Remembering Pressed Metal-Sydney:Bus & Coaches.

[Denv12]

6.100 (406 x 283).jpg (37.22 KiB) Viewed 5789 times

I have edited this post to change the title to something more specific.Remembering Pressed Metal.

One bus builder that doesnt get mentioned very often is Pressed Metal in Sydney.Over the years they've made a variety of buses and coaches on various chassis even to the point they built some Denning Denair's which were badged as Pressed Metal not Denning. Note the badge in the grill in both photos.They were part of the JRA group of companies. Did anyone work at either of PMC Sydney or Adelaide or even Denning for that matter?

Can you name any bus/coach companies who were regular customers of Pressed Metal? I remember Punchbowl was a customer.

I'd like to get some historical post going here.If you have anything related to Pressed Metal from any point in their history you are all welcome to contribute anything.

What were their bus models called? What were the coach models called? Has anyone got photos of any of the 40 ft 3 axle coaches made by PMC Sydney?

I know that they built the PMC 160s there at the same time as PMC-Adelaide.

Has anyone covered the history of the JRA Group?

http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/thu ... hp?album=4

Thanks.

[system improver]

From Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressed_Metal_Corporation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressed_Me ... _Australia

And Wiki on Austral:

Austral was originally formed as Athol Hedges. It was later renamed Domino Hedges then Domino before becoming Austral in 1982 when purchased by the Australian Manufacturing Group. It originally bodied buses diversifying into integral buses and coaches (body and chassis) in the 1970s.

In December 1988 Austral was sold to Jaguar Rover Australia who also owned Denning, Austral's largest rival in the coach market.Both continued to operate separately until 1990 when the Denning plant in Acacia Ridge was closed and production transferred to the Austral factory.[

From 1992 the combined business was rebranded as Austral Denning. In July 1996, along with Jaguar Rover Australia's other bus bodybuilding operations, it was sold to the Clifford Corporation and rebranded Austral Pacific. This resulted in Ansair Orana Volvo B10BLE buses being bodied at Geebung for Brisbane Transport. Following the collapse of Clifford Corporation the plant closed in November 1998.


I guess it all fits together.

[Fleet Lists]

Somehow it does not seem to like the bracket at the end of the third link - I dont know why but just add the ) at the end of the URL to get it to work.

[Andrew]

Wow I had no idea that PMC had built some "Dennings"!!!

[Denv12]

Wow I had no idea that PMC had built some "Dennings"!!!

PMC in Adelaide built one years ago when STA Roadliner ordered a Denning but they wanted it built locally.Must be a govt thing to do.Wonder whether they refer to them as Pressed Metal Denairs.

[system improver]

Somehow it does not seem to like the bracket at the end of the third link - I dont know why but just add the ) at the end of the URL to get it to work.

Yep, funny that. I have amended my post to include the relatively short Wiki on Austral.

[venturatiger]

Were the Dennings built completley in NSW or built in Queensland & finished off at PMC to satisfy having NSW content in the build for the SRA

Venturatiger

[boronia]

I would find it surprising that all the jigs would be sent to Sydney just to build one bus.

I wonder if it was a bit of badge engineering: give the order to PMC who then subcontract it to Denning to build the body, maybe finish it off here.

Reminds me of all the "Mack" buses ACTION bought when it would have been politically insensitive to buy Renaults.

[Denv12]

Were the Dennings built completley in NSW or built in Queensland & finished off at PMC to satisfy having NSW content in the build for the SRA

Venturatiger

Wouldnt they have built the frame in Dennings then sent it to PMC to complete the build.Might have cost extra to transport the frame and other parts.

[Fleet Lists]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austral_% ... acturer%29

%29 instead of ) makes the link for Austral work - ) is not strictly allowed in a URL.

[Swift]

Highlights of PMC to me.

PMC progress style body of the 1970s which was popular with private bus companies for many years on all sorts of chassis in NSW and beyond. A major competitor to CCMC offerings.

Assembly of alot of Leyland Nationals from imported completey knocked down (ckd) kits from 1974 to 1976, fulfilling major orders from ACTION, MTT Hobart and M&MTB Melbourne. Putting them together must have been a learning curve for everyone concerned and resulted in the only Leyland Nationals completed anywhere outside of the Leyland National factory in Lilyhall, UK.

Fulfilling a record order of 551 Mercedes Benz 0305 mark II types in a space of two years. That must be some sort of a record for one type of bus produced in that time in Australia.

North & Western Bus Lines in Sydney's North employed PMC bodies on most of their Leyland leopard and, later, their (and associated Metro West Bus Lines )Tiger fleet from the late 1970s to about 1990 when their preferences shifted almost exclusively to Custom Coaches, bar a couple of Hino RGs with MCA bodywork from QLD.
I must also make mention of Ventura of Melbourne ordering the biggest Leyland Tiger fleet in Australia with a massive (for a private company) 60 strong fleet of PMC Sydney examples, most, if notall, featuring a rounded roof instead of the square shape roof.

The bitter sweet introduction of the very impressive looking PMC 160 body in 1990 which featured moulded plastic bumper bars, which caught up with trends in motor car design. PMC Sydney were to shut down soon after with only a small total number produced at the Sydney plant. The Greiner "cuts" obsessed regime would not have helped matters by not following through with a proposed order of a large batch of Mercedes 0405s with the PMC160 body to follow the earlier 0405s with vov based Metro 90 bodywork.
Does anyone know the extent to which Leyland determined the day to day operations of the company, as I understand they were the owner, at least for a period of time.

[boronia]

PMC assembled a lot of Land Rovers for the military, not sure if they built commercial models as well.

[CCCC]

Were the Dennings built completley in NSW or built in Queensland & finished off at PMC to satisfy having NSW content in the build for the SRA

Venturatiger

Rodd Hood would be the one to question this.

[crazyturbo76]

PMC assembled a lot of Land Rovers for the military, not sure if they built commercial models as well.

If I remember correctly the Leyland Australia cohort assembled most pre-90 and 110 Land Rovers in CKD form at either Enfield or PMC Revesby. Mokes obviously all were built in CKD form.

CKD production of Land Rovers and some Minis/Mokes continued at PMC after Leyland shut down operations at Zetland... for some time.

[ajw373]

Reminds me of all the "Mack" buses ACTION bought when it would have been politically insensitive to buy Renaults.

Off topic a little, but all the Mack's, well the bulk of them, specifically the PR100.2 and PR180.2 carried the Mack name because Mack was the agent in Australia and the contract for the supply of said buses was with Mack Trucks Australia. There was a political stoush some years later however this was when the PR100.3's were being delivered so the last dozen or so had all reference to Renault removed on the outside at least and substiuted for Mack.

I beleive the WA units didn't carry Mack names because of the different supply arrangement if I recall the chassis were supplied by Mack and bodies by Howard Porter etc, whereas the Canberra contract was for complete supply.

[boronia]

Renault owned Mack Trucks by that time, and "French" was a dirty word here because of their nuclear testing in the Pacific and fall out from the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior being bombed by French supporters in NZ.

There would have been political backlash if Canberra had been seen to be buying French products (calls for boycotts).

Renault trucks were being sold in USA and here with full Mack badging, but without the Renault logo, as happened with the buses.

Presumably there was less political sensitivity in WA and NSW when their Renault buses were ordered.

[ajw373]

Renault owned Mack Trucks by that time, and "French" was a dirty word here because of their nuclear testing in the Pacific and fall out from the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior being bombed by French supporters in NZ.

There would have been political backlash if Canberra had been seen to be buying French products (calls for boycotts).

Renault trucks were being sold in USA and here with full Mack badging, but without the Renault logo, as happened with the buses.

Presumably there was less political sensitivity in WA and NSW when their Renault buses were ordered.

The nuclear testing issue came in the 90's when the PR100.3's were being delivered and was as a resuly of France re-starting nuclear testing just before a treaty was being signed to do away with the practice. It was not the case in 1987/88 when the first ACT Renault/Macks arrived. Your are 100% right that Renault owned Mack, but I am right in saying the Canberra units carried Mack badging because the buses were supplied as a complete bodied (of course by Ansiar) bus by Mack Trucks Australia (MTA). Perth and NSW ordered chassis from MTA and then had them bodied separately.

[boronia]

The Rainbow Warrior bombing was in July 1985, so French nuclear testing was definitely an issue at that time.

Whatever the supply arrangements might have been "on paper" with MTA, there was little doubt from anyone in the industry at that time that it was an arrangement to camouflage the true source of the buses.

[ajw373]

The Rainbow Warrior bombing was in July 1985, so French nuclear testing was definitely an issue at that time.

Whatever the supply arrangements might have been "on paper" with MTA, there was little doubt from anyone in the industry at that time that it was an arrangement to camouflage the true source of the buses.

So why did they keep their Renault logos if they wanted to hide the orgins of the bus? I mean to say the Renault logo is pretty well known so not hiding much. Compare that to the 1996 issue where all reference to Renault was removed from the outside of the last batch of PR100.3's including the front logo which was replaced by a Mack bulldog and the red Renault wording on the side of the rear bumper was removed altogther.

[Industry]

Also at the time you could get Scania or Saab badged

[boronia]

I wondered that myself at the time. But Renault was never a big player in the car market here, and possibly not at all at that time; less so for trucks, if at all. The logo would not have been a readily identified image for the uninitiated, so it just flew under the "activists'" radar when hidden under the MACK badge. Like most of these political issues, a few people go out and make a lot of noise, but the general public couldn't care less. Obviously the Government didn't either.

The later Mack branding may just have been a company marketing strategy at the time, to retire the Renault brand here. I don't really know.

[ajw373]

The Renault brand was very well know through their cars in the 80's, especially in trendy/hip Canberra. There were many many around, same too with Citroen and Pugeout too.

The later change of branding circa 1996 was 100% due to the political backlash over the French resuming testing (they hadn't done tests in the Pacific for a number of years), this despite having signaled their intentions to sign a treaty to cease all testing. The French were getting their last lot in, it caused a major politcal back-lash and hence the last 10 or so PR100.3's had no visible Renault branding. Just the steering wheel had the Renault logo if I am not mistaken.

[Swift]

The Renault chassis must have been considered quite a good product to go to this badge engineering.
I always wondered how much of the bus was imported from France and how much was finished at Ansair. They look much closer in body detail to their home soil counterparts than most VOV based Merc/MAN buses completed here.

[ajw373]

As I keep saying, but of course there is disagreement, there was no political issue with the PR100.2's the reason for Mack badging was simply the supply arrangement, with Mack delivering complete buses to Action, but with Perth and Sydney they delivered just the chassis which were then bodied seperatly. Later on, yes there was an issue, hence the change in the PR100.3's.

As for the Action buses, obviously they have the front and rear supplied by Renault, as do the Perth units, the key difference is Perth used a slightly different desto header, whereas Action used the same style that was seen on later French units. Which not sure if co-incidence or not was also very similar to what Ansair had done to Actions 0305's, with the grills on either side of a flat desto window.

[boronia]

Getting back to the cars, Renault ceased local assembly here in 1981, and (from my memories) virtually walked away from the market. There may have been a small niche market for a local importer but the Governments 20% limit on imports put small volume importers at a disadvantage. Citroen and Peugot similarly faded away around this time.