At one stage we even assembled a small batch of the famous Bell 206 Jetranger helicopters.
I believe it was CAC ( Commonwealth Aircraft Corp.) of Melbourne. It was a special variant I believe.
You will be heartened to know that we still build the body work of nearly all the buses and coaches you see and catch on our roads, though imports from China and Malaysia have made inroads.
Gemilang of Malaysia have recently won the tender to supply new double deckers for Sydney's Northern Beaches when Volgren of Melbourne have been exporting deckers to Hong Kong and Singapore for many years.
The other major local bus builders include Custom Coaches of Sydney and Bustech in Queensland who have been supplying the last 300 or so latest buses for Sydney using Volvo and Scania chassis.
Iveco Australia (formerly International Acco) are still manufacturing trucks at their Melbourne facility and are a major supplier of heavy duty trucks for the domestic market. Chances are that garbage truck roaring in your street at 5am is one of these.
RFW trucks based at Chester Hill in Sydney are a specialised truck builder who also carry out repairs to other trucks and actually make their own axles and other truck components that are said to be superior in durability to their American and European counterpart
There was a story years ago where Brisbane City Council were after a specialised sewerage sucking truck and looked all over the world ( except here!!) , only for a Swedish firm to tell them that RFW in Sydney were the only ones who could build them their truck. Only then did BCC knock on their door and got their sewerage truck!
