Birmingham Car Factories: The end at Longbridge

[Angrydicky]

That A35 van is still owned by the chap in the picture, he's had it since 1960 and it's been off the road for the last couple of years due to a brake problem. The good news is it still looks exactly the same.

 

Thanks for sharing the Longbridge pictures. I agree the place looks like it's been empty for years. I remember the first time I saw some urbex from inside Longbridge and I thought then everything looks so outdated and underfunded, the toilets for example, were exactly as they were in Leonard Lord's days. Very sad.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

All the UK dissers ought to read up on Rolls-Royce, went into state ownership in 1972 after over-reaching itself on developing the modern turbofan engine, stayed there till about 1987 or something, then re-floated on the stock exchage. Its gone from strength to strength since and now its a serious UK-listed 'industrial titan' with a British CEO, and facilities all over the world, its pretty much at the top of the game in all the fields its involved with. Its just made a joint bid with Daimler for a massive engine group called Tognum. Its a great story, (the likes of which is unheard of in the car industry) and will reassure you that the UK is still capable of more than just financial trickery and half-arsed outsourcing 'strategies'.

[scaryoldcortina]

Luck of the draw... didn't RR get the turbine engine technology from rover by swapping them for the rights to the Merlin?

[Rusty Pelican]

Is it a complete change in attitude though? Ask a generic grandfather figure about "the olden days" and his answer will be a verbal version of those pictures - when we made things, when we fixed things, and when we were bloody good at it. Engineering works - not a factory producing a particular product, but a proper engineering works - were in every town. They'd just make stuff, I imagine there'd be guys sat in there with mucky overalls on, a box full of imperial spanners, an office full of rolls of paper and set squares, and they'd bloody well just make stuff.

 

In the deepest darkest olden days, if your car went wrong you'd fix it. It wasn't bodging, it was fixing and it more than likely involved a hammer and some rope. Now you get frowned at if you don't proceed immediately to a main dealer and sit in their glass and chrome waiting room whilst someone fits a genuine part, whilst following the step-by-step guide. But this is now normal to just give up all rational thought and throw money at a problem, having no understanding of how it's going to get resolved. The importing coal from Russia - a choice most likely made by someone in an office, with a load of money, who thinks holes in the ground sounds rather dangerous.

 

Pillock , you read my mind and put it down better than I ever could , this is perfect and my post of the year so far ( not that I really have one )

Great read , great thread

AUTOSHITE is back on track

[Lankytim]

All the UK dissers ought to read up on Rolls-Royce, went into state ownership in 1972 after over-reaching itself on developing the modern turbofan engine,

 

I remember reading about this, Did they not sell a load of RB211 engines to the United States in Dollars, but then the dollar collapsed and they ended up getting paid half of what they were expecting. Forced them to close down and restart as "Rolls Royce 1980" or something.

[ashmicro]

We have a Rolls-Royce gas turbine where I sometimes work. A truly staggering engineering feat, and all British.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

All the UK dissers ought to read up on Rolls-Royce, went into state ownership in 1972 after over-reaching itself on developing the modern turbofan engine,

 

I remember reading about this, Did they not sell a load of RB211 engines to the United States in Dollars, but then the dollar collapsed and they ended up getting paid half of what they were expecting. Forced them to close down and restart as "Rolls Royce 1980" or something.

 

I think they fell foul of some too-clever financial engineering of their own, which grossly over-valued what assets they had. Then when they needed more money to continue sorting probelms on the turbofan, they could not raise enough to keep going, got stuck, and ended up being nationalised. But, their period in state ownership paid off in the end.