Inter info

Im with you onetrack. You would think there would be some info somewhere or pictures of the L, R and S series cabs being built.
I fella told me the cab shells were built in SA and cling on bits like doors, steps, front sheet metal was made in Vic somewhere. Dont know if theres any truth to it though. Might explain why R doors fit like they do....
There is definatly some merit in these cabs sharing some parts with a 54 Dodge. Roof piece and A pillars to the visable join are the same aswell as the floor but thats about it. Doors, bulkhead etc are quiet different.
The Dodge I had a look at was alot better made than an Inter cab of the same period. Doors actually fitted perfect. Spot welds on the door openings on the dodge were evenly spaced, about 3" but have a look at an R cab welds in the door opening...looks like the fella on the spot welder was pissed when he did it.
I have heard but dont know if its true that when Diamond T were making the R series cabs in the US Inters were at the same time pressing and assembling Diamond T chassis.
Apparently some cross members on some of the DT and Inter chassis's are the same.
Differences between R Aussie cab and R US cab that I know of - Dash, roof, back window front and rear cab mounting setup is completely different, doors, window mechanisms, wipers and mechanisms, seat base, windscreen....basically all different.
Basil

Basil - There definitely is a link between Diamond T and IHC in the U.S. There was cab sharing between those two companies, in that IHC were building cab-over cabs for both themselves and Diamond T in the early 1950's. Have a look at this Hanks Truck Pictures, Diamond T page link .. and if you use the page search feature for International .. you'll see a blue cab-over Diamond T that shared a cab with IH models.

www.hankstruckpictures.com/dt_trucks.htm

There has most certainly always been a great deal of inter-company arrangements regarding manufacturing. I even have a Bedford that has genuine Ford parts on it! .. factory pollution control solenoids that even have the Ford P/No's on them!

However, what has me puzzled is that IHC was a huge operation in the 1950's, and were the major truck builder in the world, and in Australia. Chrysler ran a distant second in the truck building business, and in sales levels. I find it hard to understand why IHA would contract Chrysler to build cabs for them.

The only reason I can figure, relates to press capacities. Cab construction is very dependent on press sizes and dies. You need a huge press, or presses, to press out the larger cab panels .. particularly the one-piece roof panel.
Australia was a long way behind the U.S. for about a decade, in press capacity. We built U.S. based cars here from the early 1920's, but the majority of the car builders here never had presses big enough to press roof panels. As a result, you'll find the American cars had an all steel body from around the mid-to-late 1920's .. but the Australian factories were still building the same basic cars here in the mid 1930's, with a roof that was wooden strips overlaid with coated canvas.

It wasn't until 1936 that big enough presses and dies were installed in Australia, to be able to press roof panels in one piece. T.J. Richards just beat General Motors Holden by a whisker, by being the first to install 500 ton presses that could press a roof panel in one piece. Holdens followed a few months later.
On picture Australia, there is a picture of 500 ton press platens being delivered to Holdens, dated 1935. These presses were built locally by Chas Ruwolt, later Vickers Ruwolt. Ruwolts produced presses up to at least 5500 tons .. there are pictures of a Ruwolt press this size in the Dunlop factory on Picture Australia. There are also pics of a 6250 ton press in the GMH factory, circa 1962. I am fairly sure this is a U.S. "Clearing" brand press, also built (under licence), by Vickers Ruwolt.

In the late 1930's, Holdens were also producing car bodies for numerous other smaller car manufacters, including a number of British and European cars. You often find "Holden Body" tags on other brands of cars.
T.J. Richards were doing the same. 18 of the leading local Chrysler, Dodge and Fargo dealers, had purchased a sizeable share in T.J. Richards in 1937 .. then purchased Richards 100% in 1947 .. but Richards were still effectively an independent body builder, until Chrysler Corp bought them out 100%, from the dealer group, in 1951.

What I am getting around to, gradually .. is that Chrysler, being based in S.A. .. which was the main centre of car production, outside Fords Broadmeadows factory (with both Holdens and Chrysler having their main production facilities in S.A.) .. probably had presses capable of pressing the roof panels for the IHA trucks .. whereas IHA didn't.

Despite IHC's large size, it's highly likely that IHC management, which oversaw IHA production, deemed it too costly to install cab roof panel presses in the IHA factory in 1952, when the factory initially opened .. due to the relatively low production levels of the Australian factory, in comparison to the U.S. factories.

It's obvious that IHA had some substantial pressing capabilities, as they made mudguards and many other sizeable pressings .. but the presses required for those one piece roof panels were a big-ticket item, and I'd suspect IHA didn't install them until the late 1950's.

This is the only reason I can think of, that would make it logical for Chrysler to be supplying truck cabs to IHA .. because T.J. Richards had installed the huge presses for car body production, just before WW2, and Chrysler could easily build the IH cabs as a sideline.

IHA must have had full truck cab building capability by the late 1950's .. because of the Australian Defence Dept orders that drove IH production to peaks in the 1950's and 1960's.
The military butterbox AACO design commenced in 1953, and prototypes were delivered in 1955, and orders were placed in 1958 for 100 military AACO's.

These trucks, and their civilian brothers the AACO-172 (bearing in mind that IHA planned to produce a line of civilian trucks, based on the military AACO), had one piece roof panels .. and the cabs were fully IHA built .. thus indicating that by the time the IHA truck cab factory was completed in 1956, they must have had full truck cab building ability.
Did the "AL", "AS", "AA" and "AB" series trucks all have the same cab as the "AR" series?
Cheers, Ron ..

Ron.....youve excelled yourself. What a good read.

Gr8 Info guys
but if u gunna include Dodge into the international equation u might as well ad Diamond T, Reo
cos me thinks they also used the same cab
T.J.Richards aslo made bodies for
Chrysler-Dodge-De Soto, Plymouth, Fargo, Simca, Standard,Willys etc



ButEyeDoSt7@BCorrected

LOL

Cya

[ch9787]

Here are truck cabins at Spencer St during WW11 seehttp://www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12903/12903-p00001-000545-070.asp Not sure these are IH ones, is that petrol filler a clue?
Inters shared cabs with Chrysler ( Dodge) on the Inter AA, AB , C and D series. Now I dont think they would have done this if they were capable of building them in house.
I know that Floods bodyworks ( Footscray ?? ) built doors and mudguards for the Butterbox cabins.

Afew brochures
public.fotki.com/modeltrucks25thscale/tr...nternational-r-line/

Cab Drawing
www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/ih/specs/r2201b.jpg
Cya

[ch9787]

Pete - Your link doesn't work .. but this one does ..

www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12903/12903-p00001-000545-070.asp

I don't see where pics of WW2 cab production has much to do with finding out whether Chrysler built the IH truck cabs in the early 1950's.

The pic isn't real clear, but they are split windscreen trucks, and could be Chevs or Fords. Seeing as GMH were producing 40% of Australias vehicles around 1939 - 1940, one would have to say that, based on averages, they are Chev cabins.
One things for sure, they would have been destined for Military trucks, because around 95% of vehicle production between 1940 and 1945 was directed to the Military.

A motoring magazine, "The Australian Motorist" (of which I have 5 copies dated between 1941 and 1945) .. advertises in a June 1945 copy, that the "Govt has expedited a shipment of new, imported International trucks" .. and these will soon be available to meet pent-up demand ..

according to www.ihcaustralia.com/History.html the truck cab plant wasn't built until the 1955 expansion of the truck plant. I am still trying to locate that photo

USA L & R models have single windscreen are curved on the inside of the cab. The interior of my AL 110 is identical to a fargo of the same era. Dodge carried the mudguards through into the doors. Inter had fat guards & flat doors. Early US L's [1950] had hidden internal door hinges, then went to external. Hidden ones carried through on Aussie trucks. Just a couple of observations.

Just refered to my "good old Aussie ute" book that shows a number of Dodge & Inter Trucks. It appears that Dodge & Inter went to a single curved windscreen at the same time, 1955. It seems Aussie & US IH trucks shared the same front sheet metal & SIMILAR cabs until the AB series. There seems to be an IH/Dodge partnership of some kind all the way to the '70's.