- Jul 13, 2006
- 4,782
British Leyland
- Thread starter Kayvan
- Start date
You should take a look at 'Red Robbo' the Union leader who was responsible for costing British Leyland hundreds of millions by his militant actions.
The cars were largely crap, the working practises archaic and the unions almost communist. A recipe for the inevitable disaster.
Oh, and the electrics were by Lucas.
The cars were largely crap, the working practises archaic and the unions almost communist. A recipe for the inevitable disaster.
Oh, and the electrics were by Lucas.
FB GT40
GT Owner/B.o.D
The cars were largely crap, oh, and the electrics were by Lucas.[/QUOTE]
Not so fast! Those very clever Brit's developed a "spares industry" that is second to none and has been going strong for 50 years or more. Buying the car was just the down payment, even if you paid cash for it! Just try keeping 5 Mini's running, now that will keep and entire village fed!! :wink (ask me how I know!) And sad to admit, I once owned an Austin Marina automatic!!! It had about 15 bhp with the A/C on! ::lol
Not so fast! Those very clever Brit's developed a "spares industry" that is second to none and has been going strong for 50 years or more. Buying the car was just the down payment, even if you paid cash for it! Just try keeping 5 Mini's running, now that will keep and entire village fed!! :wink (ask me how I know!) And sad to admit, I once owned an Austin Marina automatic!!! It had about 15 bhp with the A/C on! ::lol
Attachments
:frown
The Longbridge BL plant operation was farcical even before the days of Red Robbo, I spent a lot of time in there as a contractor installing equipment and every job was a nightmare.
Stoppages for meetings, fire drills, safety etc were hourly, the workers attitude was at the least childish, work permits were issued daily, took till mid morning to get one.
We ran a fleet of Ford service vehicles, security wouldnt allow them to be parked on the premises because they were built by a competitor. The buildings were old and in a state of disrepair leaking the ever present rainwater into the production line area and damaging equipment vital to the build process.
Red Robbo was a true reflection of the calibre of the whole workforce from toilet cleaner to boardroom management, 100's survived for years walking round from one department to another without actually having a position but they were part of the "old school and were looked after"
Cars were "removed" from the plant to order with all the required paperwork to enable registration of ownership, a cash for jobs system was rife, workers clocked in co-workers on a rota basis and supervisors turned a blind for a "drink"
Cut price spares were available from any local pub having found their way from the plant inside someones overcoat, if you had a BL car that went wrong out of warranty for a "bung" you could get the whole drivetrain swapped in an hour.
Just the tip of the iceberg, great pity our goverment didnt know a little of this before they wasted our money, strange they didnt, half the population did!!!!!
:thumbsdow:thumbsdow:thumbsdow
The Longbridge BL plant operation was farcical even before the days of Red Robbo, I spent a lot of time in there as a contractor installing equipment and every job was a nightmare.
Stoppages for meetings, fire drills, safety etc were hourly, the workers attitude was at the least childish, work permits were issued daily, took till mid morning to get one.
We ran a fleet of Ford service vehicles, security wouldnt allow them to be parked on the premises because they were built by a competitor. The buildings were old and in a state of disrepair leaking the ever present rainwater into the production line area and damaging equipment vital to the build process.
Red Robbo was a true reflection of the calibre of the whole workforce from toilet cleaner to boardroom management, 100's survived for years walking round from one department to another without actually having a position but they were part of the "old school and were looked after"
Cars were "removed" from the plant to order with all the required paperwork to enable registration of ownership, a cash for jobs system was rife, workers clocked in co-workers on a rota basis and supervisors turned a blind for a "drink"
Cut price spares were available from any local pub having found their way from the plant inside someones overcoat, if you had a BL car that went wrong out of warranty for a "bung" you could get the whole drivetrain swapped in an hour.
Just the tip of the iceberg, great pity our goverment didnt know a little of this before they wasted our money, strange they didnt, half the population did!!!!!
:thumbsdow:thumbsdow:thumbsdow
Not so fast! Those very clever Brit's developed a "spares industry" that is second to none and has been going strong for 50 years or more. Buying the car was just the down payment, even if you paid cash for it! Just try keeping 5 Mini's running, now that will keep and entire village fed!! :wink (ask me how I know!) And sad to admit, I once owned an Austin Marina automatic!!! It had about 15 bhp with the A/C on! ::lol[/QUOTE]
Have to agree.
I have quite a few BL derivatives and there aint a single part you cannot get even today.....complete body shels in some case.
Compare that to my 68 Charger where you can't even get a brake master cylinder amongst other basic things.....making my resto near imposible.:confused
FB GT40
GT Owner/B.o.D
Neil
Look at the bright side? They didn't have to turn the lights off when they left since the Prince of Darkness took care of that.
Dave
:lol
Actually, if you knew your way around 1970's Lucas electronics, you'd know that the windscreen wipers turned the lights off. :biggrin