The Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation of Australia (VBEF) was an Australian trade union which existed between 1863 and 1993.

In the late nineteenth century a number of small unions were formed in the Australian colonies to represent skilled coachbuilders in the horse-drawn coach building industry.

During the 1920s the union's membership was transformed as motor cars replaced coaches and carriages, and assembly line methods of production replaced trade-qualified coachbuilders with unskilled or semi-skilled assembly workers.

The union grew rapidly after WWII, due to the growth in the Australian car industry, reaching approximately 30,000 members by the early 1960s.

[3]: 42  Many of these new members were recent migrants from Europe, termed New Australians, who could easily find unskilled work in the large car assembly plants despite limited English.