A presented to a luncheon of the members of
Standard Cars Australia Dealers Group by Tony Atkinson President of
our Club. These are ex- Standard Car company and or dealer guys who
meet at regular intervals to ‘keep in touch’ with each other.
|A company called Eclipse Motors was
established in the 1920s for the purpose of imported automobile
distribution in Australia. The business expanded into automobile
production at its Port Melbourne, Victoria location starting in 1952
under a new name: Standard Motor Company (Aust.) Pty. Ltd.
The objective of the franchise for building cars in Australia was to
avoid high import taxes, to provide local employment, and possibly
establish an indigenous automobile industry. Therefore, the Port
Melbourne assembly plant became a birthplace for the Australian
motor industry. The factory imported complete knock down (CKD) kits
and had the capacity to assemble about 100 vehicles per day.
The company was listed on the Melbourne Stock Exchange
as Standard Motor Products Ltd - the majority shareholder being Standard
Triumph International. It produced British models made by the Standard
Motor Company and the Triumph Motor Company (which Standard had acquired
in 1946). These cars were the Vanguard, Standard 8 and 10, and Triumph. In
addition, the company manufactured the Ferguson tractor (Standard held the
license for the manufacture of these tractors, and they provided the
4-cylinder wet sleeve engine (ex Vanguard).
The Vanguard was Standard's mainstay in the Australian market. The
automobile was conceived by Standard's Managing Director, Sir John Black,
as a car for sale in overseas markets - particularly Australia. From its
introduction in 1949, it was one of the few genuine competitors to the
Holden during the 1950s.
By 1956, the Standard Motor Company employed over 1600 workers at its
modern assembly plant in Port Melbourne and the company had an extensive
dealer network all over Australia.
The company ran into financial trouble in the late-1950s
and the company regrouped and in 1958 was renamed Australian Motor
Industries Ltd. Besides Standard vehicles, the AMI assembly plant now
assembled Mercedes-Benz cars from Germany, as well as a full range of
American Motors (AMC) vehicles from the United States. Other brands of
cars were also assembled at the facility. These included the Triumph
6-cylinder range: the 2000, 2.5PI, and 2500TC. In the Australian market,
the local assembly of these cars gave them a distinct price advantage over
their UK rival, the Rover 2000. As a result, the Triumphs considerably
outsold the equivalent Rovers, and these cars continue to be seen on
I believe that AMI was located between Graham and Bertie Streets about ˝
kilometre south of the Yarra River - an area that has probably now given
way to the Westgate Freeway. I've heard that around 1962/63 AMI were
assembling Toyotas, Standard Vanguards, Triumph Heralds, Ramblers from
American Motor Company, Mercedes Benz sedans and Mercedes Benz trucks. A
pair of Mercedes Benz trucks would be quietly assembled in a separate area
at the eastern end of the plant while the MB sedans, Vanguards and
Ramblers etc. would move down an assembly line. I believe that it was only
for a brief time that AMI assembled the Triumph Herald as it was to prove
unsuccessful. The story goes that the car was too fragile & had
a tendency for windows to pop out on rough unmade Aussie roads.
The sedan assembly line went up one side of the factory through the paint
shop and then back down for final installation of the mechanicals and
trim. Up in the roof area of one section of the factory a mezzanine
floor had been built. This housed the trim section where the seats,
door panels and head linings were made. There were rows of sewing machines
and large work benches where the vinyl and cloth materials were cut out in
preparation for sewing and gluing.
I also believe that, on the assembly line below, it was quite common to
see Vanguards, Heralds and Ramblers intermixed moving down the line in
succession and all of the same colour as the paint shop used the same
colour for a number of makes and models. I guess that it was
probably only by good chance that different makes and models were
assembled with the correct pieces!
The hours of work at the factory were from about 7.30 am to 4.15 pm.
At the lunch break the line was stopped and the workers made their way to
the company canteen. We hear that the AMI canteen served pretty good meals
and because they were probably subsidised, were very good value - a fine
meal would be had for about 2/6. I guess that for many workers this
was their main meal for the day.
Over the two week period around Christmas & New Year, the assembly
line would be shut down to carry out maintenance of the machinery, tools
and assembly jigs. I have heard that this was good opportunity to
earn a bit extra as there was plenty of overtime available including
weekends and public holidays. On Boxing Day the pay was double time for
the first four hours with triple time for the next four hours.
Operations with AMC
AMI assembled a broad range of AMC cars, all with
right-hand drive and carried the Rambler brand name. This means that
Australians could purchase a Rambler Javelin, AMX, Hornet, or Matador long
after the Rambler marque was dropped from use on the equivalent U.S.-made
Complete knock down kits were shipped from AMC's Kenosha, Wisconsin
facility (all knock-down kits to all assembly operations were from
Kenosha), but the Australian cars were assembled with a percentage of
"local content" to gain tariff concessions. This was done using
parts and components (such as seats, carpet, lights, and heaters) from
local Australian suppliers. AMI specified what parts were not to be
included in the unassembled kits sent by AMC. That's why the door tag on
an AMI assembled car has no trim number -- AMC didn't know how it would be
trimmed inside. That's also why colour choice was limited in Australia --
the bodies were painted at the body plant just like all bodies going to
Kenosha. AMI therefore had to order specific colours, and only had a
limited supply of each. Instead of being fully assembled the body had the
engine, transmission, front suspension and rear axle installed (as well as
a few other parts such as door latches), and then was pulled from the
line. Other necessary parts specified by the assembler were boxed and
shipped inside the car for assembly at the final destination. It is
unknown exactly how many parts were included to be installed by the
assembly operation that varied with each operation.
American Motors cars were assembled in Port Melbourne by AMI up to 1978.
The company retained a niche market as the sole U.S. sourced cars
available in the Australian marketplace. For example, the Government of
New South Wales selected the Rambler Rebel and Matador as "VIP"
transport in the 1970s.
Toyota and Buyout
The first Toyota ever built outside Japan was assembled
by AMI in April 1963: the Toyota Tiara. The AMI production of
Toyotas expanded in the 1960s to also include the Crown, Corona, and
Corolla assembled at AMI's Port Melbourne factory. As a fast growing
company, Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan took a controlling interest in
AMI in 1968, as well as a 40% share in Thiess Holdings, an importer of
light commercial vehicles, which it renamed Thiess Toyota.
Recognizing the majority owner of the company and the products that it
manufactured and marketed, AMI renamed itself as AMI Toyota Ltd in 1985.
The company continued to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with a
minority Australian shareholding until 1987, when Toyota moved to acquire
the shares held by the remaining shareholders.
The Japanese company then amalgamated the company with its other
Australian operations in 1989 to form two arms. The Toyota Motor
Corporation Australia which was responsible for passenger vehicles and
Toyota Motor Sales Australia, which was responsible for both Toyota
commercial vehicles and Hino trucks.
Toyota vehicle production was transferred from the historic Port Melbourne
factory to the company's new $420 million facility at Altona, Victoria in
1994. In an interesting turn of operations, the Australian facility now
exports CKD kits to assembly plants in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Vietnam, and the Philippines.