So cool. Thanks so much for this post

Thank you for your reply to my question. Some of what you said I kinda sorta knew about but the details are what you knew about. As far as the "death" of MHA that is anybodies guess.

MHA was a joint venture between Raymond & Caterpillar Industrial inc. (CII). Physical facilities were in Greene, NY. The big advantage for Cat was they were able to have a class II & III product offering - CII was just a class I, IV, V. Many of their dealers hand another brand for II/III products & some still keep the Crown Line. Cat did not have full access to the complete line, especially in narrow aisle & order selectors products, there were some product differences, in reach units Cat had the side stance compartment w/ different handle control configuration, the main controller was not the latest controller that Raymond used. Mast lift heights were limited in the Cat brand. Class III products not so much in product differentiation.

Cat actually rivaled Raymond in the sale of certain products. Service part were shipped out of Raymond Parts distribution w/Cat ID labels.

Same scenario when MCFA was formed and the Mitsubishi brand was added to the MHA but with a GE controller.

Product support for both brands (Cat/Mit) went thru MHA and when they had to consult w/ Raymond the "taxi meter" started running.

After 1996, I have not further info other than what has been/rumored or put in print. But my take on MHA "died the death of a rag doll" but it was quick. vs the death that start with a small hole and slowly gets larger until all the stuffing is gone.

For 41 years I was in the lift truck industry-right out of college, certainly all those years not all with same company but I loved my career, it served me & family well - helped pay for two children to go to college like USC (the real one on the west coast) and Cal Poly Tech. The third child (son) one wanted no part of college - he wanted to be an electrican, he worked during the day, went to night school (4 hours/1 day/week & became a journeyman in 4 years & then joined the Masonic Lodge - not a bad combination either. He has had no shortage of work since 2005 when he graduated HS.
Actually grew up in it when it was "fun" and we worked hard - never knew what a 40 hour work week meant, except for those in the 501 Club (meaning they were out the door at 5:01PM) even if they came in late but we found time to play hard - "but that was yesterday & yesterday's gone." from Chad & Jeremy, 1963 song "Yesterday's gone.

Pura Vida if you are in Costa Rica or Life Is Good i n the USA- down under & UK, Canada etc