The Cowra Crankhandle Volume 25 No. 9 February 2018 Cowra Crankhandle Page 2 COWRA ANTIQUE VEHICLE CLUB INC. POSTAL ADDRESS: PO BOX 731 COWRA NSW 2794 ABN: 95 035 591 220 Public Liability Insurance No. AS A172000 PLB Fair Trading Registration No. Y1784746 Shannon’s web page http://carclubs.shannons.com.au/cavc Facebook web page http://www.facebook.com/CowraAntiqueVehicleClub?ref=hl Name: Cowra Antique Vehicle Club BSB: 032820 Acc. 283380 PATRON: MAURICE RANDELL Molonglo’ Woodstock 2793 Ph. 6345 0283 [email protected] PRESIDENT: MR RUSSELL DENNING – 39 Dawson Drive Cowra 2794 Ph. (02)6342 3117 Email: [email protected] Mob. 0402078142 VICE-PRESIDENT: MR. WAYNE REEKS - 170 Seymour St Bathurst 2795 Ph. 02 6331 1553 Email: [email protected] SECRETARY/ CMC DELEGATE: KATHY DENNING – 39 Dawson Drive Cowra 2794 (02) 6342 3117 Email: [email protected] TREASURER/PUBLIC OFFICER: IAN REID -19 Gower Hardy Circuit Cowra 2794 Ph. 6342 1699 PLATES REGISTRAR/EDITOR: MR RUSSELL DENNING – 39 Dawson Drive Cowra 2794 Ph. (02)6342 3117 Email: [email protected] Mob. 0402078142 SCRUTINEERS: MR. KEN MASTERS MR. STEVEN BARKER MR. RUSSELL DENNING MR. IAN REID MR. VIC BOWER PROPERTY OFFICER: VIC BOWER - 17 Whitby St Cowra 2794 Ph. 0448079490 [email protected] 14051 EVENTS / FUND RAISING COMMITTEE: All Financial Members The Cowra Antique Vehicle club meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of each month at 7:30 pm at the Cowra Railway Station Clubroom Opinions expressed in this magazine/newsletter are not necessarily those of the club or the committee. Information supplied to the editor for inclusion is published in good faith; therefore responsibility for its accuracy cannot be accepted by the club, its members or the editor. Materials are invited for inclusion in the magazine and should be forwarded to the editor bearing the name of the author. Materials submitted may be edited to improve clarity or for space purposes. Cover: - W.C. Fields in a American Traveller Cowra Crankhandle Page 3 Editor’s/Plates Notes Sometimes there is good news, well at least for me; I received an email from a business house out of town that I deal with pretty regularly as Editor. They sent an invoice questioning if we had received an item. I responded with “YES, should have said NO and got a free one” Their response was “Russell you are too nice to be dishonest”. Made my day! I had a good laugh at a comment on Facebook – Commented “This is the face of the person who dobbed you in for having a modified car on HCRS H plates.” Just goes to show what some people think of the HCRS Policy. Modified cars do not belong on H plates, RMS Policy. Another funny one, although Burnie Rutter’s Tractor is registered it did/does not come up on a registration search with the RMS. The RMS operator’s supervisor Happy Motoring said that H plated vehicles do not show up. After 10 minutes walking the RMS through the procedure and using Wayne Reeks rego number which came up instantly, left me on hold to talk to her supervisor. Apparently if there is no previous normal registration it will not show up. Happy Motoring Cowra Crankhandle Page 4 FEBRUARY 5 2018 - 4:00PM Kathy Denning joins Hidden Treasures Honour Roll Cowra Crankhandle Page 5 A huge congratulations to Kathy on her addition to the 2017 Honour Roll for hidden treasures. Awarded for behind the scenes service within community groups History of Mitsubishi Workers at Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd alongside one of the prototype Mitsubishi Model A automobiles. Mitsubishi's automotive origins date back to 1917, when the Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. introduced the Mitsubishi Model A, Japan's first series-production automobile.[12] An entirely hand-built seven- seater sedan based on the Fiat Tipo 3, it proved expensive compared to its American and European mass- produced rivals, and was discontinued in 1921 after only 22 had been built.[13] In 1934, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding was merged with the Mitsubishi Aircraft Co., a company established in 1920 to manufacture aircraft engines and other parts. The unified company was known as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), and was the largest private company in Japan.[14] MHI concentrated on manufacturing aircraft, ships, railroad cars and machinery, but in 1937 developed the PX33, a prototype sedan for military use. It was the first Japanese-built passenger car with full-time four-wheel drive, a technology the company would return to almost fifty years later in its quest for motorsport and sales success.[15] A 1937 Mitsubishi PX33 on display at the Mondial de l'Automobile in September 2006. Post-war era Immediately following the end of the Second World War, the company returned to manufacturing vehicles. Fuso bus production resumed, while a small three-wheeled cargo vehicle called the Mizushima and a scooter called the Silver Pigeon were also developed. However, the zaibatsu (Japan's family-controlled industrial conglomerates) were ordered to be dismantled by the Allied powers in 1950, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was split into three regional companies, each with an involvement in motor vehicle development: West Japan Heavy- Industries, Central Japan Heavy-Industries, and East Japan Heavy-Industries. East Japan Heavy-Industries began importing the Henry J, an inexpensive American sedan built by Kaiser Motors, in knockdown kit (CKD) form in 1951, and continued to bring them to Japan for the remainder of the car's three- year production run. The same year, Central Japan Heavy-Industries concluded a similar contract with Willys (now owned by Kaiser) for CKD-assembled Jeep CJ-3Bs. This deal proved more durable, with licensed Mitsubishi Jeeps in production until 1998, thirty years after Willys themselves had replaced the model. By the beginning of the 1960s Japan's economy was gearing up; wages were rising and the idea of family motoring was taking off. Central Japan Heavy-Industries, now known as Shin Mitsubishi Heavy-Industries, had already re-established an automotive department in its headquarters in 1953. Now it was ready to introduce the Mitsubishi 500, a mass market sedan, to meet the new demand from consumers. It followed this in 1962 with the Minica car and the Colt 1000, the first of its Colt line of family cars, in 1963. In 1964, Mitsubishi introduced its Cowra Crankhandle Page 6 largest passenger sedan, the Mitsubishi Debonair as a luxury car primarily for the Japanese market, and was used by senior Mitsubishi executives as a company car. West Japan Heavy-Industries (now renamed Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering) and East Japan Heavy- Industries (now Mitsubishi Nihon Heavy-Industries) had also expanded their automotive departments in the 1950s, and the three were re-integrated as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1964. Within three years its output was over 75,000 vehicles annually. Following the successful introduction of the first Galant in 1969 and similar growth with its commercial vehicle division, it was decided that the company should create a single operation to focus on the automotive industry. Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) was formed on April 22, 1970 as a wholly owned subsidiary of MHI under the leadership of Tomio Kubo, a successful engineer from the aircraft division. The logo of three red diamonds, shared with over forty other companies within the keiretsu, predates Mitsubishi Motors itself by almost a century. It was chosen by Iwasaki Yatarō, the founder of Mitsubishi, as it was suggestive of the emblem of the Tosa Clan who first employed him, and because his own family crest was three rhombuses stacked atop each other. The name Mitsubishi (三菱) consists of two parts: "mitsu" meaning "three" and "hishi" (which becomes "bishi" under rendaku) meaning "water caltrop" (also called "water chestnut"), and hence "rhombus", which is reflected in the company's logo Chrysler connection 1970s 1971 MHI sold U.S. automotive giant Chrysler a 15 percent share in the new company. Thanks to this deal, Chrysler began selling the Galant in the United States as the Dodge Colt (which was the first rebadged Mitsubishi product sold by Chrysler), pushing MMC's annual production beyond 250,000 vehicles. In 1977, the Galant was sold as the Chrysler Sigma in Australia. Part of Mr. Kubo's expansion strategy was to increase exports by forging alliances with well-established foreign companies. Therefore, in A 1973 Mitsubishi Galant, the basis for the company's first import deal with Chrysler. By 1977, a network of "Colt"-branded distribution and sales dealerships had been established across Europe, as Mitsubishi sought to begin selling vehicles directly. Annual production had by now grown from 500,000 vehicles in 1973 to 965,000 in 1978, when Chrysler began selling the Galant as the Dodge Challenger and the Plymouth Sapporo. However, this expansion was beginning to cause friction; Chrysler saw their overseas markets for subcompacts as being directly encroached by their Japanese partners, while MMC felt the Americans were demanding too much say in their corporate decisions. 1980s Mitsubishi finally achieved annual production of one million cars in 1980, but by this time its ally was not so healthy; As part of its battle to avoid bankruptcy, Chrysler was forced to sell its Australian manufacturing division to MMC that year. The new Japanese owners renamed it Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd (MMAL). In 1982, the Mitsubishi brand was introduced to the American market for the first time. The Tredia sedan, and the Cordia and Starion coupés, were initially sold through seventy dealers in 22 states, with an allocation of 30,000 vehicles between them. This quota, restricted by mutual agreement between the two countries' governments, had to be included among the 120,000 cars earmarked for Chrysler.