Blogs: November 2008
It seems like a popular thing to do right now, the blog. Everyone is doing it, and it seems only right that if there is a bandwagon out there to be exploited, AROnline's sure to get in on the act...
Guest-blogs are always welcome, and the topic can be anything related to cars or motoring – although something with a BMC>MG theme would be ideal. So, if you have a blog of your own drop us a line and we'll do the rest...
24 November
Sad news
KEITH ADAMS
The Yugo 45... a misunderstood car...
I WAS sad to hear that Zastava has closed its doors to production after being in business for 30 years. Although never particularly liked or respected in the UK, these cheap rehashed Fiats had an honesty about them that endeared them to more people than you’d imagine. They first appeared on the scene in the UK in 1983 the form of the 311 and 511 (three years after being launched in its homeland) - a useful hatchback version of the Fiat 128 - and were quickly joined by the 45, a squared-off version of the Fiat 127.
In terms of market, they were priced to compete with the Lada Riva, FSO 125P and Skoda Estelle but, in many ways, had quite a lot more going for them. For one, they were front wheel drive and, being modelled on Dante Giacosa’s baby Fiats, there was a spark of driving pleasure to be found, if you could get past the rubberiness. Sales were never spectacular here, due in part to not being marketed with the same effectiveness as Lada and Skoda (both importers knew their customers and pitched deal-hungry dealers with deadly accuracy). However, things looked to improve - in the UK in 1989, with the arrival of the Sana (AKA Florida).
During the mid-1980s, Yugo 45s were also exported to the USA and, after a costly process of Federalization, they were launched as the country’s cheapest new car. Given it had the market to itself over there, it soon reached notoriety for its insufferable naffness, even making a handful of guest appearances in a number of Hollywood films, including Dragnet.
For Zastava, the Yugo Sana was always going to be its bridgehead into the glittering market that was Western Europe’s. Based on the Fiat Tipo’s platform (so it was contemporary) and styled by ItalDesign, it looked like it had the ingredients to clean up in the budget market sector. However, initial quality was lousy and ,although steps were taken to improve the situation, it was not enough. When the Balkan War hit, it effectively spelled the end for the Serbian Yugo over here. Those stocks left in the UK were panic sold - and the 45 briefly became the cheapest car in the UK (in 1992) - yours for a mere £1995. I was even tempted myself.
In the mid-1990s, the Sana became the first zero-valued car in Glass’s Guide.
After the War, Zastava soldiered on - but not in the West, continuing to build Europe’s cheapest cars. However, the brand’s time is now over and the factory will be redeveloped so that a new range of Dacia-rivalling, budget-priced, Fiats can be built there.
Should we shed a tear? Perhaps not, but spare a moment for the passing of another manufacturer…
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22 November
Could recycling have saved Rover?
Warm-over the last-generation Audi A4, and you get the SEAT Exeo....
LAST year, the Audi A4 production line was lifted-and-shifted to Spain, where the five-year old car was slightly revised to become the SEAT Exeo - and, in doing so, continue to generate income for the Volkswagen-Audi Group. It’s a devilishly simple plan and one that clearly demonstrates the excellence of cars produced in the last ten years or so - even an end-of-life vehicle like the old Audi A4 can prove useful in today’s market when properly presented and marketed.
The initial driving impressions have been favourable, especially when tempered by SEAT’s expected bargain pricing policy. Could it be the perfect product for these financially straitened times and a more than suitable alternative to a loaded Chevrolet Epica or Kia Magentis?
The launch of the SEAT Exeo has, though, started me thinking - what if Rover and BMW had dropped the Not Invented Here (NIH) syndrome that permeated Rover, swallowed their corporate pride, and allowed Longbridge to build an BMW E34-based Rover 800 replacement? Priced to undercut the 1998-generation 5-Series, and slot in the marketplace at the same point as the 1998 Rover 75, would Rover have had a winner on its hands? Or would Rover have then been percieved as a budget brand selling BMW off-cuts? Funnily enough, Rover designers, under Richard Woolley, did pen an 800 replacement in the early 1990s based on the E34 - called ‘Flashpig’ - but it didn’t get very far before being dropped for the R40 (nee RD1).
More importantly, would the money saved not developing the Rover 75 have been put to better use on the R30 (development of which could have also been shared with the MINI and perhaps a FWD BMW Compact) and seen Rover through to success in later years, instead of being left with the lame-duck 25 and 45 at the turn of the millennium? Looking at the market now - BMW could have done worse than had a successful, streamlined, Rover (and MINI) in its portfolio.
Does anyone fancy Photoshopping one for us?
We’ll see if it works for SEAT… and, if it does, there’s another imponderable to ponder…
Imagine a Rover 800 replacement based on this car? Would it have been a goer?
21 November
My BMC story
PAUL COWIE, South Africa
The shot my dad took of the Austin the Saturday afternoon we took delivery. She had been ordered with narrow white wall tyres, and they finally came two weeks later.
I GREW up on the Copperbelt in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) where the Austins and Wolseleys were kings of the road! Ours were built from CKD packages in Umtali, Southern Rhodesia (Mutari, Zimbabwe) and I think had slightly different spec to the British ones… they all had leather and Wooden dashboards for example.
We tended to buy new cars every September, as we were paid massive bonuses depending on the price of copper that particular year. In 1963, for example, we were able to get an Austin A110 as well as a Wolseley 6/110 and still have plenty of change for a holiday at the end of the year!
Those who chose to travel by car usually took about four days for the trip, and were pretty exhausted at the end of it!
Holidays were always spent in Cape Town, some 2750 miles south over pretty horrendous roads, so the cars were usually sent by rail two weeks prior to our own departure by rail. They would then be offloaded and cleaned by the Automobile Association, and ready for us to drive when we arrived, after a five or six day train ride.
Those who chose to travel by car usually took about four days for the trip, and were pretty exhausted at the end of it! The Black Austin came into its own at the end of 1963 when we had to get back to Zambia from Cape Town in a hurry, so the road route had to be the one…
We did it in two and a half days!
We left Cape Town at noon on the Tuesday, slept at Colesburg that night (500miles).
The following day we travelled through the rest of South Africa to the Zimbabwean border (1100 miles) where we once again slept. Finally, on the Thursday, we arrived home after 14 hours, having stopped only for petrol and crossing yet another border!
Quite an exciting trip, and one that brings back incredible memories.
A shot taken while filling up with petrol near Winburg in the Orange Free State. That is me nervously watching the attendants…heaven help them if they did something wrong!
20 November
Made in England
CANIO GIGANTE, Italy
You may ask why I don’t own a modern Fiat or why I don’t own a Classic Alfa Romeo or Lancia being based here in Italy. The answer is simple: there were both MADE IN ENGLAND and, as I was born in England, the reason might just be sentimental.
I’m a quite proud to have been born in England and to be a British citizen even though I’m an Italian by descent. That probably explains why I’ve purchased two British cars for the same reason that most Italian people buy Italian cars.
The Rover I purchased the almost anonymous 75 pictured because this was, at the time, almost certainly the last chance for me to buy a car which came from the same source as my Wolseley.
OK, you can’t see in the pictures: 'Triplex – Made in England' on the windows. 'Lucas – Made in England' on headlamps
Remember, though, that both the Rover and the Wolseley they have connections with Cowley and Longbridge. The 75 is a stunning 2004 CDTi Connoisseur Tourer with only 17,000km on the clock and was purchased from the company which bought the entire stock of MG - Rover Italia S.p.A. after the liquidation. I only found out the details of the company concerned a few months ago – it was in Rome and had sold more of 300 cars - most of which were 75s, ZTs and MG TFs in all manner of condition and had been sold as brand new for half price in 2006! My 75 was one of the last three facelifted Tourers remaining – the car had been parked in the vendor’s yard since November 2005 and came complete with four flat tyres and half an inch of dust!
I agreed a good price with the seller on the basis that the car would have to be serviced the car (for the first time) and the tyres changed because of the time which they had been left flat. The car is simply beautiful but, here in Italy, for what the Rover cost me, you can buy a brand new Ford Focus TDi SW or, more simply, an almost new Fiat Stilo or Alfa Romeo 156 with plenty of warranty and ready access to garages for servicing. However, I’ve explained the reasons 'why' and reckon that my choice was a good (and, for me, the only) one.
The Wolseley Oh the Wolseley! This is a long story! It began in 1966 when my father purchased a brand new Wolseley 16/60 in England a few months before my birth. This was the first true family car, the car of my childhood, probably the best car ever owned by my father.
I’d been trying to find an immaculate 16/60 in England for two years and made five visits to see cars advertised there in 2004. However, whilst most were boxes of rot, I finally found this 6/99 and bought it.
Sadly my father passed away in March 2006 but you can’t imagine his pride and joy (and mine) when he found himself sitting in a Farina Wolseley again nearly 30 years after he had scrapped his original Wolseley back in 1978 because parts were no longer available in Italy.
This rare 6/99 (it’s a 6/99 not a 6/110) is believed by the Wolseley Register to be the best surviving example in original condition. She is totally original, with 30,000 miles on the clock, in show (concours with some elbow grease…) condition and has been maintained to the highest standards. The car was stored for 26 years from 1973/74 until 1999 when the previous owner purchased the car from the first owner and got it roadworthy.
I purchased the car and drove it back to Italy but had to return the car to England in 2005 for an MoT. I made the Rome-London trip in 23 hours (channel included!) without any problems. However, the car is now registered in Italy – you wouldn’t believe how difficult that was when compared to the British MoT so don’t ask me how much I spent registering the car here.
Indeed, please don’t ask me whether I will ever sell the car – the answer is obviously NEVER!
15 November
Chrysler-Rover...
KEITH ANDREWS
...I JUST thought about the recent (around one year old) Cerberus takeover of Chrysler and, suddenly, it dawned on me...
It's an almost EXACT re-run of what happened to Rover. Right down to the part played by 'Ze Germans'...
In the mid-1990s, the struggling remains of Rover were sold to BMW, who (fronted by 'Burnt Pixierider') promised great things from a supposed synergy, (which was - frankly - a difficult sell to the Germans). In the late 1990s, Daimler-Benz (fronted by 'Jerking Shrimpp') made the exact same sort of (likewise spectacularly wide-of-the-mark) promises of wonderful things to come from their acquisition of Chrysler.
A few years after their purchase, when it became patently obvious that German engineering and British production lines were never destined to be a great combo, Ze Germans at BMW were keen to sell... and, because no other established manufacturer would touch what they were selling, they ended up selling to a group of businessmen optimistically called the 'Phoenix Consortium'.
Likewise, a few years after their purchase, when it became patently obvious that German engineering and USA production lines were never destined to be a great combo, Ze Germans at Daimler were keen to sell... and, because no other established manufacturer would touch what they were selling, they ended up selling to a group of businessmen called 'Cerberus'. (Okay, someone's going to have to let me in on the joke, since 'Cerberus' was the guardian to the gates of a fiery place and the 'Phoenix', as I recall, had to burn in flames as part of the life-cycle. Why do they always have to be named after mythical creatures so closely associated with a fiery demise?)
Three years ago, with market share plummeting, company assets having made their way down the toilet, past the U-bend, through the sewage-treatment plant and halfway out to sea, Rover (under Phoenix) finally collapsed under the weight of its own failed structure, having begged the government (who had already put up with more than enough of its crap while struggling to make it viable about 20 years earlier) for a bail-out.
...Okay, the scene is set, and Cerberus has hired Bob Nardelli (who was forced out of Home Depot after decimating their share price shortly before being hired to work as CEO of Chrysler but who still insisted on taking $200m+ out of the shareholders’ pockets as a leaving gift) to play the lead role... Let's see how this all plays out shall we?
I know that I've likened Detroit to the British car industry a lot lately but it only just occurred to me that Chrysler actually enjoyed that scene so much that they bought the screenplay and are re-living it here on an even grander scale.
14 November
That's it, then
STEVEN WARD
I ATTENDED British Car Auctions in Brighouse today – the auction where I learned to bid and buy with the Big Boys some 11 years ago.
Special Sale of the day was courtesy of Lex Leasing and their 200+ fleet cars Flog It, Hall 1, 10.30am. Lex, one of the major fleet players in Europe, always offer decent cars: well specified, fully serviced, realistically priced and thoroughly prepared to sell first time around. In the good old days, they used to help CAR compile their special ARG audits and reviews on reliability. Indeed, they still run all MoD cars and commercials.
Anyway, I'd calculated today was realistically the last significant de-fleeting of our beloved MGRs. There were only a dozen or so Rovers in the sale, having been returned to the pool and prepared for disposal. All were good colours, upper-end spec and boasted fully documented, uninterrupted service histories. A dozen Fleet Rovers is a real event nowadays (just look at a motorway service station car park for confirmation).
Sadly, this is where my auction review ends. I couldn't bring myself to watch them get slaughtered in the 'ring.
Their 'plates bore the names of long-since closed Northern Dealers, which was upsetting in itself. I got the impression Lex were happy just to unload the cars at any cost, no realistic offer refused; a 54 'plate 25 103 SEI five-door in Nightfire, 112K, 12 service stamps – immaculate – was, at best, expected to fetch £800. Rover 75s, new and old style, petrol and diesel abounded.
For the first time ever, I didn't buy an MG-R car at this sale. I looked at every potential option of buying British for retail, but I simply could not justify it on any sensible commercial grounds. That's why, today, my car buying 'Korea' had a change of direction and I sung from Rev. Child's hymn sheet. I bought a Hyundai Coupé, faultless mechanically and bodily, and thoroughly competent in every aspect.
By the close of business today, I'd taken a decent margin out of it. From previous experience, I know that gross margin won't be eroded by warranty claims or my time consumed by a disappointed customer. Had I bought a Rover and, believe me, I desperately wanted to, my business overdraft wouldn't be so healthy – of that I'm certain.
Sad but, unfortunately, true and I'm not proud in writing this blog. I'm just sad and needed to tell someone whom I felt would understand.
13 November
The Chilean MGs
I LOVE the Internet. There, I've said it. Without it, I'd probably still be a Civil Servant, shuffling paper in a windowless office in Lytham St Annes, but it's true.
The term 'global village' may have been a term coined by Wyndham Lewis in his book America and Cosmic Man (thanks Wikipedia), but its application to the worldwide web seems somehow fitting. This has never been truer when it comes to the flow of information about cars sold in other parts of the world.
A few years back, if I wanted to find out about cars sold in China or South America, for instance, I'd have to go down to the library and hope that it had a copy of World Cars on the shelves. If not, it would be something of a struggle. Nowadays, a quick trip to Google or any one of several forums is all that it takes. Having posted the story about Roewes with MG badges on being sold in Chile recently, it was good to see that the importers of these cars have a slick looking website – and on it you can now examine the product.
Firstly, these are SAIC-Roewes and not NAC-MGs, which clearly demonstrates that SAIC Motor knows that the MG marque (I dislike the word 'brand' – that’s what you do to cows) is the only way forward outside of China. Secondly, that also shows that the company has more faith in its own cars than it does in those built down the road on ex-Longbridge equipment in Nanjing.
Judging by the comments at the end of the news story, you're unconvinced about these cars... Just be assured that the MGs we're going to get in Europe will be unlike these badge-engineered specials and more homogenously designed. Still, for now, it's nice to see MG saloons back on sale in the European-speaking world – shame, though, that we will have to wait a while yet before we can buy them here in the UK.
Website: www.mgmotors.cl
12 November
Finally... I've finished reading it
I'VE never been shy to admit that out of the current crop of motoring writers, James Ruppert, was a big influence on my decision to take the plunge and try earning a living from the noble profession. His irreverent style made reading about used cars interesting... and his Kerbcrawler column in CAR Magazine during the late 1980s became essential reading for a budding used car buyer like me. Indeed, James’ comments at the beginning of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly would be the first thing I'd turn to each month – even before the Rover/BAe ramblings and scoops upfront in the industry section.
James’ insights into the dark and dank world of the used car trade were, of course, borne through experience – when he knocked on CAR's door, and managed to impress Richard Bremner and Steve Cropley, he was earning an honest wage selling secondhand motors but, as we all know, one of the quickest ways of learning about human nature in a combat situation is through a trade-in negotiation.
I've corresponded with James on and off for some time now and it was flattering to discover that he's a bit of a fan of AROnline – or, more precisely, the cars that we write about – and, unlike many in this business, is quite happy to admit having a love/hate relationship with British cars instead of just hate/hate as many like to pretend...
I was, then, pretty thrilled when James got in touch with me a while back to let me know he was writing a book on the subject. After months of waiting, it turned up and I was so excited that I blogged (well, posted James' words) about the book before I managed to finish it – possibly a bad thing to do. However, as it happens, now I have finished the book, I was right to rave about it.
Basically, from start to finish it's a thumping good read and, although some people might question the production values and reproduction of the pictures, they'd do well to get past that quickly and just enjoy the thing... I won't spoil it for you – and, let's face it, we all know the plotline and the ending (carmakers consolidate, in-fight, lose sight of the opposition, get taken over by the Germans, go bust, and the cycle repeats itself in China), but James' take on it is both personal, honest and deadly accurate. The notion of using his family as a microcosm for the country at large is very, very clever.
There's also a great deal of humour in there, too...
So, if you fancy an alternative take on the subject you all love and have £15 to spare in the run up to Christmas, do yourself a favour: buy a copy and stick it on your bedside table. You'll love it.
Link: www.jamesruppert.co.uk
11 November
Blackpool's missing Range Rover? or TreVoR's 4x4?
ANDREW ELPHICK
A 2-inch sketch in the middle of a 25-year old copy of CAR Magazine raises an unusual question? Was TVR attempting to build a 4x4?
The prospect of building a 120mph ambulance on a separate chassis clad with polyurethane/glassfibre sandwich panels (like the innovative Reliant SS1) was certainly outside the Blackpool-based specialist sportscar manufacturer’s usual remit.
The article appeared in the September 1983 issue (to coincide with the arrival of the V8-powered 350i née Tasmin) and claimed that Carbodies was looking for partners for the (alas ill-fated) CR6 Taxi project.
Maybe TVR got wind of the Metrocab from rivals Reliant? Supposedly, in conjunction with Solihull, the project reached the stage of a scale wooden model styled by Steve Everitt, but went no further. With the potential for interchangeable body styles, was the Middle-Eastern market being targeted?
Tellingly, the reason TVR switched to Rover V8 propulsion from Ford's Cologne V6 was political – Fords were sold in Israel; Rovers were not.
9 November
Ah, the joys of Bangernomics
SINCE the the 1st November, my recently purchased £500 1994 Saab Aero has proudly been wearing a tax disc on its windscreen. No big deal, I hear you say, but making a £180 outlay on a car that cost such a (relatively) small amount of money seems like a significant event to me. It also marks the point where my principal daily driver (of the moment) is what many people would call a banger even though a 2008 Subaru Outback also currently resides on the fleet as a long-term test car for What Diesel magazine.
I'd originally bought the Saab with the intention of using it as a repository for spare parts for my own shiny example, while donating its 16-inch deep-dish alloys to my Saab 900T16S Aero. However, after meeting the seller, seen how much love and attention he'd given the car and my own inspection of the car the following day (yes, I bought in the dark, without looking at it... I know, I know), I realised that, despite having 210,000 miles on the clock, the old warhorse actually has a considerable amount of life left in it given that so much of the original car has been replaced.
I'd originally bought the Saab with the intention of using it as a repository for spare parts for my own shiny example, while donating its 16-inch deep-dish alloys to my Saab 900T16S Aero...
Instead, then, of laying the car up and stripping it for parts, I brought it home, and have taken it on as my daily driver. The timing couldn't have been better either – as petrol prices continue to fall, the economics of running my big, sporting saloon – which will do 30mpg all day long – suddenly don't seem that bad at all. Yesterday, I filled it up at 92.9p/litre, which, when compared with the Subaru's 106.9p/litre, seems almost a bargain. Okay, the new car does 45mpg and the Saab's been doing 32mpg, so the economics of fuelling still weigh in favour of the new car – but the Saab has 225bhp (possibly a little more, since I fitted the Abbott Racing manual boost controller I had lying around in the garage) and that means it's a little more entertaining. Also, I'm not so worried if someone dinks it in a supermarket carpark...
And let's not get involved with the depreciation and running costs. I'll happily service the Swede myself, but would I feel as happy doing that with a brand new Scooby? Exactly.
In truth, I can understand why people run new cars – and enjoy my time in them but, for some reason at this point in my life, I seem happiest running around in something old and worth very little. Does that say something about me? Probably…. Watch this space, though – I might feel differently when things start going wrong with the Aero.
Now let's hear similar stories from all you Rover 600/800 owners...
7 November
Why do I want one of these?
LAUNCHED in 1976, with the first car finding its way into its new owner's garage a couple of years later, the Aston Martin Lagonda is one of those truly unforgettable cars. I still remember the first time I saw one – I was on a school trip to London in early 1980 and we'd stopped en route at Watford Gap services. It was a grey day and, as we trudged from our coach towards the cafe, I spotted the Lagonda in the car park. It was silver – and, even from 100 paces, it looked massive. It looked awesome. It looked like a craft from outer space.
These mental images came back to me yesterday as I paced around Aston Martin Works Service in Newport Pagnell while my colleague, Mark Dixon, took pictures. I'd been looking at an early Lagonda - Saudi registered - that looked in remarkably fine fettle. The interior worked as it should – and, as you can see from the dashboard, it's stacked with digital instruments, touch-sensitive switches and out of this world design features. In short, all the things that would engage the brain of a ten-year old kid obsessed with cars. Today, nearing 40, that passion continues unabated – and it's cars like the Lagonda that continue to do it it for me.
Four-door supercars are coming back into vogue, thanks to the arrival of the Porsche Panamerica and Aston Marton Rapide next year (and the possibility of the Lamborghini Estoque after that), so will the Lagonda be viewed as a brave experiment – something years ahead of its time – or a foolish folly?
Who cares? I just want one. It seems like the ideal upgrade for a Princess or SD1 owner with ideas above his station!
3 November
British Leyland in The Times
IAN NICHOLLS
For the last three months, I have been reading all the BL stories in the Times Online archive service. All of the horrors are there and it was good to read the stories as they originally appeared and not rely on our selective memories and that of authors who have written about the subject. Reading about British Leyland from 1968-1985 in great detail, one can see how times have changed and what could have been done differently and how it dovetailed with the politics of the era and I argue helped contribute to major political change in Britain.
On paper, and in theory the BMH-Leyland merger seemed a good idea, to create a British automotive manufacturer with the capacity to produce 1.25 million units per year at a time of seemingly inexhaustible world demand for motor vehicles. With the natural arrogance that all politicians possess and a 100-seat majority, Harold Wilson, the Labour Prime Minister was able to sell his idea to Donald Stokes and George Harriman and gained the support of senior trade union leaders for the formation of the British Leyland Motor Corporation in May 1968.
The master plan was that BLMC would expand to meet world demand and increase its economies of scale to match foreign rivals. Rationalization would be through expansive evolution. Existing overlapping BMH/Leyland models would continue while demand existed for them and then they would be replaced by a single BLMC developed vehicle for the required market slot, which would be produced in greater numbers. The surplus labour force would be mobile and was to be re-directed to other areas within BLMC to increase production of other models to meet increasing world demand. Good examples of this were the Rover/Triumph cars projected for the 1970s.
The SD1 was intended to replace both the Rover P6 and Triumph 2000/2500, while the SD2 was to replace all the Triumph saloons. Produced in single model modern factories, production rates were to eclipse what had gone before.
The new combine had a workforce of 185,000 and this was to be 185,000 reasons why things would go wrong. If BLMC was a covenant between Government, workers and management, then it was the workforce that were the first to betray Harold Wilson's honourable vision.
At school, I recall reading Alan Sillitoe's novel Saturday Night, Sunday Morning in which the leading character, Arthur Seaton, works in an engineering factory. Sillitoe based this on his own experience of working in a Raleigh factory in Nottinghamshire. In the book, he brilliantly describes the hatred that Arthur Seaton feels for his bosses without ever really explaining the reason for this contempt, but it does offer an insight of the working class mindset in post-war Britain. In reality, the working class' lot had improved little since 1945. While groovy young things swung in 1960s London, the working class in the Midlands factories still toiled away as they had always done. They were ripe for exploitation by politically motivated grass roots union activists who sought to use their grievances to their advantage.
Shortly after its formation, the BLMC Combined Trade Union Committee was set up under the joint leadership of Dick Etheridge, the senior union convener at Longbridge and Eddie McGarry his counterpart at Triumph, Canley. This unofficial body was not recognised by BLMC or the Union leadership, but was to prove a thorn in the side of management in the years to come.
BLMC chairman Lord Stokes may have been known as a super salesman, but even he was unable to sell to the BLMC shop stewards the idea of modern flexible working practices. In reality the shop stewards held the whip hand. De-facto control of the shop floor had been conceded to the stewards during the second world war in order to allow for uninterrupted production of wartime goods, and they were not about to concede it in peacetime. BLMC was the last British based manufacturer still using piecework and the British Leyland Motor Corporation Combined Trade Union Committee steadfastly resisted attempts to introduce Measured Daywork into their factories.
Cowley held out until 1971 and Longbridge conceded in 1973.
Strikes were epidemic throughout British Leyland in the 1968-1974 period and the only weapon the company had was friendly persuasion which fell on deaf ears. Profits were there for the making, but production levels rarely reached maximum capacity. BLMC borrowed against their potential profits which failed to materialize. This situation came to a head in the 1973 'Barber Boom' when the Conservative government reflated the economy in a desperate effort to reduce unemployment. In an expanding car market, strikes prevented BLMC from supplying the demand for their cars. Buyers went elsewhere and when the 'Barber Boom' had subsided the company's UK market share had slipped from 40 to 33 per cent. Lord Stokes always claimed to the end of his days that BLMC could sell everything they made and The Times archive bears him out. Unfortunately BLMC couldn't or wouldn't make enough vehicles.
Then came the oil crisis of October 1973, and worldwide demand for cars slumped. BLMC had failed to make hay while the sun shone.
As is well documented BLMC finally ran out of money in December 1974 and Harold Wilson's Labour government stepped in with taxpayers money and commissioned Sir Don Ryder to report on the the company. The Ryder Report was a typical Government sponsored fudge and its findings were treated like they were the gospel itself. Instead of the usual hapless social worker doing their job being made the scapegoat, that honour went to the hapless John Barber and Lord Stokes, who quickly departed the scene.
Instead of getting a grip on the industrial relations issue and playing it tough, the Ryder Report again fudged it and introduced 'Industrial democracy', which consisted of joint shop floor union/management committees. In these meetings management asked nicely if the shop stewards would accept modern working practices and not keep going on strike and they in turn politely declined. In reality the British Leyland Combined Trade Union Committee were still controlling things.
Politics reared its ugly head, the Labour party congratulated itself on saving the British car industry and the Conservatives under their new leader Margaret Thatcher voted against the Ryder recommendations. Leyland Cars began work on the LC10 and LC11, which a decade later would come to haunt Mrs Thatcher. By British Leyland standards they had been relatively strife free in 1975, apart from the obligatory stoppages to sabotage production of a new and acclaimed model, in this case the 18-22 Wedge.
In the spring of 1976, the world car market unexpectedly recovered from the effects of the energy crisis. As demand for Leyland Cars increased, the company plunged into an orgy of strikes that crippled production. Again customers went elsewhere and British Leyland's UK market share collapsed further to 27 per cent. In 1977 there was at least a six month waiting list for the acclaimed Rover SD1 at a time when demand for other large engined cars was still depressed. Toolmakers all over British Leyland went on strike and crippled the company. When it was all over, British Leyland's UK market share would drop to 23 per cent and down further to 20 per cent by the end of 1977, and this was a company with the production facilities for a 35 per cent share of the UK market. Despite this, demand for the SD1 was still high, but the Solihull workforce refused to contemplate the introduction of a night shift.
In October 1977, Sir Richard Dobson, the BL chairman, made some unwise remarks at a private function which were taped by a Marxist sympathiser who passed the recording to a hard left magazine. The editor demanded that all chairmen of nationalised corporations should be vetted and should be in favour of public ownership. Sir Richard resigned promptly and without any press hounding. From all I have read of Sir Richard Dobson, he seems to have been a gentleman. However from November 1977 it was to be no more Mr nice guy.
Sir Michael Edwardes arrived at British Leyland on the day that the Triumph No.2 factory at Speke which (badly) made the TR7 went on strike. Edwardes promptly closed Speke with little uproar. The axeman cometh. Things remained quiet until late 1979, with the usual wildcat strikes and management attempts to defuse the situation.
In the meantime the Conservatives had won the May 1979 general election. The continuing turmoil at BL, played out on the nightly news had helped to discredit both the trade union movement and the concept of public ownership along with the 1978/79 'Winter of discontent' in the eyes of many voters.
The next big clash came over the sacking of the senior Longbridge convener, Mr Derek Robinson. BL claimed Robinson was the mastermind behind many disputes. If that was true, then there were certainly many strikes that went unreported in the pages of The Times. This was the first of a series of disputes in which BL management took on the British Leyland Combined Trade Union Committee in full blown head on clashes over the next five years.
Gradually the BL management became estranged from senior full time trade union officials and Labour MPs when it dawned on them that BL was attacking the whole principle of the shop stewards movement in the company's plants. Many senior figures in the labour movement had been shop stewards and they were appalled with what was perceived to be heavy handed and insensitive management techniques. The Cowley plant proved difficult to subdue, with one full time Union official accusing management of bludgeoning the workforce into submission.
Margaret Thatcher has been accused of de-industrialising Britain by appointing hard hearted axemen to run nationalised industries. They took their inspiration from the likes of Sir Michael Edwardes and Ian McGregor, later of British Steel and the National Coal Board, who was Deputy Chairman of BL until 1980.
The final big clash was the 1984 Austin Rover pay dispute at the time of the long miners strike. In September 1984 the Trade Union Act became law requiring secret ballots for strike action. Britain's biggest union, the TGWU thought it could defy this law and commence an all out pay strike. Unfortunately for Moss Evans, the TGWU leader this was 1984, not 1974, and this was the Britain of Margaret Thatcher, not Edward Heath and he was dealing with Harold Musgrove, not Lord Stokes. The strike collapsed after two weeks thanks to the tenacity of Austin Rover chairman Harold Musgrove. Whatever one's opinion of Harold Musgrove and his management style, the 1984 pay dispute was his finest hour.
But it had taken over 16 long years to get to this point where BL had a flexible labour force, and the tactics used to get there left a bad taste in the mouth. I can't help but think this was what Harold Wilson, Lord Stokes and senior union leaders wanted in 1968 and quickly. In the light of the struggle to get there, was the whole concept of British Leyland ever a viable option?
Of course having slagged off the workforce I now have to be even handed and paste the management. Of course the Allegro is the easiest target, the Times reporting in May 1973 that BLMC envisaged a weekly production rate of at least 4500. By April 1974 production was just over half this figure. The car market was still depressed because of the oil crisis, but when it recovered, buyers did not opt for the Allegro which continued to decline. The Times reported in the mid 1970s that production of the Volkswagen Golf was running at 10,000 per week, so the buyers were going somewhere.
The most serious management error was the LC10/11, later re-christened LM10/11 cars. I have covered this ground extensively before, but since then I have found that both Ray Horrocks, head of BL cars, and Grenville Hawley, the TGWU's senior motor industry official, drove LM10 before Roy Axe came on the scene and delivered his damning verdict on the cars.
Unfortunately for BL, they had discounted General Motors and their UK subsidiary Vauxhall in their calculations. Maestro and Montego might have sold better if Vauxhall had continued to produce cars like the MK1 Cavalier and Chevette, but instead GM took on Austin Rover in their own ball park, front wheel drive cars. The new MK2 Cavalier and Astra had class leading power trains and attractive state of the art styling. Austin Rover bungled on the styling aspect and created their powertrains by using bought in transmissions and re-cycling engines from the BL parts bin.
The MK2 Vauxhall Cavalier was launched in August 1981 and failed to raise much excitement from fleet buyers hopelessly addicted to the Ford Cortina.
When the Ford Sierra appeared on the market in September 1982, its controversial shape worried fleet buyers over re-sale values. They turned to the Vauxhall Cavalier instead, despite their traditional reservations about front wheel drive. The fleet buyers were impressed and Cavalier sales rocketed. The fleet buyers then looked at the Vauxhall Astra, which dated back to 1979 in its original Opel Kadett form and were impressed by that too. Very soon a vicious sales war broke out in which Austin Rover came a distant third. By August 1985 production was being cut back by 10 per cent at Longbridge and Cowley when the car market was expanding and the dream of Austin Rover remaining in the volume car business seemed to vanish along with 200 jobs.
Then there is the government. Again I have dealt with this in another article. The Times does reveal that Industry Minister Norman Tebbit came under severe pressure over his dithering on whether to back Austin Rover's demand for £200 million to replace the A-series engine with the under development K-series. Many of his cabinet colleges wanted Austin Rover to use reliable Honda engines.
Labour MP Gavin Strang said in parliament of Mr Tebbit, 'Is Mr Tebbit prepared to go down in history as the saboteur of Britain's only major indigenous motor manufacturer?'
Well, history records that he did back the development of the prone to head gasket failure K-series engine. Was Gavin Strang right after all?
But that's another story.
2 November
The best Rover advert ever?
Grabbed for the Rover 800 videos page of this website, I can't help but think that this may be the best advert ever produced by Rover... It sums up the aspirations of the time so well, and managed to land a punch on the then-not-so-dominant Germans. With more like this throughout the 1990s, could Rover's 800 have continued to have been a force? Or was the product too compromised?
Either way, enjoy the advert, and let us know if it's the best, and comment on whether you reckon you know any better ones?
Oh, and also, if you can lay your hands on the R8's Up Where We Belong spoof of the iconic 80s chick flick, Officer and a Gentleman, please let me know!