Gee, salt water and unfinished steel. True geniuses.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Bent" <ajb@squirrel.com.au>
To: "aaa Datsun Bluebird 411 list" <datsun411s@yahoogroups.com>; "aaa Datsun
Roadster List" <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2001 4:51 AM
Subject: Australian built P411s
> There was a recent e-mail asking about Australian built P411s. The P411
> was built in Australia from 1966 to 1968 by a company called PMC, the
> Pressed Steel Company, (which was not in any way related to PMC Prince).
> PMC also built some Austin and Morris cars and later built MGBs and
> Minis too.
> The easiest way to tell it is an Australian car is that the quality
> isn't as good as a Japanese built 411. Panel fit wasn't as good, also
> the panels weren't as straight as the Japanese ones, which were
> extremely good for a cheep car. The other way to tell an Australian 411
> is that the Aust built cars rust much worse than the Japanese cars.
> Unfortunately Australia is the only steel producing country that uses
> salt water in the cooling process of sheet metal production, as a result
> anything from Australia made of sheet metal is prone to an early rust
> death.
> The other way to tell an Australian car is the id tag or VIN tag in the
> engine bay. The Australian built cars have a dull silver coloured tag
> that reads something like this -
> DATSUN
> type UC
> stock no. 411 0001
> body no. 000001
> engine no. j 000001
> p/colour 321 9921
> NISSAN MOTOR CO.
> (AUSTRALIA) PTY. LTD.
> The id tags are riveted in place rather than screwed in place.
> After the 411 production finished Nissan Australia bought the old
> Volkswagen factory in Clayton Victoria, Clayton built the 510, 610, 810,
> 910, plus the N12, N13 and N14 Pulsar, a plastic bumpered updated
> version of the 510 called the Stanza, the R31 Skyline and a 4 cylinder
> version of the R31 Skyline called the Pintara. Clayton closed in 1991.
> Alan Bent.
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