2.30pm at the Ford Discovery Centre, corner of Gheringhap and Brougham Streets, Geelong.There will be a quadricycle replica, the first car that Henry Ford built before the Ford Motor Company in 1896, and Ford Australia's latest Pursuit ute on display. Charlie will be 'taken for a spin' in the new Pursuit ute after he is presented with a 100th birthday cake and gifts by Dave French, Geelong Powertrain Plant Manager.
Interviews are available with Charlie Sherson, 100-year-old former Ford employee.
For further information, contact:
Ford Communications
Phone (03) 9359 8491.
Ford Australia's oldest former employee, Charlie Sherson, turns 100-years-old on October 16, 2003 in the same year that the company is celebrating 100 years of operation.
Henry Ford formed the Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903 ? just four months before the birth of Charlie Sherson. Little did Charlie know then that he would go on to have a life-long association with the company.
By 1925, Charlie was assembling the first Model Ts built in Australia at Geelong. Over 70 years later, in 1998, he helped launch the Ford Discovery Centre in Geelong ? a tourism facility that brings to life the history and building of a car. Earlier this year, he took a drive in the oldest Ford car in Australia ? a 1903 Model A ? as part of Ford's worldwide centennial celebrations.
Charlie has seen many Ford models come and go since 1927 when he passed his driver's licence test in a Model T. He only recently gave away driving his beloved Ford cars at the age of 95.
Despite his years, Charlie's memories are fresh. He tells vivid stories of Geelong and the automobile from the early years to the present day.
"When we moved to the present site at Norlane about six months after I started at Ford, we worked in a shed made from the packing cases the (ready to assemble) cars came to Australia in," he said.
"We worked nearly all night finishing the first three Model T's built at Norlane," he said. "They had to be in Melbourne at 7am for the Melbourne Motor Show at the Exhibition Buildings."
Once Model A production began in 1928, according to Charlie Sherson, life became hectic. He said it was not unusual to work 14 hours a day, up to seven days a week to move the cars through.
"But you didn't really mind," he said. "Everybody worked like that in those days."
Charlie Sherson left Ford in 1946, although he has never lost his enthusiasm for Ford and its products.
Until his retirement in 1972, he ran his own Geelong based business, providing automotive painting, body trimming and body repair services.
He says it has been a major achievement to reach 100 years of age and he is especially proud to reach this milestone in Ford's centennial year.
