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 bbbeetle
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| posted on September 27th, 2013 at 08:20 PM |
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Body numbers
Hi, can anyone tell me what MKA stands for in body numbers? Also where can I find info relating to dates/years for MKA body numbers. I'm new to the
Dak Dak world and appreciate any help.
Cheers.
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esevwbits
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| posted on September 27th, 2013 at 10:23 PM |
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56 57 model.
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=86157&page=1
mka is martin, knight ( or was it king ? ) and associates. aussie assembly company. 
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kathawkephotos
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| posted on September 27th, 2013 at 10:31 PM |
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http://www.clubvw.org.au/vwchassis
this has a bunch of info for VIN/body numbers etc...
Current daily: 67' squareback / previous daily: 71' squareback  / project: 61' "secret" 
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Phil74Camper
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| posted on September 28th, 2013 at 08:39 AM |
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Yes it was Martin and King. They were originally a Melbourne railway carriage maker, based at what was then Westall in Melbourne (now called Clayton).
They were owned by Clyde Industries, also a railway carriage maker in NSW. In 1954 Martin and King were contracted by Regent Motors to assemble German
VW CKD kits - they also had experience assembling British Wolseley and Riley bodies for Australian sale. They had been chosen by Baron von Oertzen,
who was the boss of VW South Africa and also a board member of Regent Motors (and later Volkswagen Australia Pty Ltd). In those days fully imported
cars drew extra tax penalties, so there were financial incentives to make VWs locally.
The British car kits Martin and King were used to had needed lots of hand fitting, adjustment and modification to slot together. By comparison, when
they started assembling the Volkswagen kits, they were the most accurate fit they had seen and fitted together perfectly.
In 1957 the new Volkswagen Australasia Ltd company was created, 51% owned by VW Germany, and the other 49% shared by Melbourne's Regent Motors,
Sydney's LNC Industries (Lanock Motors) and Clyde Industries. The Martin and King business, and their Clayton factory, was purchased outright. The
factory was expanded ten-fold over the next few years as VW aimed for over 90% local content. That came to an end in 1968 with the return to CKD
assembly. The factory was sold to Nissan in 1976. Nissan ended Australian production in the early 1990s and today the site has been subdivided,
although many of the buildings are still there. It's a Linfox depot, and also the home of Holden Special Vehicles.
Martin and King kept their railway business and moved to Port Melbourne. They built many of the stainless steel rail cars used on the Melbourne train
system, into the 1990s. Not sure what happened to them after that.
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whatnowthistime
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| posted on September 28th, 2013 at 10:34 AM |
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the martin and king name is now owned by a very knowledgeable Melbourne vw guy and used for his wet media blasting business.
clyde workshops also built railway loco's.
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bbbeetle
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| posted on September 29th, 2013 at 05:40 PM |
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Thanks to everyone for the info.
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