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Post by Rodney the Rover on Jan 13, 2014 19:33:21 GMT
Been a bit quiet on here for the last couple of days so I thought that I would share the following video. It's a documentary which traces the rise and fall of a great British brand. Just over 38 minutes long so switch the kettle on and put your feet up and enjoy; www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV-9dVb7keM&feature=youtube_gdata_player |
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Post by guidedog on Jan 14, 2014 15:24:13 GMT
That's a nice bit of nostalgia Rodney.I still feel the directors involved should least explain how they got the company in that mess.
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Post by Rodney the Rover on Jan 14, 2014 22:11:22 GMT
I would be interested in finding a book that explains the politics & machinations behind the scenes of the Lord Stokes/Michael Edwards era that led to the Company going into Administration in 2005. Anyone got any suggestions? At that time I was just a 'nipper' more interested in girls than cars. Who actually owns the Rover brand now? I know that MG Rover was taken over by Nanjing Automobile of China after Ford sold it to BMW who then sold it to Tata of India. Who has the Trademark now? BTW,the car's called Rodney,I'm called Ray  |
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Post by guidedog on Jan 15, 2014 13:48:24 GMT
Sorry about that Ray, it could have been worse, you could have given your Rover a girls name  I don't believe Ford were involved with Rover. Ford did sell Jaguar to Tata and what a good job they did too. The XF is a dream as is the F type. Bob |
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Post by Rodney the Rover on Jan 15, 2014 17:12:24 GMT
Hi Bob, When looking through the car's history file there was a folder with Rodney the Rover written on it so I thought it was only right that the name stayed with the car. My previous car was called 'Bertha' and I often get them mixed up,must be old age creeping up I guess,lol. Regarding the Ford connection one of the Google searches I did ( www.Wikipedia.org/wiki/British-Leyland under Time lines) came up with the following statement; 2006: Ford acquires the rights to the Rover brand name from BMW though without any immediate plans for using it on production cars. 2008: Ford completes the sale of Jaguar,Rover and Land Rover to Tata Motors of India. N.B. After posting I find that the link for Wiki changes even though I changed it from the http:// to www. so please try to access Wiki direct under British Leyland. Put me down for the new Jaguar F Type Coupe R with the V8 550 BHP in British Racing Green please,it must be the bargain of the year at ONLY £85,000  |
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Post by guidedog on Jan 15, 2014 19:35:38 GMT
Hi Ray I drove the the soft top auto box was great you really didn't the paddles IF I win the lottery I'll order 2 of them Bob |
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Jan 16, 2014 18:46:48 GMT
As regards the Leyland/BMC/Jaguar/Rover mergers which created BLMC in 1968 (I remember it well!) its all set out in minute detail on I think an Austin-Rover Forum site - as usual it's about empire building unions and politics and "fat cats" . There is loads covering copies of minutes of meetings and all sorts and covers the period from 1965-1969 by which time it was starting to fall apart as many predicted but what was put out to the public was a complete cover up.
I will have try to find it but its only for anoraks and even the accounting was creative at best though nothing fraudulent or criminal/illegal in any way for the time or even now really. It was a disaster waiting to happen since 1945 and only finished almost 60 years later with MG-Rover and SAIC/Ford
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Post by guidedog on Jan 16, 2014 20:10:04 GMT
Rover-MG were still wasting money in 2002-2004. They entered 2 cars in the Le Man Grand Prix. I was told they turned up for third year with No cars bur still had the hospitality tent. What with the final directors paying themselves grand pension benefits at the end. What they done may not be legally wrong, but morally is another question
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Post by Rodney the Rover on Jan 16, 2014 20:47:09 GMT
That would be appreciated Phil. The more I search for information about what actually happened the more intrigued i become. When you say ''grand pension benefits'' Bob,the Phoenix Consortium came under quite a bit of criticism after it was revealed that the Directors took £42M in salaries and pension options in the four years. There was even an allegation that some software was used to delete data that was required by the Government inquiry.
It would make a good film (has it?),there is a recommended book listed on Amazon called 'British Leyland,the truth about the cars' priced from £85.00,think I'll join the local Library tomorrow.
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Jan 16, 2014 23:34:19 GMT
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Post by Rodney the Rover on Jan 17, 2014 19:46:26 GMT
Cheers for that Phil,think I'll be spending the rest of the night on that aronline website!
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Jan 17, 2014 22:20:07 GMT
You will need more than a night!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2014 18:35:57 GMT
Took a while before I watched it because of its length. Now I have and wish I hadn't! Very disturbing.
So sad. Not just a lack of brand management but any sort of management.
The original Rover people obviously inspired, thinking engineers and designers taking trouble and fighting for values to build a car, a market, a company, employment. Just look at that P4,P5, P5B. Even P6. What did it take to do that?
And then sheer lunacy that thinks the value is (only) in the badge. Even when the badges fall off! Absolute lunacy.
It all starts with cutting corners, not thinking, not caring not even taking the energy and emotions to have an argument with the aim of finding the right solution.
Is it British? Accept too much, stiff upper lip, don't show your feelings or voice your opinions?
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