Thread: Does this mean Aust made?

Hi Garry,

I've got the same on my II, I sent a letter to LR traceability and they said it was a CKD assembled in Sydney. But I might have botched the VIN when writing away so that might not be correct after all

It means it is a Completely Knocked Down kit assembled in Australia by Pressed Metal Corporation in Sydney. The term CKD covered a wide variety of completeness, from a kit complete down to the last nut and bolt, but partly disassembled and packed as small as possible, down to a partial kit with even the chassis just tack welded.

But my guess is that during Series 1 assembly there was very little made locally, except possibly locally supplied such things as lights, glass, tyres.

The firewall would be almost the last part to be made locally, as it is the most complex bit of assembly and also requires the most tooling of any part of the body/chassis, and I very much doubt if any Landrover firewalls have ever been made in Australia.

John

Were Pressed Metal Corporation also not affiliated with Comeng Commonwealth Engineering making train and train bodies from CKD as well?

I remember that part of the pricing strategy of the Series 1 Disco was to technically bring it into the country as a bare bones car, and then add everything on as an accessory, including A/C. All cars sold were accessorised, but the strategy avoided luxury car tax and brought the Disco in at under $40K.

G'day Garrycol

Pressed Metal Corp. was a wholly owned subsiduary of Leyland Aust P/L and built and assembled vehicles from imported components manufactured by Leyland UK they started way back in the days of BMC.

The body plate that you have is from a vehicle that was built up from CKD, LRS (Land Rover Std) 1622 88 (88inchWB. No 1622)


that would read to a service /spare parts person as 88inch series 1 vehicle No 1622

cheers

Originally Posted by joel_nicholson

Were Pressed Metal Corporation also not affiliated with Comeng Commonwealth Engineering making train and train bodies from CKD as well?

I don't think they were affiliated with them, but I would be surprised if they did not do some subcontract work for Comeng. I think they were originally owned by Austin, but changed hands after Leyland ceased manufacturing in Australia and are now apparently defunct. I suspect JRA ended up with at least some of their assets.

John

G'day Joel Nicholson

Commonwealth Engineering was originally part or fully owned by the Commonwealth Govt. pre WW11, I think it was originally set up during the depression, and to build and fabricate railway rolling stock and locos, they were in Sydney and Brisbane and I think also in Melbourne, they also built electricity transformers, and truck and bus bodies, but they were not any part of PMC Ltd.

cheers

Originally Posted by JDNSW

I don't think they were affiliated with them, but I would be surprised if they did not do some subcontract work for Comeng. I think they were originally owned by Austin, but changed hands after Leyland ceased manufacturing in Australia and are now apparently defunct. I suspect JRA ended up with at least some of their assets.

John

Just to clarify the above - the second sentence refers to PMC - not Comeng, which as Uncle Ho says was set up by the Commonwealth during the depression.
John