BRITISH LEYLAND 1979/80 CRISES - HOW THE METRO SAVED BL

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

It was pretty close to going down the shitter:

 

[lesapandre]

160,000 employees. Thats a lot of wages before you make a profit. Film highlights the disappointment with the new Rover 3500 too. I'm no production guy but installing the lock with a hand tool - unpowered?

 

Wilmot Beeden who feature were taken over by an American company.

 

And the Golf - welcome to the modern world - it was everything the Allegro should have been.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Sad to think it's almost all gone now. 

 

Edwardes was The Man though. 

[N Dentressangle]

What a sad film.

 

A quick Google suggests that of all the companies mentioned, only Vanguard Pressworks of Pershore remains in business, albeit under a different name. The boss looks a bit older now, of course...

 

https://qutecpershoreltd.co.uk/about-us/our-history/

 

Working on BL stuff as many of us do, I always suspected that things like the lock fitting charade were part of the problem. I've just been fiddling with the RR dash, and putting together such an ill fitting, badly designed maelstrom of bits and different screws never fails to make me wonder how the factory managed it with any degree of efficiency.

 

Obviously they didn't. What a shame.

[lesapandre]

Michael Edwardes still with us aged 88. He drove an SD1 estate prototype whilst with BL. 

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

He didn't get on with Thatcher, one of the main reasons he left. A pity he couldn't have stayed on until 1987/8.

[Timewaster]

I've not watched the video yet, but the miniMetro saved BL.

 

Such a shame BMW spent so much time and investment on the (lovely) 75 when what they really needed was another new Metro. Could have saved Rover too.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Small cars - small profits. Edwardes said the Metro alone would not have saved BL, but it was a shot in the arm and proved that they could build something half decent. A pity the Maestro wasn't that little bit better - it had a lot of potential. 

[lesapandre]

Harold Musgrove, successor to Edwardes, sacked David Bache over the Maestro/Montego styling. Shades of the BMC Maxi debacle. I think he took particular exception to the scalloped door panels.

 

The wonderful Austin/Rover Online has a fantastic interview with Harold here:

 

https://www.aronline.co.uk/facts-and-figures/people/harold-musgrove-interview/

[Fumbler]

Makes me a bit sad that the Acclaim never went anywhere high. I quite liked it but then again... I'm here, so that might skew things.

[lesapandre]

Harold also mentions this unicorn - anyone ever seen one:

 

"‘Ah, yes, the Montego 2.0 Vanden Plas EFI Auto Estate,’ Harold smiles. ‘This was a truly great, the best in the ARG range.‘ The problem was that not many buyers got to drive the top models and the base versions were a world away in terms of desirability."

[Marm Toastsmith]

Enjoyed that, but sad. First car was a Metro, and it was brilliant in many ways, but in truth miles behind the competition. My second car, a VW Jetta made in the same year, was so much better. Watching clips of the two factories it's easy to see why...

[MarvinsMom]

Harold Musgrove, successor to Edwardes, sacked David Bache over the Maestro/Montego styling. Shades of the BMC Maxi debacle. I think he took particular exception to the scalloped door panels.

 

The wonderful Austin/Rover Online has a fantastic interview with Harold here:

 

https://www.aronline.co.uk/facts-and-figures/people/harold-musgrove-interview/

 

i understand that Harold Musgrove called David Bach "that coiffured ponce" and the last straw been David Bach thinking* a porthole window would be the solution to the design woes of the Montego.

 

After Bach was sacked, they brought Roy Axe (latterly of Rootes/Crysler) in and showed him the Maestro. He thought that they needed to start again, only to be told it was going on sale in a matter of weeks. with the montego going on sale some months later, Roy Axe was able to give it a better nose and dashboard, but the main structure of the car was already set and couldn't be changed. hence the daft scallopes down the side of both cars.

 

Sadly the problems with the Monstro, and the Metro was that they both hit the market maybe 3 years too late (and weren't that well built) a result of the 1974 bankruptcy and political shinnanningans that followed.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The problem with Austin Rover is that Ze Germans just did it so much better. They'd wasted so much time, they could never catch up, never mind beat the likes of BMW. The closest they got was the R8 and the 600. The 800 was never good enough although it was decent enough as a Granada/Carlton rival. That 1992 facelift with the stupid Rover grille was just a joke. 

[lesapandre]

The SD1 was beautiful - but every designer can have an off design or 2.

 

Harold also discusses the AR6 - what a pity that did not make production.

[inconsistant]

"Nobody expects any progress".

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

CAR mag 1974, and they didn’t know what this was yet!

[Alusilber]

CAR mag 1974, and they didn’t know what this was yet!1A31D1DF-97C5-45FE-940D-318F83E31421.jpeg

 

 

And bonus 924 spyshot too! 

[SiC]

CAR mag 1974, and they didn’t know what this was yet! 1A31D1DF-97C5-45FE-940D-318F83E31421.jpeg

Porsche 924 isn't it?

 

Edit: Oh wait the Princess... Genuinely didn't see that at first!

[inconsistant]

Sorry, not BL but that's fab, this would have been taken before VW cancelled the project in late 74/early 75. Interesting how they describe it as an Audi Coupe. That's also an early prototype with different side window profile, hatch, rear lights and bumper to the later production ready prototypes.

 

As you were...

[Noel Tidybeard]

that comparison of 2 men fitting a door lock was a little unfair- i wonder how long an German took to fit the lock on a Beetle

[sierraman]

I’d love to have seen the porthole window maestro.

[Marm Toastsmith]

that comparison of 2 men fitting a door lock was a little unfair- i wonder how long an German took to fit the lock on a Beetle

 

Less time than in the mini. However brilliant it may be, (and the mini is a brilliant design) BL stuff has always been bodged out of bits of other BL cars etc. In terms of that sort of stuff VWs were always much cleverer - just IMO.

 

Plus he's a German.

[rovamota]

CAR mag 1974, and they didn’t know what this was yet!1A31D1DF-97C5-45FE-940D-318F83E31421.jpeg

 

That's the 18-22 Series being filmed for the in-house promotional film for the new car, which is on YouTube. 

 

[sierraman]

Just goes to show how much by 1980 they were fire fighting basically. Delaying the inevitable, it’s a miracle they lasted until 2005.

[lesapandre]

Just goes to show how much by 1980 they were fire fighting basically. Delaying the inevitable, it’s a miracle they lasted until 2005.

Yes. BMC management failed to invest in the 60's and the corporation paid big dividends to shareholders instead of improving productivity. After that they were basically stuffed because they continued in whatever form to not produce enough profit to rationalise and catch the competition with regards quality and competence of product and costs of production and thus profit.  A catastrophic management failure.

[Shep Shepherd]

What a sad film.

 

A quick Google suggests that of all the companies mentioned, only Vanguard Pressworks of Pershore remains in business, albeit under a different name. The boss looks a bit older now, of course...

 

https://qutecpershoreltd.co.uk/about-us/our-history/

 

 

It's good to know that things turned out well for the Cunninghams; they seemed like nice people. I wonder how the others fared? I guess that we will never know.

[SiC]

I watched this the other day and made me think, I wonder if there are any other manufacturers now in the same predicament?

I.e. old & rechurned products, lack of investment/investing in the wrong technology, knackered manufacturing equipment, heavily unionised & expensive staff and products not selling.

 

GM would be one? Bare similarities to being "saved" once before, but possibly failing may have helped them to chop out the chaff.

I guess FCA possibly too? They're especially struggling to bring new products out that are not rehashes of very old platforms.

 

Where as the Jap+Koreans have not only invested heavily in hybrid - which moves across to electric nicely. But also they have a lot of the expertise and manufacturing experience + skills of making key parts such as battery cells. Of course the Chinese manufacturers are sprinting along to catch up and appear to have no signs of that will slow down.