Reply to: The City is Doomed (tm)

[AtW]

People like you?

No, I don't quit very quickly

[OwlHoot]

He should have bought that car made with wood! Now that was impressive!

Back in the '60s a well-known eccentric Pakistani guy living in Wimbledon made a car almost entirely of wood, and decided to road-test it early one morning on Parkside, a long straight road that runs along the edge of Wimbledon common.

Unfortunately, as he reached a speed of about 50, something came slightly adrift and caught in the engine, and the car instantly almost literally exploded in a cloud of sawdust and matchwood throwing the guy about forty feet in the air!

Miraculously for him, there was a tree overhanging the road at that point, with lots of small branches, and instead of hitting the road he was twanged straight into this tree, where he remained suspended like a scarecrow for an hour or two until the fire brigade were able to get him down.

I didn't see the accident, but living nearby I saw the debris scattered along the road. I'm pretty sure he survived too, albeit perhaps with a few broken bones. Not sure if he tried building any more wooden cars though.

[DiscoStu]

That's "brilliant" strategy - kill off your own homegrown industries run by people who have home here in exchange of highly mobile not-producing-anything folk that can quit very quickly.

People like you?

[Doggy Styles]

Oh, and the Mosquito. Although that was a warplane specially invented for bombing heavy water plants up Norwegian fjords.

[Doggy Styles]

Wasn't the Marcos made of wood? A bit of a beast, I wonder what group insurance it was.

[shaunbhoy]

Seem to remembey you could get a mini clubman with wood too.

What about the old Morris Minor Estate? The Tudor Estate car, as Billy Connolly termed it.

[ASB]

Morgan Aero 8 would be your kind of car MrMark although sadly I think you mean the morris minor traveller

Seem to remembey you could get a mini clubman with wood too.

[singhr]

He should have bought that car made with wood! Now that was impressive!

Morgan Aero 8 would be your kind of car MrMark although sadly I think you mean the morris minor traveller

[Sysman]

flip me, BL got more money out of the government in the 70s & 80s than you can shake a stick at.

And they were still crap. (Mostly).

According to Ford costings, the Mini never made a profit for BMC.

I believe that the Escort Mk I never made a profit either (or just broke even).

But that was from the car sales. The real money was made from spare parts for the thing.

[MrMark]

We didn't have a car until I was in my teens.
Imagine my relief when my dad told me he was finally buying a car (no more being the oddball family).

Imagine my dismay when he turned up with a bright red Allegro.....

ESTATE!!!!!

The shame was worse than not having a car at all.

He should have bought that car made with wood! Now that was impressive!

[sasguru]

Did those industries took more money than bankers bailout that doubled UKs debt in like a year? I doubt it.

Yes but if you don't bail us out the whole country collapses.
Us bankers are considerably more important than yow and that crappy Ska thing, eh old bean?

You see if SKA disappears, no-one's life will be altered one jot.

[AtW]

flip me, BL got more money out of the government in the 70s & 80s than you can shake a stick at.

They had tulip tech then and invested money wrongly (probably salary increases demanded by unions?).

Did those industries took more money than bankers bailout that doubled UKs debt in like a year? I doubt it.

[sasguru]

flip me, BL got more money out of the government in the 70s & 80s than you can shake a stick at.

And they were still crap. (Mostly).

According to Ford costings, the Mini never made a profit for BMC.

Aye. AtW never lets his deep and profound well of ignorance stop him from pontificating right out of his arse

[sasguru]

The point is that Govt (including Labour) gave flip all support to these companies, instead preferring to get easy money from the City.

Rubbish.
During the 60s and 70s government spent millions trying to save industry(some were still trying in the 80s - anyone old enough to remember Tarzan and Westland?) till maggie had enough (rightly or wrongly).

[AtW]

Manufacturing does not have to be mass - Ranger Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin are all foreign owned now. Mini sold enough to qualify for mass manufacturing anyway.

And other car manufacturers successfully assemble cars in the UK - Honda, Peugeot etc.

The point is that Govt (including Labour) gave feck all support to these companies, instead preferring to get easy money from the City.