Bill Lyons TV interview, 1977.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I think it was more that post-war generation. They had been inured to loss of life and carried on as if Ginger hadn't come back from a sortie.

 

It's horrible, really, a sort of collective post traumatic stress disorder

 

There's an excellent book about British post-war jet fighters and their test pilots that considers this, Empire of the Skies by James Hamilton Patterson.

 

 

Lyons was fire fighting in Coventry during the Blitz, with his factory under threat. Different generation.

[SierraMikeHotel]

Lyons was fire fighting in Coventry during the Blitz, with his factory under threat. Different generation.

Oh sure. You need that attitude during a war but I reckon it survived until the early 70s - that's the first time F1 racing drivers really started thinking that their death toll might be a smidge too high.

[HMC]

The (1957?) factory fire is another example of different mindsets in the past. And a measure of Lyons as a leader. I don’t know th full details but it seems astonishing how swiftly they managed to recover from it.

It also pleases current owners of XK-SS models.

[lesapandre]

The Browns Lane factory was a wartime 'Shadow Factory' used by Jaguar. I always thought Jaguar Cars Ltd Browns Lane Coventry had such a ring. The factory was leased from Daimler and later ironically Mr Lyons ended up owning Daimler.

[Wack]

I believe no employee of his was ever on first name terms with him.

 

I'd like to ask why he continued to race his cars in the 1955 Le Mans after the horrific Mercedes crash.

 

I wondered if it was something similar to the farnborough air disaster where the airshow carried on so the roads weren't clogged with thousands going home which would stop the emergency services doing their jobs

[HMC]

Also Mercedes took a while to pull out (the remaining merc fangio/moss) as the big bloke (neuerbauer?) had to get approval from the dB board and John fitch (co driver of the crashed merc) was pushing very hard to get the team to withdraw too.

This took quite some while; and the race itself was left to run by the organisers who felt calling time on it would cause problems with the emergency services getting access with the resulting mass exodus.

So the race ran on, DB only pulled the remaining merc during the night, with the race still on jag (hawthorn/bueb) were suddenly first.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The (1957?) factory fire is another example of different mindsets in the past. And a measure of Lyons as a leader. I don’t know th full details but it seems astonishing how swiftly they managed to recover from it.

It also pleases current owners of XK-SS models.

 

 

I always thought the Mark I Jaguar was prettier than the Mark 2. Imo a 3.4 in Warwick grey with red leather and the painted wires must have been irresistible. They are the sole reason companies like Lea Francis and Armstrong Siddeley went to the wall. Look at the ugly crap they were turning out. 

[HMC]

Agreed, some truely gopping stuff!

[dollywobbler]

The Browns Lane factory was a wartime 'Shadow Factory' used by Jaguar. I always thought Jaguar Cars Ltd Browns Lane Coventry had such a ring. The factory was leased from Daimler and later ironically Mr Lyons ended up owning Daimler.

 

Jaguar didn't use Browns Lane as a Shadow Factory. Daimler did. Jaguar didn't get involved at Browns Lane until late 1951, moving there in 1952 I think. As you say, some irony to the later situation. 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Jaguar didn't use Browns Lane as a Shadow Factory. Daimler did. Jaguar didn't get involved at Browns Lane until late 1951, moving there in 1952 I think. As you say, some irony to the later situation. 

 

 

The first Mark 7's were indeed built at Foleshill.

[SierraMikeHotel]

I wondered if it was something similar to the farnborough air disaster where the airshow carried on so the roads weren't clogged with thousands going home which would stop the emergency services doing their jobs

At Shoreham they just didn't let us leave.

 

Didn't mean the entertainment had to go on while the emergency services were sweeping up bits of people.