Uncrating Nash LaFayettes in NZ 1936.

[nzcarnerd]

Millers Garage, Khyber Pass, Auckland.

 

Photo credit  - heritage images 1533-Album-295-62-10 - at least that is what was posted with it on the facebook page I found it .

 

The workers look to be tearing the crates apart but many of them will have found their way into peoples' back yards as garden sheds and chicken coops.

 

[m-mman]

These were commonly identified in production records as "CKD"  - Crated Knocked Down.

Tires and other parts removed for both easier shipping and allowing for use of local labor in reassembly to appease local government regulations. 

[Spinneyhill]

If they came like Studebakers, they came sitting on their brake backing plates with the wheels in the boot or inside. 30 or 40 years ago I met a chap in North Canterbury who went with his father to pick up their new 1939 Studebaker Commander - he still owned it.

 

Actually, CKD meant "completely knocked down". I have seen photos of a crate of sides, another of various bits and pieces. Our reassembly plant(s) used the parts plus local content, such as seats, wire, tires, carpet and so on. It was a way to establish and protect a heavily subsidised local industry. Our cars had a 45% excise tax on them. The last of the assembly plants shut down almost immediately the excise tax was stopped in 1997.

 

Those crated cars would be called CBU = completely built up. Add wheels and fuel and drive away.

 

I think we have seen that photo before, perhaps in the "what is it" forum.

Edited February 27, 2019 by Spinneyhill (see edit history)

[nzcarnerd]

On ‎2‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 8:06 AM, Spinneyhill said:

If they came like Studebakers, they came sitting on their brake backing plates with the wheels in the boot or inside. 30 or 40 years ago I met a chap in North Canterbury who went with his father to pick up their new 1939 Studebaker Commander - he still owned it.

 

Actually, CKD meant "completely knocked down". I have seen photos of a crate of sides, another of various bits and pieces. Our reassembly plant(s) used the parts plus local content, such as seats, wire, tires, carpet and so on. It was a way to establish and protect a heavily subsidised local industry. Our cars had a 45% excise tax on them. The last of the assembly plants shut down almost immediately the excise tax was stopped in 1997.

 

Those crated cars would be called CBU = completely built up. Add wheels and fuel and drive away.

 

I think we have seen that photo before, perhaps in the "what is it" forum.

 

A complex subject but I do know that GM cars that  came in fully assembled were know as SUP - for single unit pack.

 

Post WW2 our Chevrolets - supplied ex Canada - went from being CKD to SKD - for semi knocked down. The bodies arrived painted and trimmed  The wiring, and some other parts, were supplied locally. They always came in blocks of 24 - why I don't know.

[Brass is Best]

Some assembly required...