It's an unusual car (sort of) in that it's a CKD but it appears to have been built prior to the factory being officially opened in Australia. Wikipedia has the factory opening in March 1950 but this car has the features of a 1949 car such as the bonnet stay chain & early windscreen rubber (joiners now in the UK on Frank McDonagh's MM).
It has the 'rotodip' hole behind the battery but there's a contoured plate screwed in to cover it.
The roof had the rounded gutters & this was converted to sharp gutters for #1228.
Unfortunately, being a CKD, the actual car number seems difficult to work out (see photos) but the engine number places it around mid 1949. Seeing as '4047' is stamped into the body, I assume the '23518' is the UK number.
I can only assume it was sent out from the UK in 1949 & sat around in Australia waiting for the local factory to come on line.
Click on the photos for full size.




