[Elizabeth Kinoke]

Like everything British, people don't want or trust it anymore... Leyland days were a reflection of the wider UK scenario and my god how the press have punished the workers of Longbridge ever since, ironically the best products that have come out of the plant in decades have been since the all British MG Rover amalgamation took form.

I would like to see the plant cut right back, kept mainly British with aid from the Government and an overseas investor and then concentrate on a smaller number of really top quality cars, to continue on the scale that has been of recent years is very unwise as the same problems will recur to the delight of the British press and certain other self-righteous carpers I know.

MG Rover doesn't want people to buy their cars out of patriotism, they want to sell cars to people that are proud to own an MG Rover and the fact that it is British designed and made and has a history that dates back to the very beginnings of automobile manufacture is regardless.

Or of course we could simply give up, redevelop Longbridge into an XL Currys, DFS, Ikea etc and then we can be proud of the fact that the state of Britains industry is not just in decline but now almost nonexistent!

Some history:

http://www.technispec.com/a50/default.htm#begin

http://derela.republika.pl/austin.htm

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

"Herbert Austin was installed as Manager at Wolseley cars and won international renown, but in the early summer of 1905 he resigned and looked around for somewhere to start on his own company.
After numerous exploratory cycle rides all round Birmingham, he came to Longbridge, seven miles out of the city (then a leafy area). There he found a small derelict printing works, which proved to be just what he wanted. Friends came forward with financial help and the Austin Motor Company was born."

This is even more saddening, ironically it will be exactly 100 years ago that Longbridge was first thought out to produce cars.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

Even my dad is depressed at this news and that is a bad sign... trust me!

Fucking hell! Maybe all the Longbridge staff could find work in Tesco or... erm... Landscape Gardening and Cookery programmes are popular at the moment... or... err... the Bullring shoppin, naah... I suggest this is a good time to throw jeremey Clarkeson into Longbridge to evaluate the situation.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

It looks rather attractive apart from the front end and Kraut badge, I detest BMW after spending time in Germany they are common as wasps, driven by people that are just as irritating, why is it that every bloke i see drivin a BMW is beefy, wearin a white shirt with an up-turned collar but missing a tie and veers across my side of the road as if in defiance of British rule.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

They're claiming that "Rover _is_ the West Midlands" - eh? "Rover is a bastion of Britishness"? - Ha!

Surely they must have seen this coming? I've worked in firms that are going down the pan and the signs = usually the fact you're not selling anything - are blatantly obvious! Were they so blinkered by the "Jobs for life" attitude that they failed to realise it?

Martin N, let me answer your points on behalf of the many workers at Longbridge (some of whom have been supporting the BRITISH car industry for decades whether good or bad)

You are a complete tosser with a typical Anti- British self depreciating attitude, you look at the negative side and then polarise it to the extent of revelling in it (especially if Brum is involved)... are you German, I wouldn't be surprised, did BMW build the Mini when it became world famous as a British institution in the Italian Job or when it was worshipped by millions of enthusiasts across the world, hard working Brummies at Longbridge built the Mini... does that hurt your sad little pride? Coventry gave in mate, they rolled over and accepted their fate like subservient pups and now they are stuck with part time retail gimps as oposed to highly skilled engineers, don't knock Brummies for fighting their corner thank you very much. Besides you're hardley a true rep for Cov are you...

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

Just to spell it out...

****!

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

strange

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

people

BTW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longbridge

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

thats an £80 cam fone took that pic with a well scratcjhied lenss, amasink.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

The ROVER name is not a brum badge, it's cov i think? Austin founded Longbride with an amazing line of fighter aeroplanes to tanks and cars, where it all went wrong was in the post war years with cheap cov car companies.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

Let us not make a mountain out of a mole hill here.

No lets...

Manchester has completely lost its textile business a long time ago, but the place has reskilled and moved on.

A lot more coal miners' jobs went in the mid eighties, but people have moved on.

Yes thats right and didn't we know about it, they litterally caused riots with one man throwing concrete over bridges at passing vehicles, coal mining is not manufacturing, digging holes in ground with machinery is not the same as manufacturing a sports car that can hold ground in world competitions: http://www.mg-rover.org/xpower/

i don't want to mention Sheffield and its steel.

Why, Birmingham and Black Country have been losing all manner of metal works and foundrys for decades but we don't hear about it because the factories themselves are on smaller scales but used to amount to many. (think you need to research your argument).

Unfortunately, it's the sign of the times. Manufacturing on the vast scale is basically dead in Western Europe, dead as a dodo. Ok, you might still get a few very high tech plants (Longbrige was not that)

Have you ever taken a look around Longbridge, not high tech??? so they were making sports cars out of a few old nuts 'n' bolts and some corrugated steel found off one of a factory roof. :laugh:

We need to reskill and move forward towards the knowledge based economy, because manufaturing, and maybe even base services, will have no place in Europe in 100 years time. Unless boarders are closed that is.

Britain needs a base of manufacturing as a country to survive and function, a country cannot live off pen pushers alone, technology works hand in hand with manufacturing these days or did you not know that?

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

A wakeup call for you. The world is changing! :eek2:

Oh, again!

Very clever, well done... stop repeating what I've already said, Technology IS working hand in hand already, we need BOTH manufacturing and technology, how the jones do you think robots operate, they need to be manufactured by skilled workers.. dur ¬[email protected][iowe and then programmed and operated by skilled machinists with such systems as cnc and cad, if you believe that it is healthy for Britain to exist without manufacturing then you are just argueing to piss me off which is fair enough, otherwise your un-educated in this area, what do you think would happen if majority of our maufacturing was carried out in say... China, and we lost our skilled manufacturers along with all their hundred years of knowledge and research then China fell out with the U.S. and ultimately Britain, or what do you think will happen when the Eastern European countries suddenly wake up one day and think, oh... look, we are producing all Britains "exports" but they are paying us in buttons, **** that we want to get paid more, so much more that it becomes economically unsound to produce any where other than the UK, not sure if I have explained myself correctly but I think you get the message, of course it is healthy to have trade with other countries import, export but IMO there needs to be a balance for a country to retain a healthy fair economy, because as i say should things ever go tits up in europe or China Britain would not want to catch a cold from the fall out.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

i think you imagine all manufacturing in the UK to be ancient dinosaurs sitting around on their jacksides complaining about how hard life is, get real... manufacturing changes with the times, Longbridge was unique in that it was the last major UK originated and owned car plant, now that it has gone what will the Guardian motor journo's write? maybe they can have a dig at the trotter mobile, BTW, you seem to make plenty of assumptions about Longbridge which brings me back to... "Have you ever walked around the site, taken a look at the plant?" or are you going to say "I don't need to, I read about it in a Jeremy Clarkson article"

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

another ****.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

There is a certain percentage of people in this country that will not rest untill they see it's complete demise, I am not one of those people, I admire our forefathers and what they toiled for endlessly, I do not blame Labour government in general rather I blame the insecurities and jelousy of British perps who are destroying their forefathers ingenuity.
Maybe half a century is not long enough for humans to learn of their MASSIVE mistakes. Please??? work together??? Bullshite!!!

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

Oh don't be so pathetic. Go and read up on the British car industry.

First Kindly refer to my first post top of this page, thank you.

Why did Jaguar move it's Coventry production to Birmingham Martin? Every post I have EVER read from you has been in some way derogatory to the people of Birmingham, you come across as an inferior snail like creep appearing every time there is bad news to revell in it and I am bored of reading your anal facts and figures, get educated, get real and then get a life, Longbridge is over, the British MANUFACTURE of cars is over and it's a tragic shame, if do not realise the seriousness of this then I give up, I really do, I am just thankfull that from my experiences your sad little bias nature is in a minority and sits along side the worthless snides like EB. Trash.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

Although they have managed to squeeze a few more years out of Longbridge with limited success I do now wonder if the Pheonix 4 decided that the plant would inevitably decline further and they simply acted in their own interests, as you say Gothic... Immoral.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

cars are now being manufactured at Longbridge again, albeit only assembly but it is something that will hopefully expand, if only this new college could go somewhere here? that would be ace.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

I agree they made some real crap models in the late 70's and 80's but the later years they produced much better stock and unfortunately the snobbery certainly remained a thorn in their side, the MG models fared pretty well against other similar priced cars, Longbridge was simply way to big and workers over paid, good to see car manufacture remains in the location where Austin started over a century ago :cheers: hopefully we could see some other small car firms set up. Several small firms would make good sense.

 

[Elizabeth Kinoke]

the site is something to behold at the moment, it is bizarre, such a mass of land now opened up for development, in all honesty the Rover works had become a real eyesore, I just hope we don't get bland supermarkets and ikeas, I'm sure investment will come or is on the way and to keep car manufacture there is at least something we didn't expect.