Press release from ABC
Australians love their cars and to help celebrate ABC TV is making a documentary series – Wide Open Road – about our obsession with automobiles.
Cars have changed everything since their arrival a century ago and ABC TV wants your assistance to tell the story of how our humble Holdens, Fords and Hyundais helped shape a nation.
Researchers for the documentary series are seeking stories, photos and footage of key eras and experiences that framed our social history and drove popular culture.
People with interesting stories about their car and fascinating images to boot are encouraged to contact the ABC website abc.net.au/tv/wideopenroad
Wide Open Road will be directed by Paul Clarke – (Long Way To The Top, Love Is In The Air, Bombora) – and the series will tell the story of how cars transformed life in Australia, how they altered our relationship with the wide brown land and changed the way our cities operate.
“After an initial wariness, Australians fell in love with the automobile,’ Paul says.
“The car arrived just as we were building the idea of Australia being a different, independent country. Cars got caught up in building Australia and became a vision for what Australia could become.”
“It’s impossible to imagine our popular culture without cars. Most of us remember the cars of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s Australia very fondly. We’re looking for people with great stories, footage or photos of their cars – the kind of people who lived for their cars, and treated it as a family member, or a shrine for dad to worship at. Whether you were a sharpie, a bodgie, a surfie or a ‘New Australian’, cars were key to all the youth subcultures. We would love to make your story part of this series.”
As well as celebrating the grunt and grunge of cars, and the ultimate means of escape and self-expression, the documentary series will examine our reliance on the car.
The series will look at how the car became part of our DNA despite the proliferation of issues such as highway death traps, drink driving blitz, the growth of congestion and urban sprawl, oil crisis, the threats of global warming and the GFC.
The Wide Open Road documentary series will be accompanied by a website to further educate and entertain audiences and extend their understanding of the evolution of popular culture and the car in Australia.
To play a role in researching and supplying footage of your real road stories contact: abc.net.au/tv/wideopenroad