A new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria takes the Australian car out of the realm of petrol heads and, by placing it into an art gallery, moves it into the design zone. Cars are not only functional, but also objects of style and beauty and this exhibition sets to tease out the Australian contribution to automobile design. As the sun sets over the local car manufacturing industry, this exhibition is a timely reassessment of what the car has meant to Australians, not simply as a mode of transport, but also as an aesthetic object and a symbol of status.

The structure of the exhibition is relatively simple with 23 iconic cars selected for display, which trace a linear chronology from the late 19th century and the steam-powered "horseless carriages" through to the Lewis Bandt 1934 "ute" and muscle cars and on to the power V8s and the stunning concept vehicles. Each vehicle is shown within its historic and design context, complete with design drawings, documentation and assembled ephemera, with one of the most revered legends on show, the original plaster maquette of the "Holden Lion".

Some of the concept vehicles, such as Don Daharsh's Holden Hurricane (1969), which appears more like a piece of sculpture exploiting futurist kinetic design, never made it into production and remain in folklore as one of the most revolutionary cars to be conceived in Australia. Others, including the Chrysler Charger, Holden Monaro and the Holden Torana, have an established reputation as legends in Australian life.

It is a challenging and unusual exhibition that goes considerably beyond the simple task of documenting the Australian car and highlighting some of the exceptional designers who worked on it during the past 120 years. In a way, the exhibition presents a social history of taste in this country. Walking around the show, constantly the question which arose in my mind was as to the social aspirations of the people who bought these cars and who commissioned some of the special and extravagant creations.

What was the society which gave people the expectation of a large family car, like a hearse on wheels, to go for a spin in the country each Sunday? I immediately think of John Brack's classic image of the family outing in a car. Who were the rural folk who needed a vehicle which could take the family to church on Sundays and for the rest of the time spin around the paddocks delivering bales of hay? What was the significance of the muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s and the move of the endurance circuit around Phillip Island, which continued until 1962, to the macho display at Mount Panorama near Bathurst? What was the demographic to whom such vehicles appealed? Why did these high performance street cars suffer a rapid decline in popularity in the early 1970s? Apart from the Gulf oil crisis, what else precipitated the move to smaller and more petrol-efficient vehicles?

On display is also the history of the racing car in Australia, where locally designed machines, one-off specials, started to give the imports a run for their money. There is the remarkable story of the Repco Brabham BT 19, Australia's most famous racing car and other cars which became legends for generations of Australians.

The exhibition curated by Harriet Edquist and David Hurlston is accompanied by a lavish catalogue sensitively designed by Danny Jacobsen. Refreshingly, the exhibition is refreshingly found on the ground floor of the Federation Square building, rather than tucked away up in the rafters as have been most of the earlier special exhibitions.

If, at the beginning of the 20th century Marinetti had his finger on the pulse of his epoch and the zeitgeist that reflected an obsession with speed, violence and technology, now the whole automobile industry internationally, and in Australia, is experiencing a period of self-doubt and is in crisis. This important exhibition, by examining where the car has come from and the path which it has travelled, serves as a timely assessment of its heritage. Personally, I suspect the car is about to undergo the greatest transformation in its history in the next couple of decades, unrecognisable from the vehicles we drive today.

Shifting Gear: Design, innovation and the Australian car is National Gallery of Victoria, Federation Square. Closes July 12.