Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Ellis]

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When I was growing up in the 1960s most of the cars you would see would be from the BMC stable, after all it had over 40% of the market.
Within a thirty mile radius of Betws y Coed there were no less than 14 BMC dealerships and to prove my point I will name them

1. Jones Bros Llanrwst
2. Braid Brothers, Colwyn Bay
2. M&K. Old Colwyn
3. Automobile Palace, Rhyl,
4. Automobile Palace, Llanfair PG (The village with the longest name).
5 M&K, Bangor
6.Dinas Garages, Caernarfon.
7.Dinas Garages, Llangefni.
8.Paragon Motors, Penygroes.
9.Minffordd Garage, Bethel.
10.Hughes Garage, Trawsfynydd.
11. Deudraeth Motors, Penrhyndeudraeth.
12. RJ Williams and Son, Talsarnau
13. Jones Bros, Ruthin
14. Hutchinson and Wilde, Rhos on Sea.

Those are the ones I can remember and it is not a complete list, there must have been others. I have not included another range of dealerships which sold Triumph, Rover, Land Rover and Jaguar.

You just couldn't walk into any one of the above and order a new MG Magnette, say, you could only buy one from Braid Brothers in Colwyn Bay. . If you wanted a Riley 4/72 you had to go to M&K in two locations or Automobile Palace, similarly on two sites. Dinas Garages sold Wolseleys as well as Austin, Jones Bros sold Morris.
Confused ? I sympathise.
If you wanted a Triumph you had to buy from Hollingdrake in Colwyn Bay or Plas Garage in Llangefni on Anglesey. If you were set on a Rover there was one official Rover dealership in Rhyl called Brookes Bros but you could buy a Land Rover from there or from Jones Bros in Llanrwst.

When Lord Stokes became the first chairman of the new British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968 he was appalled that of ex BMC part there was only one new model ready to launch - the Austin Maxi. Standard Triumph and Rover did have new products ready or in the pipeline.

We all know what eventually happened to British Leyland and Rover. By 2000 there was only one Rover dealership inside that 30 mile radius and that one, M&K later went on to sell Mitsubishi and Fiat from 2004.

The question I would like you to think about is what do you think should have happened to the gigantic British Leyland after 1970 with no less than 30 vehicle assembly plants and other interests from a large sawmill in mid Wales to a factory producing forklifts.

If Tata, a steel producer in India was able to diverse successfully in anything from a hotel chain to tea plantations and now making a world mark with Jaguar and Land Rover, then why did BL get it wrong?

Over to you.
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Starting Handle Expert

1964 Jaguar Mark 2 3.4 litre
1962 Land Rover Series 2a 88"
2002 BMW M3 E46 Cabriolet

[ukdave2002]

[Jim.Walker]

The problem was British Malady!
In the mid 1990s it became the thing to have a Japanese telly or a Continental car and eventually probably a Japanese car too.
Poor wages abroad made their products extremely price competitive and although our Motor Industry produced some fine, well designed, vehicles, quality control in production let them down. Plus bolshie trade unions inflating the work force with "one man - one job"
Don't blame British Leyland! Our workforce was impossible to work with.

I had a friend. On paper a Plater. To keep his job he had to learn skills like welding, but he was forbidden to do any.
One day, high up on a wagon tippler a repair he was tasked with required a five minute weld doing. The welder required did not show up though he waited for hours. He picked up the weldin torch already on the job and did the weld and completed the job.
That caused a strike. He almost lost his job and only kept it by consenting to join the Union!
What happened to British Leyland? Ask the public who let our industries down and the Unions who backed them!
Jim.

P.S. Compare our unions history with the USA ones who generally went to employers asking for a pay rise often bearing plans to increase profitability to pay for it.
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Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[Riley Blue]

The demise of BL must be one of the best documented industrial suicides in history, what's to discuss?

[Phil - Nottingham]

Badge engineering is nothing new or wrong Rootes and General Motors did it for years GM still does along with VW, Peugout and Ford. Less obvious badge engineering happens now with shared "platforms" and major components

Its bad management strive for growth (really greed) that is to blame including the so called unforeseen problems like the recession.

The aim is to sell the punters more and more new cars each year to make more and more cash even if not profits and for 99.99% of car manufacturers that was and still is the aim.

Rover Co used the all steel bodywork of the then new Hillman Minx made by an independent pressing factory for its new Rover 10 (P1) in 1933 as it could not build down to a price quicker in its own factory. It worked as well.
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Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2

[pogo]

I notice that the new Chrysler on sale in the UK is in fact a Lancia, in body at least.
Badge engineering to fool the public into buying something which in the UK is as popular as a f£$t in a spacesuit.

Personally, all the Lancias I had were excellent, ide rather buy one than a Chrysler.

Paul
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http://www.centralfrancestorage.com/index.html

[V8 Nutter]

B.M.C. management often knew they had problems but they did nothing about it. Austins burning oil. Triumphs dropping thrust washers are just two.

The unions were too powerful. In the late 60's a friend of mine almost caused a strike working too fast. to solve the problem his manager told him to get his quota done then spend the rest of the night in the toilet out of sight