Triumph Sports Owners Association Victoria

TSOAvictoria

RECOLLECTIONS OF MY TIME AT AUSTRALIA MOTOR INDUSTRIES

It was in the summer period of 1962/63 when I went hunting for work during my vacation after completing the first year of my economics course at Melbourne University. I cycled from my family's home in Prahran to South Melbourne trying a number of factories in the area before finally landing a job with the Australian Motor Industries. AMI was located between Graham and Bertie Streets about 600 yds south of the Yarra.

At this time AMI was assembling Toyotas, Standard Vanguards, Triumph Heralds, Ramblers from American Motor Company, Mercedes Benz sedans and Mercedes Benz trucks. Being without a formal trade qualification and untrained in the motor industry I was taken on as an assembly labourer. My informal training was from my father who was a skilled metal worker employed by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation and tinkering with my first car a Singer 9. My initial tasks were in the assembly of the completely knocked down (CKD) Mercedes Benz trucks which had been brought into Australia in very large wooden crates. A pair of these 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 had plenty of chances to see the main assembly line. It appeared to operate with far more rigid labour practices compared with the lower pressure of the MB truck assembly which was only concerned with two vehicles at any time spread over about three weeks. 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 headlinings were made up. There were rows of sewing machines and large work benches where the vinyl and cloth materials were cut out in preparation for sewing and glueing.

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. Upon reflection, I now think that it was probably only by good chance that different makes and models were assembled with the correct pieces! This view is based on one classic example in the truck assembly which remains vivid in my mind.

On the truck assembly line the two chassis were arranged head to head and both were built together. Because the trucks were designed for either left hand or right hand drive most of the holes in the chassis were mirror imaged across the chassis rails. On one occasion I recall that the two Italian workers in our group had been industriously building up one chassis and had just completed fitting the brake lines. It was a neat job but unfortunately the lines were put on the wrong side of the chassis as they had carefully followed, in mirror image, the other chassis opposite. The leading hand of the group became quite agitated at the time in ordering the removal and replacement of the brake lines. The foreman of our group was a German whose chief task seemed to be the translation of the German documentation as it was always the leading hand rather than the German foreman who gave the direct orders and managed our little group of five people. After the brake line incident we were back to three after the Italians were "let go".

On the completion of each truck I filled the tanks with diesel fuel and anxiously waiting for the boss to start them. It was a real sense of achievement to see them driven out. The empty space would then be filled with another set of crates for the next pair of trucks.

The CKD truck crates were brought in by truck from the nearby wharves and deposited in the loading dock. From here they were shifted by fork lift and overhead gantry crane to the assembly area where they were opened by one man who had the exclusive task to prise out the nails of each crate and open the lid. He was on call throughout the factory and always walked around in classic Australian garb of a blue singlet carrying his pinchbar and exclaiming to all he saw in rich vernacular "G'day old cock ...". He alone appeared to have the right to open any packing case and woe betide any worker who chose to open a case himself without the "specialist".

The official hours of work were from about 7.30 am to 4.15 pm. I rode my bicycle or drove my Singer each day and parked it with all of the others on the north side of the factory. I then signed on and changed into my overalls in the locker room on the mezzanine floor past the trim area. At the morning break we stopped for a cup of tea while we sat on the half completed trucks chatting about my University way of life or some other current topic of the day. At the lunch break the line was stopped and the workers made their way to the company canteen. The AMI canteen served pretty good meals and because they were probably subsidised were very good value - I think a good meal could be had for about 2/6. I suspect that for many workers this was their main meal for the day. The afternoon break was at about 2.45 pm. When the hooter sounded "knock-off" time at 4.15 pm there was a rush by all workers to punch the time clock and race out of the factory.

I can recall seeing a pile of Triumph Herald chassis sitting in the long grass on the south side of the factory. On one occasion I remember a few fellows had the laborious task of scraping and sanding down these chassis to remove the rust before repainting them. I now wonder how many surviving Heralds have one of these rusty chassis. On further thought maybe the possible oil leaks from the Triumph engines could have been sufficient to protect all of these chassis from corrosion!

In this December of 1961 the Triumph Spitfire had yet to be released in Australia but its imminent arrival was evident by the appearance of large coloured posters on the Tool Store wall. However, what had been recently launched in Australia was the Triumph TR4 and I recall seeing three of these towards the eastern end of the factory clothed in plastic sheeting and with the chrome work covered in a coating of wax. Oh many were the times that I dreamed of owning a Triumph myself and that those TR4s were magnificent but an unreachable goal at that time. Interestingly the TR4 was priced at over 1600 while the Herald 1200 was about 950 and the Vanguard Six 1300. Little did I know at the time that I would buy a TR3A about 10 years later which I have kept for some 25 years since. In fact I am sure that this is the same car the lived up the street in Prahran at the time. I remember its young owner polishing it. He once took me for a drive around the Albert Park Lake where we reached the imperial "ton" which my TR3A is still capable of doing. In the far south west of the factory were housed two vintage vehicles, one a green prewar Triumph sedan and a rolling chassis of something I cannot recall.

After I had been working there for some 6 weeks I was offered the chance to work over the Christmas / New Year break with the maintenance group. I was told by the other workers that this was good opportunity 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. It was during this 2 week period that the plant and assembly line were shut down to carry out maintenance of the machinery, tools and assembly jigs. On my part this entailed repairing the wheels of the goods trolleys and body trucks but one of the main tasks was the refurbishment of one of the main works air compressors which was located in a separate building. Apparently the cylinder of the compressor had filled with water and rusted the bore and I was assigned the task of "honing" out the bore using abrasive paper.

This was a "boring job" and the foreman regularly came to check on my progress - or more probably to confirm that I was still awake and working! I think in the end that I spent at least a couple of days on this task. I was actually very interested in working in this area and gained valuable experience in "restoration work" under the direction of plant's fitter and turner who was my boss over the maintenance period. The task gave me a great sense of satisfaction particularly when after assembly, we turned on the massive electric motor and saw the air pressure building up. This was a similar feeling to when one starts an engine for the first time after a rebuild.

AMI, as with other motor vehicle assemblers, was a unionised factory and I remember well when the Union shop steward came on the floor to collect the union subscriptions and hunt for new members. Being only a temporary worker I was given special dispensation by the shop steward. The two Italian workers had an opposition to the union (or more likely to the union fees). They would be merrily working one moment, then they would literally drop their tools and scuttle off to the toilets as fast as possible to avoid being confronted by the Union delegate. I suspect that some of the workers were holding down two jobs and after their day hours at AMI would go off to some other evening shift in another factory.

In retrospect I am glad that I spent time at AMI between university semesters. Although I was a bit of a rarity, I felt good working there and I treated the other workers with respect just as they so treated me.

Copyright David Thomson 1999

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