Cause so far 5 people have been so moved by it they liked it.
This is not your sales office. Keeping things pure superficially does not fly too well.
It is an ill wind that blows no good.
Turns out the UK is in a demand side period. Great to be them.
The Central Europeans are in a supply side period. Horrible to be them. We know that much.
Brexit made sense but not from the conservative point of view.
You do not get the dog without the tail.
How do you know that? According to the studies/projections clearly state that we would be better off by billions thanks to unfettered immigration. We have had record immigration despite Brexit and we are not better off.
I took out a few lines and made a haiku.
Pete
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A business can spend too much on capex. A country can have too much immigration. The title/focus of the linked report was “borderless welfare state”.
DB2
“MGs and Triumphs were common sights on the roads.”
Have an older brother who was really into motorcycles. As a young kid, I remember him taking me for a few rides on his 750 Norton Commando. It was the coolest bike on the road, to me anyways. Road bike that handled like a dirt bike. Light, agile, very fast. I bought it from him about 10 years later as a young adult. Almost killed myself a couple of times. But after chasing electrical problems, I found out that many British motorcycles and sports cars suffered from electrical issues. The man blamed for it ( unsure if that was fair or not ) was Joseph Lucas, nicknamed The Prince of Darkness, lol.
Some really funny quips:
- The Lucas corporate motto: “Get home before dark.”
- If Lucas made guns, wars would not start.
- Lucas holds the patent for the short circuit.
- Lucas – Inventor of the intermittent wiper.
- Lucas – Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
- The three position Lucas switch – Dim, Flicker and Off
- The Original Anti-Theft Device – Lucas Electrics.
- Lucas is an acronym for Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices
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I was at a show a couple years ago, admiring a Vincent. The card said “improved”. I asked the guy. “Improved” meant he had replaced all the British electrics with Japanese.
Why do the Brits drink warm beer? They have Lucas refrigerators.
Actually, Marelli, Paris Rhone, Ducellier, and Marchal electrics were pretty bad too. I have a theory that German automakers survived in the US, when the British, French, and Italian brands failed, because Robert Bosch electrics were a little bit better.
Steve
A little known English car brand, Sterling launched its first stateside product in the 1980’s. It was actually co-developed with Honda, and the identical car was simultaneously launched in the US as “Acura.” I was told it was the identical car, different badge.
I went to see the Sterling at a dealership, and the sales guy said “Well, it’s English but the electronics were done in Japan, so you know it will work…”
Not the best sales pitch I ever heard. Maybe partly why you don’t pass a lot of Sterling dealerships anywhere.
“Sterling” was actually Rover. The “Rover” brand had been thoroughly poisoned in the US, so they pulled a different name out of their kazoo, to confuse people about what it really was.
Road & Track, tested a Sterling. The report noted that, when they first turned the ignition on, every relay in the car started clicking, over and over. When they started the engine, the commotion stopped, but the electrics being that funky, right out of the box, was not confidence inspiring. Let that sink in: the Brits could even mess up a Honda.
I may have posted this piece before, a British Leyland film about product quality, from the 70s.
One thing that jumped out at me, was the shot of the assembly line, with the workers installing nuts and bolts with speed braces (hand operated crank looking thing), in the 70s. The US big three had been using power guns for that job, at least since the early 60s. With a power gun, you pull the trigger, the gun goes “bzzzt” and the bolt is on, and, if the gun was set up right, the bolt is tightened to the correct torque. Better productivity, with better quality as a free byproduct.
Why this jumped out at me. I read a road test of a 1968 Austin America, in Road & Track. The testers noted that every nut and bolt on that car was loose. As they worked their way from one end of the car to the other, tightening fasteners, they recalled how they never had to do that on a Volkswagen.
The film, overall, admits that BL’s machine tools are worn out. The film admits that their factories are hopelessly obsolete. But would BL invest in plant and equipment to bring their operation up to snuff? Nope. The film gives the line workers a lecture on “personal responsibility”, even though the company refuses to lift a finger to give them the tools to do a better job.
That is bizarre, because I know what I was told at the time an bought an Acura based on it. But doing research, yes you are correct, it was a Rover model, apparently. I remember driving both and notice no difference in body, interior or elsewhere - but then it was in the mid 80’s so those details might not be quite so precise in my memory.
Anyway, thanks for the correction. Must reprogram synapses today.
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