PROVEN GROUND

HOW AN AUSSIE ENGINEER LED FORD AUSTRALIA TO THE WORLD STAGE … AND KEPT IT THERE

- DANIEL GARDNER

TREVOR WORTHINGTON arrives at the gate of the Ford Proving Ground driving a Twister Orange Mustang Mach 1 and, as far as metaphors go, it’s not a good one. Unlike the lurid coupe he’s piloting, Worthington is a humble bloke and doesn’t shout about what he

does, and I wonder how many drinks it would take before the mild-mannered Aussie finally hinted he’s one of the biggest names in the global automotive landscape.

No-one alive today deserves greater recognition for some of the Blue Oval’s most successful models, while Ford Australia’s rise to a developer of global models can also be largely attributed to the current vice president of global product development operations and vehicle programs.

But while Worthington now resides nearer Ford’s heartland in the USA, the engineer started out in a tiny Victorian town near the NSW border. When his family moved from Tallangatta, population 1000, to “the big smoke” Benalla, the aspiring engineer gained two sources of inspiration. Just out of town, Winton Raceway provided the automotive spark, while the Gliding Club of Victoria was an aero allure on his doorstep.

Worthington went on to graduate from RMIT Melbourne with a degree in aeronautical engineering but ultimately, it was the terrestrial that won over celestial. Worthington still has a fond affection for flying machines, but the passion and diversity of cars and trucks is what cemented a lifelong career – even if a racing tenure narrowly passed him by in the mid-1980s.