The History of Australian Street Rodding dates back to 1956 when the first Street Rod Club was formed in Victoria. This club was the forerunner to many others and the sport in general began to blossom, particularly in Victoria, NSW and SA as early as 1960.
It was around this time that a South Australian by the name of Trevor Edmonds appeared on the scene. Trevor had a vision for the sport to be united in all States under the one banner; however, it was not until 1966 that he was to see the start of his dream come true. In February 1966 the inaugural meeting of the NCC took place in Albury, NSW and from this meeting the Australian Hot Rod Federation was formed.
Flemming M. Allsopp representing NSW, Bob Dykes, Victoria; Denny Edmonds, SA; Kevin Mayo and J. English, V.H.R. A; Phil Hart and Trevor Edmonds, S.A.H.R.A. Trevor held the position between 1966 and 1971 and set the basic foundations for the development of our sport.
The early days of the A.H.R.F. were both hectic and frustrating. We were attempting to cater for both Show/Street and Drag Racing facets of the Sport, with the Show/Street side generally being recognised as the "Cinderella Sister" part of the A.H.R.F.
Each State had two representatives - one for Drag Racing and the other for the Show/Street facet. They all met together, once annually, whereby each representative discussed every issue pertaining to each aspect of the two divisions.
It became increasingly obvious that the Drag Racing Fraternity were starting to overtake and (unintentionally) disregard the rodding facet completely. The inevitable happened- the drag racers went their own way and formed their own Association and we as Rodders were left on our own. Suddenly there was no 'Big Brother' - no easy money coming in. At this junction in 1971 - 1972 it appeared as if we, the Street Rodders, would fail, and it was not until we realised what we really had that we got up the courage to get out of the rut and give it a go.
We streamlined our organisation; we retained our representatives in each state and called them State Directors; we elected our own Honorary National Director, Bob Dykes, and retained the services of a full-time secretary; we looked to the improvement of our image and changed from the term Hot Rod to Street Rod, subsequently altering the name of Australian Hot Rod Federation to the Australian Street Rod Federation and slowly, but surely, started to pull the rodding movement together.
By now each State had a major Title Rod Show, each of which was enjoying good success, with increased entrants at each event. However, Modified Vehicle Legislation was a tremendous headache. It seemed that every politican was getting onto the band wagon and gaining votes by denigrating everything that had any other than stock modifications, regardless of what they were, how they were done, or by whom.
Despite these setbacks the sport continued to flourish; more Clubs began to emerge; those that had been both Street and Drag had to get their preferences straight; the Street Rodders were now thinking for themselves and they had a governing body who were prepared to act on their behalf.
The affiliated States had started to formulate their own TAC (Technical Advisory Committees). These committees were primarily fostered to set up a good, strong liaison with relevant traffic authorities in their State,and also to assist the would-be Rodder in the correct method of building his vehicle. It was necessary to incorporate with their standards those Australian Design Rules the local State Authorities required, and to negotiate with these bodies for the exemption of those rules that Rodders found impossible to incorporate in the building of Street Rods.
In 1971 interstate rod runs were organised and from these events the seeds for the "1st Street Rod Nationals" were sown. In 1973 the Federation put together our first ever truly national event - the mighty Street Rod Nationals in Narrandera, NSW The results were fantastic, not necessarily because of the number of vehicles involved, as there were only some 250 rods and customs, but because the enthusiasm, goodwill and fellowship that was established was something that one will never forget. The ASRF, through its members, gained the respect of the Narrandera residents and government authorities and were welcomed back in 1975 and 1977. The sport continued to grow rapidly, and it was due to this that the ASRF was forced to seek a larger venue for the Street Rod Nationals. Since these early days, the Nationals have been held every two years in such diverse points of Australia as Albury, Mildura, Canberra, Penrith and Adelaide. Popular runs are held each year in each State along with the State Title Shows and local club runs.
In 1993 the NCC approved the formation of the ACT Divisional Council. Robert Burke, who was elected ACT State Director, was the first ACT representative to attend an NCC Annual General Meeting in 1993.
