Nothing to do with border controls or just in time logistics?
I think £7,270 was a lot of money for someone to remind themselves just how dreadful the were, and that was back in 2015. There were some nice cars in these two auctions.
Some nice Minis and a couple of Mk1 Lotus Cortinas/
I liked lot 682, Led Zeppelin’s managers Porsche. I find air cooled Porches too noisy (heresy 
) but the provenance is nice. Lot 712 is the full shilling 
as is 716. They’s be fun around our narrow roads. But my favourite is lot 717, a mini that won the RAC.
I think given market size the China move makes sense one way or the other, but Brexit will certainly be a factor in the long term plans for UK production.
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I was surprised by BMW’s comment, but apparently not:
The historic Cowley factory has been the subject of speculation that BMW wants to sell the plant to Great Wall, which has made no secret that its big sales push into the European electric market will eventually lead it to seek its own production facilities in Europe.
Wurst denied that, stating: “Oxford will always be the home of Mini.” She said the decision to halt the electric Mini assembly in the UK was not linked to post-Brexit supply constraints and cross-border friction with the EU, or the lack of a nearby gigafactory, but because the Cowley plant was running inefficiently by having to produce electric and petrol cars on the same line.
If you believe that you’ll believe anything:grinning:
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Yes, Corporate speak if ever I’ve heard (or spouted 
) it. It’s all right if you’ve your fingers crossed when you say it though.
Anyway, in 1955, Issigonis was recruited back into BMC at the Austin plant at Longbridge. So that makes Longbridge the spiritual home of the Mini, not Cowley. Doesn’t it?
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Indeed, sadly Longbridge is all knocked down now. I remember driving past it very regularly as a kid and being amazed at how big the place was. I looked it up on Google Maps and don’t recognise any of it nowadays.
And now I’m wasting time watching YouTube videos of urban explorers going round the site where, many many years ago, my father used to work… 
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Yes, it has a long history (no pun intended). Wasn’t there the west works and north works and whatever works and cars were transport by overhead gantries across roads etc. It’s a bit like the Morgan factory where cars were rolled uphill to the finishing shop…
Spooky video, the ghosts of Minis past
Yes, I vividly remember one of the gantries that crossed the road… as a small child I found that fascinating that there were cars going along the production line whilst we were driving underneath it. Maybe I’m just being nostalgic about my childhood.
Funnily enough I’ve been seeing lots of the new electric MGs recently (made in China presumably now though). They seem to be quite popular.
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Morris Garages (MG) made in China. Good cars benefitting from an iconic brand. I’d be happier if they were made “at home”, but there you go 
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In the Var?
Preferably I could do a Victor Meldrew as security guard on the works gate (part time of course).
Ah, Longbridge.
In the late 80s I was involved with projects with Rover (or whatever they were called that week) and BMW. To visit Rover, you were only allowed in their car park if you were driving one of their cars. When visiting BMW, you parked whatever car you had where you liked and the people you met were all very keen to know what you thought of your car - good points and bad points.
At the end of a tour of Longbridge, our guide proudly pointed out that they had undercover parking for (I think) 3000 cars and non-covered parking for a further 5000.
A week later, I was given a similar tour of the BMW factory at Regensburg. At the end of the production line, I noticed that all vehicles were loaded onto road or rail transporters. “Why’s that?” I asked. “At Rover they have on site parking for up to 8000 cars.” A wry smile accompanied the response: “But why would we build a car no-one has bought? Here, everything we build is delivered directly to a dealer for the customer who ordered it.”
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The new MG apparently stands for “Modern Gentleman”.
Well at least it’s not MZ, for Mao Zedong.
One could argue that not only did BL build cars no-one had bought, they built cars no-one wanted to buy.
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Yes, lovely colour.
My brother took on the cortina when dad moved on to a ford escort GLS no less. The Daytona yellow had faded somewhat by then and my brother had it resprayed
In black. The black vinyl roof didnt look the part after that.
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I remember a workmate of my dad buying a new Morris, it had weeds growing in the engine, the bumpers and exhaust were rusted through and all from being stored for many months in the open air until a dealer put orders in for them to be sold. He sent it back a couple of days later and demanded a brand new model with no rust and weeds that time. We used to go over Cowley way and you saw hundreds of vehicles being stored in fields.
Interestingly, in 1990 the company I worked for had a bunch of pool cars that included the Sierra, Cavalier, Golf and Montego, and I had the chance to drive them all. Worst of the lot was the Sierra, with poor handling even in 2.8 Ghia form and an indifferent engine. The Golf had heavy steering for parking and the Cavalier 1.6 was slow. Apart from the very plasticky interior, the Montego was the best of the lot to drive.
Not that I would want one now, but I remember being quite surprised at the time - or maybe we got an accidental good one. 
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