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Ian
then gave us a briefing just behind the security lodge, during the
briefing Ian stopped himself and spoke to me saying the following
golden words 'Can you bring the 85th over and park it up' as you can
imagine I was reluctant but already sprinting across to the car.
Ian is passionate about MG, and has vast knowledge of not just the
cars but everything as a whole, he explained a lots of things to us
and also about the tour itself. His opening was asking if any of us
had been in the factory itself before, and some relief that none of us
had. Ian explained that in the former days when some 6100 staff worked
at MG that it was vibrant and a busy environment, now though it was a
ghost of it's previous life and is a big shock to those who have been
there in it's glory days
Time unknown I
guess the excitement of being here and not clock watching anymore, Ian
warned us he walks very quickly and asked us to keep up with him. Well
I think he should consider entering the Olympics and even the fitness
of our younger generation struggled to keep up. We entered through the
conference building to make a swift right hand turn to show us the
former office of Herbert Austin, Ian explained about a coin which is
sunken into the wood panelling. It is believed to have been used by
Herbert Austin on making decisions about the car company, I guess by
the number of cars that were sold the coin was responsible for this
and a shame it's use was not carried forward to MG Rover.
Into the factory we go, what first hits you is the vast amount
of empty space and the quietness. Although I have never been in the
factory as such, I did deliver in parts from the supply chain so in
effect I had been there in the hustle and bustle days but was really
nothing to write home about in terms of being in the factory. I can
only envisage the 6100 employees doing there work on many of the
production lines, many of these have been uplifted and moved to China.
Ian does have an interesting story about that everything has been
replicated into the newly built factory, even includes a dogleg
walkway which Ian pleaded with them to remove as many Longbridge
workers had complained about it. The Chinese were having none of this,
they even still have the lockers with all the stickers and calendars
which hung on them in the exact same place but 1,000's of miles away.
Ian walked us (or rather Ian was walking whilst we were jogging) to
the far end passing the remaining LE500's awaiting new owners, they
say the Chinese are camera happy but our group were just the same (if
you remember the film Short Circuit with the robot 'Number 5' in the library
'Input Input') then you will know how we felt. As we walked down the
far side of the factory there are many TF bodies just sitting on the
floor, these were the ones which didn't make it through the quality
checks for what ever reasons, but all of our eyes were scouting back
and forth looking at the many things which lay redundant. Ian
explained that the bodies are shipped over from China, I have to
wonder the expense of the shipping from the other side of the world
can be cost effective, when they were originally made in the UK. One
can only assume that the people who are making the bodies are
considerably paid less than those who made them in the UK. |
85th Anniversary TF
Internet Photo
Herbert Austin's Former Office
Vast Amount Of Empty Space
Last Of The LE500's Waiting to be Sold |
