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Pressed Metal Corporation

Pressed Metal Corporation
Industryvehicle body building
vehicle assembly
bus manufacturing
bus refurbishment
FoundedLate 1930s
DefunctApril 1999
Headquarters
Enfield
Revesby
ParentClifford Corporation

Pressed Metal Corporation was an Australian automotive body building and assembly operation based in New South Wales.

History

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Austin A55 Coupe Utility

Pressed Metal Corporation (PMC) was established in the late 1930s as a joint venture between Larke Hoskins, the Austin agents for New South Wales, and affiliated company Larke, Neave & Carter, the Chrysler distributor in that state.[1] It was created to build motor bodies, at a 22-acre site in the Sydney suburb of Enfield.[2] PMC subsequently assembled various Austin cars and commercial vehicles, however, following the creation of BMC Australia in 1954, much of the assembly of Austin vehicles was taken over by Austin Distributors in Melbourne.[1]

By 1956, the Enfield facility was producing Leyland bus chassis, Land Rovers, Morris commercial vehicles and Austin A40/A50/A55 utilities, with the bodies of the Austins having been designed by PMC itself.[1] PMC subsequently undertook subcontract assembly of various BMC products including Austin-Healey Sprite, Austin Gipsy, MG MGA, MG MGB, MG Midget and Morris J2.[3] Bus body building and assembly was undertaken at PMC's facility in Milperra[1] with the bus assembly operation moved to Revesby in 1965.[4]

An agreement was reached with Datsun Australia in 1966 to assembly Datsun Bluebird 1300s but the arrangement lasted only 18 months.[4]

In 1968, Pressed Metal Corporation was purchased by Leyland Australia,[5] Between May 1967 and October 1990, it bodied 2,289 of the 2,603 buses delivered to the State Transit Authority and its predecessors.[6] It also delivered 3,000 buses to private operators.[7][8] PMC ceased bodying buses in January 1991 with the last being a Leyland Tiger for St Ives Bus Services.[7][9] From 1975 the Leyland Mini and Leyland Moke were assembled at Enfield, as were Land Rovers, Leyland National bus chassis and Mercedes-Benz bus chassis.[3]

PMC was included in the sale by JRA Limited (formerly Leyland Australia) of its bus businesses to Clifford Corporation in July 1996. It was converted to a bus refurbishment facility, subsequently closing in April 1999 following Clifford's collapse.[10]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d MGA in Australia BMC Experience
  2. ^ MGB in Oz BMC Experience
  3. ^ a b Products Archived 2014-07-14 at the Wayback Machine BMCLA Heritage
  4. ^ a b Pedr Davis, The Macquarie Dictionary of Motoring, 1985, page 380
  5. ^ BMC Leyland in Australia The BMC Experience issue 17
  6. ^ State Transit Authority Australian Bus Fleet Lists
  7. ^ a b "PMC Sydney to Close" Australian Bus Panorama November 1990 issue 6/4 page 17
  8. ^ PMC (Pressed Metal Corporation) Bus Australia Photo Gallery
  9. ^ "Bodybuilder News" Fleetline September 1991 issue 194 page 151
  10. ^ "Austral Pacific Group" Fleetline issue 260 May 1999 page 75
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