Pride in the product was a big driver

FORD, the industrial constant, has become part of the city’s heartbeat, provider of meals on tables, community supporter and a point of pride for its people.

Something caught in the throat of 41-year veteran Brian Makin as he considered where his heart will be when he walks out the gate for the last time.

“I don’t want to think about it,” he said.

After a pause he said he would cope going into retirement but he was concerned for others with futures less certain. “Hopefully they find success beyond Ford in whatever they plan to do,” he said.

Mr Makin, 59, started with Ford as an apprentice fitter and turner in 1975, following in the footsteps of his late dad Don who started with the company in 1941 and retired in 1980.

He will retire as manufacturing engineering launch manager for engine and stamping plants and manager of the Geelong service and industrial garage.

“When I think of Ford I think of people,” Mr Makin said. “It’s a big family, less members of the family now but it’s been very good.”

He rated the introduction and engineering of the FPV V8s among career highlights. Mr Makin was on an evaluation drive in a latest-model FGX Falcon from Alice Springs to Darwin two years ago when a chance encounter emphasised to him the breadth and impact of the Ford Geelong story.

He met a couple in their 70s driving a Model T Ford from Adelaide to Darwin at 60km/h.

“It was a wonderful experience to see people enjoying a Ford product that was so old,” Mr Makin said.

“The Model T was built for a very short time in the Geelong Dalgety building . . . so there’s 91 years of history of this site.”