nearchoclatetown Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 I am reading the biography of S.A.Cheney from Australia. It is called Horses to Horsepower. He started importing DBs very early. The first one that he sold is still known to exist. He was a remarkable business man with not much education. Very persistent, and made many long time friends. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattml430 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 If it’s the same business it’s still going today Doug , Now known as Paterson Cheney. They have Isuzu, Toyota, Mercedes and probably other dealerships here in Melbourne. I think they started in Port Melbourne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted January 29 Author Share Posted January 29 Back then he sold Fords, Argylls, Chevys, Morris and others at different times. Was connected to many businesses. He tried to get a dealership for DB before they even made a car. Pretty amazing guy. I think he left home at 12 and supported himself. Let's see some of those protestors do that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Mahony Posted January 29 Share Posted January 29 I have the book and read it very carefully - he was a remarkable man with great ethics. I would say he was to the Australian motoring industry what Henry Ford was to the American industry; except SA had a feeling for his fellow man. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodge28 Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 It ia nice to read some Dodge Brothers history considering they were made only between 1914 and 1928, before Chrysler \ Dodge if I am right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullfrog_eng Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 Thanks for starting this thread, Doug. I had come across bits of his story in various publications over the years, but was unaware of this book. It fills in all the bits that I did not know (and there were lots!). After seing your thread, I went looking for a copy of the book and found one on Ebay which I bought. Just finished reading it, bloody great. Again, thanks for alerting me to it. John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 Without him I feel the car industry would have been much different for you Aussies. I had known his connection to DB before but did not realize how important he was to the whole industry. His concern was the product not just the money. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
30DodgePanel Posted February 26 Share Posted February 26 (edited) For those of you in Australia who may not know about this, here is a great tool (website link below) for digging deeper into some of the stories as they took place. In a brief search of my own I uncovered quite a few interesting articles about Cheney DB dealership activities during the early days but thought it better for you Aussie brothers the pleasure of discovery if you decide to spend the time searching further. There is a wealth of information there and you may even find photos of the early dealership (please let us know if you do). Enjoy Home page colorized video is a must (click on A Colourful History to get to a short youtube video) Home - Trove (nla.gov.au) News clippings main search page Newspapers & Gazettes Home - Trove (nla.gov.au) This will give you an idea of how the search tool works once the results come up. 25 May 1918 - SPARKS - Trove (nla.gov.au) Here's a snippet from Dec 1916. I would love to be able to research this and put the pieces together chronologically but I'll leave that to you fellas. This snippet has me curious to how many possible "Australian dealers of Dodge cars" may have existed at this time? Pretty amazing early information. Interesting man and figure in Australian history for sure. Edited February 26 by 30DodgePanel (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted February 26 Author Share Posted February 26 I have a panoramic picture of the factory they assembled DBs in after they started to import chassis. It's about 3 feet wide and has maybe 40 cars out front in a row. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
30DodgePanel Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 On 2/26/2024 at 10:11 AM, nearchoclatetown said: I have a panoramic picture of the factory they assembled DBs in after they started to import chassis. It's about 3 feet wide and has maybe 40 cars out front in a row. Care to post it in the Interesting DB photos thread? Feel free to lay a ruler or something over it in order to obstruct the view if you don't want others copying it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 I'm afraid it wouldn't show much detail. To be far enough away to get the whole width in the picture would fuzz it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgenz Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 As a slight diversion I recently managed to acquire my build card, which in itself is great as we need such info to re-register our cars for the road (to prove it is 'New Zealand new'), and on this it also lists Amuri Motors who were the New Zealand South Island Dodge agents. There is a bit online about them, but i thought it might be of interest to add another Australasian dealer into the mix. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattml430 Posted April 25 Share Posted April 25 6 hours ago, Dodgenz said: As a slight diversion I recently managed to acquire my build card, which in itself is great as we need such info to re-register our cars for the road (to prove it is 'New Zealand new'), and on this it also lists Amuri Motors who were the New Zealand South Island Dodge agents. There is a bit online about them, but i thought it might be of interest to add another Australasian dealer into the mix. Great pics. Who was the body builder it gets blurry when I zoom in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted April 25 Author Share Posted April 25 Notice the shape of the doors on the coupe. All of the US coupes have a rectangular opening. This appears to taper with the front being a smaller opening then the rear. Great picture indeed. Do you know what year these cars may have been? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattml430 Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 Yes it looks a bit odd sloping down from the bottom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minibago Posted April 27 Share Posted April 27 (edited) The Dodge Car display by Amuri Motors was at the Olympia Motor Show in November 1921 at King Edward Barracks in Christchurch New Zealand. The Body builder of Dodge Brothers cars for Amuri Motors at that time was Johnson and Smith. Edited April 27 by Minibago The picture is incorrect (see edit history) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now