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How Many Went To Australia!


rockerbillykat

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Ok you knowledgable lot!

Can anyone tell me how many Dodge D-25s were exported too

Australia?

I have looked for production numbers,but cant find any reference

too these exports!

I have found a small article on these cars and a assembly plant(T.J.Richards)in South Australia,so i am assuming they were assembled here and shipped over in parts!

Can anyone varify this or any other info for this model(46-48)Special De-Luxe

Sedan.

I was also told they were based on a 1939 body!

Is this right!

As there are not many left here in Australia,maybe 10-15 that i am aware of,

(correct me if im wrong)

How special is my Special De-Luxe?

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Round figures 2000 for D25. Information source Richards body parts book.

Many part numbers were from 1938,39 and 40 models which can be distinguished by the part # prefix.

Sorry to change track but does the Richards book give a break down of truck or ute numbers made?

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Ok you knowledgable lot!

Can anyone tell me how many Dodge D-25s were exported too

Australia?

I have looked for production numbers,but cant find any reference

too these exports!

I have found a small article on these cars and a assembly plant(T.J.Richards)in South Australia,so i am assuming they were assembled here and shipped over in parts!

Can anyone varify this or any other info for this model(46-48)Special De-Luxe

Sedan.

I was also told they were based on a 1939 body!

Is this right!

As there are not many left here in Australia,maybe 10-15 that i am aware of,

(correct me if im wrong)

How special is my Special De-Luxe?

Chrysler built 3,438 D25 chassis during the three years the model was in production. Do not know how many were shipped to Australia, but I suspect the bulk of them were. Somewhere around here I have the serial number blocks of the chassis shipped to Australia during this period. If I remember correctly, the numbers are just the first and last numbers and not all the numbers in between were shipped.

And, yes, the D25 body was based on the 1939 body T.J. Richards tooled up. The Richards 1939 body had a higher windshield, an A pillar with a greater slant and the front vent wing was also angled.

For 1940 Richards redesigned the front clip and rear fenders. I do not believe there were 1942 models in Australia. For 1946, Richards again came up with a new front clip and new rear fenders, along with new taillights. They also gave the body a one piece rear window. The trunk lid of the 1946-48 models was basically the same as the 1939 models.

The front windshield and the doors were also virtually the same as 1939. The windows in the doors had very rounded corners, as in 1939, as opposed to the squarer corners used on the Amrican 1942-48 originals.

A few years back the British magazine, "The Automobile", printed a couple of photos of a postwar "Mercury" - they were actually the Plymouth-based DeSoto export models, SP15, with a T.J. Richards body.

Would also be interested in a copy of any manuals or parts books of Australian Chrysler products. Would be happy to cover the cost of scanning, copying, mailing, etc.

Bill

Vancouver, BC

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I have a April 20 1940 Chrysler parts list for the C25, C26, and C27 models. It's issued by the Chrysler Corporation Export Division. I also have a US parts list I bought earlier before I found the Export list. There doesn't appear to be a lot of difference. Both list RHD parts. I'm reluctant to pick it apart for scanning, and it will take an age to do it page by page...

My 40 Chrysler is a 39 TJR body with a US 40 front clip and rear guards grafted on. Personally I like the sloper rear over the US hump. Mine was 1 out of 160 or so chassis that left the US in 1940. I've heard of one more ex embassy car around Melbourne.

Cheers

Ricky Luke

40 C25 Chrysler

Bendigo Australia

PS Junior member my foot!

Edited by Ricky Luke
Hmmph!
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Thanks everyone for your imput!

When i first purchased the car i did not have any knowledge on

this model,i bought it because it really appealed to me as i had not seen one of these model Dodges before!

As i looked up info on her i began to realize that these cars are

thin on the ground over here!

About two years ago i went along to the "Chrysler Day"here in Melbourne,

got talkin to a guy with a 39 Dodge from the Chrysler restorers club

and mentioned i had just recently purchased a 48,he told me of a

member who also had a 48 D25.

With in ten minutes of our conversation,in rolled an original,black,D-25 Sedan,

i musta talked this guys ear off,i had so many questions.

Needless to say i came home with a great big smile on my mug

and a lot more knowledgable!

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I was lucky I managed to score an Australian Chrysler service manual covering Plymouth, Dodge, De Soto 1946-1953 as well as a Canadian owners manual which has a lot of information in it.

The service manual has a lot of exploded diagrams yet its down fall is that it doesn't list part numbers for anything.

There is an exact original copy on eBay right now ... LINK

I suggest if you have a D25 or AUS delivered classic mopar and don't have at least a service manual start bidding.

If you miss out and still need a copy ... I am going to some time in the not too distant future convert mine to soft copy and post on my blog

Will perform acts of brief indecency for an AUS TJ Richards (Chrysler Australia) 1946-1953 parts manual though :D

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I am in possession of the Richards body parts book. It wasn't issued until

1953. Only printed because body repairers were in need of part #s.

It has photographs and number listings and serial #s where things changed.

P15, D25 and SP15 are covered.

I regret to add that this publication is classified.

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Thanks Aussie D-25 for the ebay link,just purchased the

workshop manual,hopefully i should have it by early next week!

It will be interesting to see if there are any differences between

the workshop manual i have on CD(Detroit Iron) and the Chrysler Australia

version!

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Classified - Restricted information. The letter that came with the publication which was issued by CAL stated that the information contained was only for the major parts outlets in each State. Although the book has CAL printed on the cover the letter was from Yorke Motors, Sydney.

It's pretty hard to figure what was going on but would think that CAL were

embarrassed by the lack of technical support for their products at that time.

For some reason Yorke Motors in Sydney supplied all CAL outlets with parts.

Having worked for CAL in the 60s I can understand why there is a vacuum in

Richards history. When CAL forcibly Acquired CD Distributors the first job was to destroy the records, it happened again when MMAL took over CAL.

MMAL systematically destroyed everything Chrysler until they systematically destroyed themselves.

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Classified - Restricted information. The letter that came with the publication which was issued by CAL stated that the information contained was only for the major parts outlets in each State. Although the book has CAL printed on the cover the letter was from Yorke Motors, Sydney.

It's pretty hard to figure what was going on but would think that CAL were

embarrassed by the lack of technical support for their products at that time.

For some reason Yorke Motors in Sydney supplied all CAL outlets with parts.

Having worked for CAL in the 60s I can understand why there is a vacuum in

Richards history. When CAL forcibly Acquired CD Distributors the first job was to destroy the records, it happened again when MMAL took over CAL.

MMAL systematically destroyed everything Chrysler until they systematically destroyed themselves.

CAL no longer exists. CD Distributors no longer exists. I suspect Yorke Motors no longer exists. And the "restriction" is no longer valid as no party involved deals in the product under discussion.

The use of distributors was a common practise for the auto industry world wide back then. The auto companies dealt with the distributors and the distributors recruited and dealt with the dealers, and vice versa. The distributors handled the supply of parts and cars to the dealers. If you check Canadian Chrysler parts books of the 1930's and 1940's they advise the dealers to send their parts requests to their distributor.

In Winnipeg, where I grew up, Breen Motors was the Dodge-DeSoto distributor for Manitoba and northwest Ontario. They had a four storey building on Main Street and Webb Place that was used for parts storage and engine rebuilding as well as sales and service. When Chrysler of Canada decided to end the distributor network, Breen's operation on Main Street was acquired by Century Motors.

Century Motors had been a Studebaker dealer on Portage Avenue until its distributor, Consolidated Motors, switched to Ford. Consolidated Motors also serviced Manitoba and northwest Ontario, and when they switched to Ford Studebaker lost every dealer in Manitoba and northwest Ontario.

Which is why the big push by Chrysler, GM, Studebaker and AMC to rid the firms of distributors in the 1950's.

Chrysler in Canada and the U.S. published a serial number and model guide annually prior to 1958. That publication was meant for dealers' eyes only, but as the models under discussion are no longer serviced by Chrysler or its dealers, the restriction is moot.

And such is the case with the Australian information. There are no players around to enforce any "restrictions". And even if they did, as in the case of Chrysler's serial number books, they really wouldn't care as they no longer handle anything listed in the book.

So, share the wealth! Help correct CAL's errors of destruction.

Bill

Vancouver, BC

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RHDSP15C........so are you telling us that you have this info but can't or won't devulge it?.........lol.........you have got to be kidding........lol........seriously?....... Eddie Ford from Restored Cars Magazine has been trying to get a book on Oz mopars done for about 10yrs........this sort of info would HELP the hobby here in Oz........geez.......I have been playing with my mopars since 1970 and this is the first time I have ever heard this.........this...........this.......am speechless........tell us why you can't tell us this............Andy Douglas.......am not afraid of saying who I am also.......andyd

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Rocker & Tim, my apologies for my comments but this is just rediculous, this sort of info would as, I said, help the hobby here in Oz, what is gunna happen if this so called classified info is deseminated?...........is Walter P. gunna come after me for knowing more about the company,cars etc ......just unbelievable.......sorry, am really annoyed about this as I have been trying to get/find this sort of info about my Dodge since I bought it in 1971 & to have someone say they have info from back then, which may or may not answer some of my questions but refuses to tell what it is just beggers believe.........andyd

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What I stated was correct only ten copies were printed. Eight were issued and the two remaining mint copies were retained by Yorke Motors. Somehow they mysteriously escaped and a few years ago and were placed on the market. I tried to get both but one got "lost" only to reappear on ebay au about two years ago. I heard on the grape vine that it ended in NZ, why those pagans would want it I don't know. Anyway what I said about it being

classified is a fact but I didn't do the classifying. By the way CAL is still in existence.

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State secrets become unclassified after 30-40 yrs..........sheese.........what sort of info does this have in it?..........which Chrysler Australia Sales Rep slept with who?........just unbelievable........unbelievable........andyd

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Oh......and if, as you say it was printed only because body repairers needed to know part numbers etc.......how in earth did they get this "classified" info that they needed.......walk down a dark alley, knock three times on a secret door............and ask for Joe?..........lol..........and many the time was that when I visited Deloraine Chrysler on Illawara Road Marrickville in Sydney (I lived in Rockdale, 15 minutes drive away) in the early 1970s that they used to give me the parts books to look up what I was after rather than tie them up trying to find 1940 Dodge info........these must have been unclassified USA books.....lol.........andyd

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