Did you work at Longbridge? Rover stories. Red Robbo things.

[motorpunk]

As part of my ongoing (and thoroughly enjoyable) research for my book about Derek ‘Red Robbo’ Robinson, I’m keen to talk to people who worked at Longbridge, or Rover in general, or in the industrial West Midlands in the 60s-80s.
 

If that’s you, or someone you know, or if you have any tips for finding any of the men (for example) who went on strike because management changed the type of nail used the packing cases used at Cowley* then please drop me a line or post here. Thanks.

*This happened. 

[St.Jude]

I will speak to my mate when my Instagram app isn't locked and ask when his Dad started there. I know he was at Longbridge in the 90's when Rover/Land Rover used to share the staff. He was asked if he wanted to stay at Longbridge or go to Solihull, he chose Solihull. But if he didn't he'd definitely know people who did.

You also mention industrial West Midlands - is it specific to cars or are you including the industries that made the parts? My mom worked for a company in Birmingham during that time and was making bits for cars.

[motorpunk]

Thanks. Parts too! Am particularly interested in industrial relations and working conditions, fun and games, and the sad but often amusing slow death of an industry.

Free pic for inspiration. One out, all out!

 

[sierraman]

I think finding anyone who worked with him might be a tall order, he was fired in the mid 70’s. 

[motorpunk]

18 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I think finding anyone who worked with him might be a tall order, he was fired in the mid 70’s. 

Yup.

‘79 he got the chop. He lived until 2017. He has some surviving relatives but tracking them down isn’t easy.

Finding people who worked in or around Rover and Longbridge in the ‘60s to late ‘80s is my current task. Already interviewing people! 

[sierraman]

Apparently he was pretty much unemployable when he got fired, Wikipedia which is notoriously inaccurate reckoned he eventually got a job teaching in colleges which in fairness was probably a better career. 

[fairkens]

My grandad knew him during that era, he (my grandad) was a shop steward at Standard Triumph.

Sadly he's dead

[motorpunk]

4 minutes ago, fairkens said:

My grandad knew him during that era, he (my grandad) was a shop steward at Standard Triumph.

Sadly he's dead

Wow, that’s cool. Some great characters emerging from that era. Alan Thornett (Cowley) is another.

[junkyarddog]

My Mothers Uncle worked there in the stores.

He wasn't much of a talker though,even less now that he is dead.

[Split_Pin]

Have you tried getting in touch with Jon Coupland? I'm not personally a fan of his tbh but his dad comes across as a gent and is very likeable. I'm 99% sure he worked at Rover.

[motorpunk]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

Have you tried getting in touch with Jon Coupland? I'm not personally a fan of his tbh but his dad comes across as a gent and is very likeable. I'm 99% sure he worked at Rover.

That’s good advice, thanks. I don’t know him but having googled I’ll try and make contact. Thanks, ‘pin.

[grogee]

No, but an ex-girlfriend of mine tells the story of when she was little, living in Worcester and the locals talked of "Leyland Fortnight" - this was the two-week summer shutdown in August. 

Although her mum's memory is fading on this and it could have been "Austin Fortnight". 

I guess Worcester was close enough that it was in the Longbridge orbit. Both phrases sound best in an imagined Black Country drawl. 

Mostly irrelevant but might add some colour to your book about everyone's favourite Derek. 

[R Lutz]

My partner is from Stourbridge and although her family didn't work at the Austin, a lot of her friends and their parents did. I got all kinds of tales from them on Christmas parties. Red Robbo was in the phone book until the day he died. My father-in-law arrested him I believe and my mother-in-law processed him through the courts. I believe he delivered newspapers as his last job. 

[motorpunk]

1 hour ago, R Lutz said:

My partner is from Stourbridge and although her family didn't work at the Austin, a lot of her friends and their parents did. I got all kinds of tales from them on Christmas parties. Red Robbo was in the phone book until the day he died. My father-in-law arrested him I believe and my mother-in-law processed him through the courts. I believe he delivered newspapers as his last job. 

That’s interesting info, thanks. He did sell and deliver papers as his last job. There’s info that says he was also a lecturer on industrial relations but I think that’s rubbish as there’s no hard evidence and his personality simply doesn’t fit.

I’m slowly building a clear timeline of his life and activities and relationships. Unusually for me I’ve actually booked a week off my day job to dig into a treasure trove of info I’ve come across and completely focus on research for this book. I’m resisting the temptation to just bash out the writing now until I’ve explored as much as I can … I can’t believe I’ve booked a week off work to visit Dudley.
 

[New POD]

For the first 5 years of our married life, we lived in Rednal.  Every other house in the street had someone that worked at Longbridge (The Austin)  

Also every other car in the street had alloys that it shouldn't have had. 

Wife worked for a while on a cystic fibrosis ward, and I used to pick up.up from work after a late shift and talk to a lad who worked there in maintenance as a bulb replacer.  His job (when he wasn't ill) was to walk around the factory with a trolley containing light bulbs and replace any light bulbs that had gone out.  

[New POD]

9 hours ago, motorpunk said:

That’s interesting info, thanks. He did sell and deliver papers as his last job. There’s info that says he was also a lecturer on industrial relations but I think that’s rubbish as there’s no hard evidence and his personality simply doesn’t fit.

I’m slowly building a clear timeline of his life and activities and relationships. Unusually for me I’ve actually booked a week off my day job to dig into a treasure trove of info I’ve come across and completely focus on research for this book. I’m resisting the temptation to just bash out the writing now until I’ve explored as much as I can … I can’t believe I’ve booked a week off work to visit Dudley.
 

We had a lecturer on our degree course at Coventry Polytechnic who had been in management at Longbridge and lectured on industrial relations and factory management 

Said that you couldn't believe the papers. 

If a supplier had let them down or there was a problem back up the chain and they couldn't build anything in a particular area, they'd sack the union convenor on a trumped up charge, everyone in that area would go on strike and they wouldn't have to pay them.  Saving lots of money. And once they had fixed the issue or got the parts they'd reinstate to convenor and everyone would come back to work, and get weekend overtime at a premium to make up the production lost. 

At any one time, this could be going on all over the site in different sub assembly departments.  (13 strikes in one day would be the newspaper headline) 

 

[grogee]

On 15/12/2024 at 06:25, New POD said:

We had a lecturer on our degree course at Coventry Polytechnic who had been in management at Longbridge and lectured on industrial relations and factory management 

 

I wonder if he was there when I was there (93-97)?

What was his name? 

[sierraman]

Unless he got a good pension at BL I can’t imagine his latter years were easy if his career choice was delivering papers. 

[New POD]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

I wonder if he was there when I was there (93-97)?

What was his name? 

He was lecturing in the 80s and was probably there in the 70s and 60s 

I can't remember his name.  

We did have a lecturer who was ex Triumph Motorcycles called Dr Stuart Spraggett. He worked in Merriden before it folded. 

[Dobloseven]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Unless he got a good pension at BL I can’t imagine his latter years were easy if his career choice was delivering papers. 

According to his obituary,he was a sales rep for the Daily Worker newspaper.And did some lecturing at one point.Really looking forward to this latest book,as I'm sure many others are too.

[motorpunk]

I spent most of today reading through a large archive of factory records. Tons of it utterly banal. Some of it very relevant for the book. Some of it a bit black humour - there was once a strike because someone found a dead cat, and someone accidentally drowned in the paint bath and management tried to pass it off as suicide. 

[motorpunk]

Dick Ethelridge’s paperwork, he was a leading communist and Robbos predecessor at Longbridge.

[motorpunk]

Fun fact.; The Allegro painters once took industrial action over demands for the company to supply them with Marks & Spencers underwear. 

[grogee]

On 16/12/2024 at 16:24, motorpunk said:

I spent most of today reading through a large archive of factory records. Tons of it utterly banal. Some of it very relevant for the book. Some of it a bit black humour - there was once a strike because someone found a dead cat, and someone accidentally drowned in the paint bath and management tried to pass it off as suicide. 

Does it still make sense 50 years after the event? (The records I mean). 

Much of my day job in auto industry is peppered with acronyms that would mean nothing to anyone else, even if they could read my handwriting. 

Are you able to share a picture of a day where nothing interesting happens at all? 

[motorpunk]

2 minutes ago, grogee said:

Are you able to share a picture of a day where nothing interesting happens at all? 

No. And I don’t want to! I’m enjoying the industrial chaos, bodges and chicanery on BL at its nadir. That’s the book 👍🏼

[MrBig]

13 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Fun fact.; The Allegro painters once took industrial action over demands for the company to supply them with Marks & Spencers underwear. 

If ever there was a metaphor for the state of the British car industry in the 70s. Looking forward to the book!!

[motorpunk]

Yoinks! I just learned that a factory manager from Longbridge went to Dublin to attend a conference and got shot in the legs. 

[MrBig]

I assume we have to buy the book to find out why?

[omegod]

17 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Yoinks! I just learned that a factory manager from Longbridge went to Dublin to attend a conference and got shot in the legs. 

Must have been misidentified for an ambassador or something ....... 

[Lankytim]

I did some agency work as a lorry driver clearing the plastic bumpers out of Longbridge after it closed, the bumpers were made by a company called Plastic Omnium who also made wheelie bins. There was a skeleton staff on at Longbridge and Inwas the first lorry to arrive. I was directed to open my curtains in front of an open warehouse door. The staff loaded approximately 0 loads for the 8 hours or so I was there, apparently I’d been directed to the wrong door and nobody thought to tell me, or they didn’t care. I was able to explore much of the mostly deserted site. It was fascinating, production lines with shells on ready to be assembled etc.

One of the more interesting parts was the “scrap” area where some damaged brand new cars and defunct pieces of machinery  sat awaiting their fate. Some of the cars had things written on them like “DATUM POINT ERROR” which presumably meant they were the wrong shape or something and had failed quality control. Surely nobody would miss that nice looking Rover 75 estate sat over there?

I asked one of the staff why he thought MG Rover had gone tits up and he said “Because we make shit cars” 

 

*edit* this wasn’t in the 70s or 80s so plz disregard.