Latest new pics inside Longbridge + Tunnels

[Jim K]

Lot's of new pics taken last week on pages 1 + 2 inside LB. New pics inside tunnels. Didn't know LB had so many miles of tunnels. Jim

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/...ead.php?t=9749

[rover414]

No matter how many times I see pictures like that... i get annoyed.... thinking how could they let a manufacturer go to pot like that....
especially since we have very few Britsh car manufacturers anyway.... well if any now....

I hope roewe/mg show this country really what they have lost out on...



Very good pics though!!..

[xpower_boy]

Have u seen that Mini Clubman with 11 miles on the clock!!!

[northstand]

Originally Posted by xpower_boy

Have u seen that Mini Clubman with 11 miles on the clock!!!

No where is that then ??

TC

[principal skinn]

Originally Posted by rover414

No matter how many times I see pictures like that... i get annoyed.... thinking how could they let a manufacturer go to pot like that....

What is most upsetting is all those cars with the bonnets up ,bits cut away from them ,test gear inside them-what ideas did they have ,what plans did they have?

MGR arguably had the most talented engineers of all the car companies ,and they were working on a shoestring budget.

What could have happened on a real budget with government support?

What a waste

[xpower_boy]

on the 2nd page!





Anyone know anything about this????

[Austin-Towers]

Yes. It's the RDX-60 Prototype HAHAHAHAHA. Ha. h. I'll get me coat......

[Ann MG Writer]

Originally Posted by xpower_boy

on the 2nd page!


Anyone know anything about this????

Actually, this was the pride and joy of the BMW Chairman's personal collection, and he had sent it to Longbridge around the beginning of 2000 to allow the Longbridge boys to undertake a loving restoration, expressing all their emotions and feeling for the new relationships which had been forged so closely between Munich and Birmingham while they carefully returned it to its former glory.

[SteveChilds]

lol. It was probably caught up in the massive fire they had there a few years back.

I'm amazed anyone could get into those tunnels, they aren't exactly safe.

[ztdriver]

What a great loss this country has had with this factory closing.
Britain and the Labour Government should be ashamed.
When that factory died, sadly so did my loyalty to MGRover. Don't think a chinese owner will relight that passion, its just not the same.
Well at least Aston Martin are hopefully returning to British ownership, or mostly anyway. Some comfort i suppose. How much more loss of manufacturing can our poor little country lose. Sleep well Mr Bliar

[northstand]

Originally Posted by xpower_boy

on the 2nd page!





Anyone know anything about this????

Needs a little work, but I guess I could have it up and running in a few days hahaha

[Jim K]

Whenever I see pictures inside longbride I'm always surprised at how many cars remain there. Prototypes, half complete shells, even racks of cars plus the tunnels.

I'm with you on the anti Government views on Rover / BMW. Let's face it in '97 Rover wasn't in bad shape. I think if you had to pin Rovers failure on one single prime minister I would say it was Thatcher. I think had things been done differently a large volume HGV manufacturer and car maker should have been viable from the wreckage of BL.

[sheefag]

If you read 'back from the brink' by Sir Michael Edwardes you'll realise that it was Thatcher ironically who saved BL from bankruptcy - the real tragedy lies with goverment interference before and after, communist trade union leaders with political ambitions, inept and weak management, a marketing dept that somehow never understood marketing and ultimately a dealer network who didn't give a ****.

[ZRsteve]

Yes, she was persuaded to invest in BL despite her instincts.

She even aproved the funding for the K-series development. Now where would we be without that? (nobody mention HGF!)

[Tad]

am I the only one wondering what that wide arches TF is doing there? it sure looks nice!
and it has a huge hole in the bonnet... so they were fitting a bigger engine and bigger wheels...... hmm... HMMMM !!!

edit; it'd be nice if the people who worked on those prototypes could hang around here and show us the projects they worked on at home. I'm pretty sure a guy who likes trying that kind of mods at work doesn't drive a normal rover or MG.

[Mike-MGR]

Originally Posted by Tad

am I the only one wondering what that wide arches TF is doing there? it sure looks nice!
and it has a huge hole in the bonnet... so they were fitting a bigger engine and bigger wheels...... hmm... HMMMM !!!

edit; it'd be nice if the people who worked on those prototypes could hang around here and show us the projects they worked on at home. I'm pretty sure a guy who likes trying that kind of mods at work doesn't drive a normal rover or MG.

I think it may have been the hybrid TF if what I have seen banded around on here, but the test car used at MIRA although a silver TF was used it was standard looking aside from some stickers. That was the 200BHP car 160 at the back wheels with an electric motor at the front producing 40BHP. So when used together it was a four wheel drive 200BHP sports cars. Shame they never had any money to complete it

[Chas70]

Originally Posted by Jim K

Whenever I see pictures inside longbride I'm always surprised at how many cars remain there. Prototypes, half complete shells, even racks of cars plus the tunnels.

I'm with you on the anti Government views on Rover / BMW. Let's face it in '97 Rover wasn't in bad shape. I think if you had to pin Rovers failure on one single prime minister I would say it was Thatcher. I think had things been done differently a large volume HGV manufacturer and car maker should have been viable from the wreckage of BL.

That is very true. It was the anti-industry, anti-interventionist policies of that Government which forced BL to be underfunded and split up the company into smaller, weaker units which prevented it from having a remote chance of being a major world player.

[Chas70]

Originally Posted by ZRsteve

Yes, she was persuaded to invest in BL despite her instincts.

She even aproved the funding for the K-series development. Now where would we be without that? (nobody mention HGF!)

Yes, that was an interesting occurrence from what I have heard.

Thatcher was anti intervention and anti manufacturing for dogmatic reasons, and so was myuch of her government, including Joseph.

The K series was the result of Harold Musgrove's successfully persuading Tebbit to lobby Thatcher, who apparently wanted BL to buy in engines from Japan instead of making its own. A short sighted idea if ever there was one.

[Nosegas]

Yep, I think the real credit for getting the K-series into production - with financial help from a government that didn't favour such state aid - has to go to that old bruiser Harold Musgrove. I think he was quoted as saying something like, a car company that doesn't make its own engines can't call itself a car company.

Another top Musgrove story; during development of the Metro he used to go and sit in a room late at night, just him and the car, simply staring at it and asking himself, 'Could I love something like you?'

Probably a bit of a nutcase, but he got stuff done.

By the way, the silver wide arched MG TF is the mule for the next generation car. 100mm wheelbase stretch, wider track, new brakes and steering, engine bay 'package protected' for a V6. Apparently it was a real dynamic step forward.

[Rover_King]

Im allways amazed seing new pictures of longbridge. Just look at all of those unfinished cars stacked up and lying around....how many unfinished cars are there; hundreds? or thousands even? Such a shame. Some look literally like there nearly ready to be sold!