OT:Goodmans

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I bought a CD produced by gawd knows whom (one of those small companies who make such things) which covered a car meet I'd been to.

It was rather as expected - except for an interview with a long retired BL production engineer. Probably just a filler - but far more interesting than the shots of the cars.

And you simply wouldn't believe some of the horror stories. Things like a production line being moved to a different factory, and the assembly workers being expected to be up to speed immediately, with zero training. Bare bodies being piled up outside to rust long before they saw paint. And so on. Yet all the fault of Red Robbo, it seems.

BMW took over BL with the intention of turning it into a going concern. Only when they finally got to find out the true state of it did they realise it was an impossible task. Without near starting over from fresh.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Eh?. That was Standard/Triumph.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Ghia was originally a coach builder. Same as Mulliner etc. From the earlier days when you could buy a chassis from a car maker and fit your own body to it.

[Bill]

In message [e-mail]>, "Dave Plowman (News)" [e-mail]> writes

I think interviews with long retired engineers are always extremely interesting. I still remember the long chat I had on the phone with the ex-Petter engineer, who designed their range of small diesel engines. He was scathing about the Lister takeover and the lack of interest in the small, advanced engines. Hence the surrender to the Japanese.

What seems to have disappeared completely is decent British management. I wish I had some faith in so-called Management Courses.

We had a Triumph Toledo from new. No problem with the design, but the paint came up in small round blisters, which I religiously scraped and de-rusted. Only later was I told "Oh, didn't you know? When they went on strike they stored the unpainted or primered cars outside. The next door plant was a chemical works producing acids."

[Steve Walker]

I can confirm the extremely poor practices and quality control: my next-door neighbour used to be in the steel business, in sales. He has told me of cheap, poor quality steel being bought by BL.

It wasn't just BL though. My father, while visiting relatives in Wales, was invited on a tour of a steel mill. While there he saw coil after coil of steel labelled up "Rejected by Ford, send to Vauxhall."

Oh, there was massive mismanagement, but there was never a hope with strike-happy unions as well. Both were equally guilty.

SteveW

[John Rumm]

ISTR their power tools division is now branded Hikoki

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It seems it was common. Due to the factories making the bodies often a long way from the assembly line. And no attempt at just in time meant storing them outdoors. You'd have thought a quick dip in a protective paint at the body factory would have made sense, but no. Pennies were pinched everywhere.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not sure either of those had a good reputation for not rusting, though?

[mm0fmf]

I did think of trying a "spot knocker" on it. I'm sort of happy for the cathode to be low emission after a quarter of a million hours use!

[tabbypurr]

I certainly would not arc to the fragile filaments. I never liked rejuvenators, they trashed the tubes within a month or 3. Some heater boost usually worked better. By some I mean typically 33%, not the feeble 5 or 10% boost once done. Since they run black, VFDs have good capacity for filament boosting.

They can also be B+ boosted, though whether the circuit driving them can I couldn't say. The average VFD seems happy enough at 180v, but clocks etc only run them upto 30v.

NT

[DJC]

I had one, ran it in the UK for 18 years 'til the rust put it beyond even uneconomic repair, still my favourite car.

[The best car was an MX5, the worst either the Renault 5 (1978-83) though the present Duster has not covered itself in glory.]

[DJC]

But the current Twingo just shares a name, it is nothing like the original.

[DJC]

Yes, and no longer owned by Hitachi but by investor KKR.

[mm0fmf]

Food for thought. Thanks.

[Marland]

In the BMC era that would have been the Police Cars.

GH

[Marland]

Which version was that then?

The grey fergy had a few engine variants due to its complicated gestation from associations with David Brown then Ford till it got fully established as an independent company but AFAIK the Grey Fergy never used a Rootes Group engine. The main spark ignition engine then settled on was built for them by the Standard Motor company and versions were then used in some of their cars such as the Vanguard and the 4 cylindered TR series of Triumph Sports cars which by then were also under the same ownership and the firm would soon become known Standard Triumph. Nothing to with Rootes. When Massey Harris bought Ferguson to become Massey Ferguson in 56 they bought the tractor version of the engine out from STD but by then petrol/ Tvo engines in the UK market were falling out favour with Diesel becoming the choice. Standard had made a Diesel for Ferguson but some also had a 3 cylinder Perkins engine.Massey Ferguson eventually bought Perkins so all engines were then ?in house?.

I spent many hours driving Dads Grey Ferguson and still have a soft spot for them. Two years ago the wife?s nephew moved next door to an old boy of 90, he still occasionally runs his fathers Ferguson Brown the predecessor that they have never parted with, they are much rarer machines.

GH

[Bob Eager]

I remember once being transported to the police station (as a witness!) late at night in a police Morris Minor. Very fast...

[Marland]

A friend had an ex Police Morris Traveller which had a few miles on the clock some of which had been put on by his brother taking it from Devon to Marrakesh and back twice via France and Spain which in 1971 was more of an adventure than it would be now. My non mechanically minded pal after a few incidents of a flat battery even though he had replaced it asked me to have a look at it. Soon found it wasn?t being charged but instead of the expected dynamo this one had an alternator. Think it must have been fitted as part of the Police additions to cope with the extra load their equipment may have created. A bit of detective work found one from a Ford Transit had been used.

GH

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Quite. The engine designer was Harry Ferguson. As a consultant engineer, he established a relationship with Standard due to being involved in the planning of their factory etc reconstruction after WW2.