UK TV Program 2006 BBC1 Linwood and The Hillman Imp

Fascinating program looking at production of the Hillman Imp, including interviews with past members of the Linwood workforce.
It also examines the wider workforce, trade union, management and government relationships which existed throughout much of UK manufacturing in the 1960's and 70's.

[@guymassey7270]

How fantastic to see my father in this documentary. Sadly he passed away in 2013, but this is a little bit of immortality for him, and for our family to remember him by.

[@richardclarke376]

don't know you but happy to hear that !

[@mikew742]

Nicely played by the Union blow-hards, they fucked things up so badly the plant ends up closing down. Still at least they got a go on the bull-horn, and could make a bit of noise. Well done 👏

[@1954BJohn]

I can vouch for the pettiness of the strikes back then....Can remember being 'called out' because one or two workers complained about the portion of chips being served in the canteen that day.

[@janmaciol8459]

@@catherinetraceyarchibald5371 Cos they are!

[@Seminal_Ideas]

One of the earliest strikes I'm told was because there was no soap in the toilet one shift.

[@10p6]

The imp was an interesting car for the time. Lots of long trips to Wales with no issue, even though it struggled with 6 of us in the car on the long hill at Queens Ferry. Probaby had more fun in that car than any other.

[@inglepropnoosegarm7801]

My Dad had an Imp. There was a particular trip we made regularly to see some relatives which involved at one point climbing a fairly long hill, and several times the Imp 'exploded' at exactly the same place during that climb - steam filled the car and we had to pull over. Some part of the cooling system just couldn't handle it. It was fairly quickly sold and replaced with a Mk.2 Cortina, which wasn't much better as it tended to 'fail to proceed' every time there was heavy rain! Furthermore, my Mother always felt sick in the back due to what she considered an overly bouncy suspension. So that went too, and then we got a Rover 2000-TC, which was lovely, and remained with us for ten (more or less trouble free) years or so until it rusted to death.

[@polygamous1]

The imp was well know for at least overheating, But the Cortina was pretty good i had MK1 2 n 3 in 1972 i took my 1300 MK2 across Europe n the only problem i had was brake pads going down the Austrian Alps i was very lucky as the old pads where just over half worn n i saved them the replacements where Not originals looked totally black when new so i replaced them with the part worn originals in 1979 again 1300 Cortina MK3 i towed a 14 5 speedboat with a 55HP outboard n never had any problem there n back if you looked after your Cortina it wasn't a bad car at all n had a brilliant heating n ventilating system face vents ALWAYS blowing cold air on your face even when the windshield demister was blowing hot air, of course the Rover was far better but in a totally different class n price range

[@marklittler784]

Apparently they couldn't keep up with demand for the Rover P6 and they still went on strike.

[@richiec9077]

That was brilliant I regularly work on and get to drive an imp in a garage I work in very local to Linwood . Great to see a bit of history behind it

[@cogidubnus1953]

We had a MIP, (as our dyslexic garage-owner described it), for years...it had it's faults, (not mentioning the aluminium head!), but god it took two adults, three hefty teenagers plus, (with a roofrack), luggage all over the UK...I loved that car, more than I ever liked any motor, bar one, we ever owned...possibly the most under-rated small car ever...

[@billybellend1155]

The Unions we’re pushing to get there members better working conditions. Which was sat at home on the dole.

[@jrgboy]

I had a Sunbeam Stiletto in 1970 , uprated engine, twin carbs, oil cooler, full dials & bucket seats, I checked the reg last year & its still on the road, not bad for a car made in 1969...

[@freddieparrydrums]

That’s brilliant. As someone who checks almost every old car from my dad’s and grandad’s history, none of them survived.

[@philstaples8122]

Almost all empires are destroyed from within, the British Empire certainly was

[@GOLDMEMBERTVPaul]

That place is now called the Phoenix,showcase cinema,burger king etc

[@williamconnell6541]

Thanks for bringing me footage of where my parents and i came from..lovely..I remember as a five or six year old going to the Roots Xmas party from Johnstone to Paisley, think on a bus, couldn't afford a car until a used old black morris minor came along. Anyway that was our family car.

[@mrpapparappa]

Just the accents make this documentary superb :)!!!

[@nigelcharlton-wright1747]

I bet the union leaders enjoyed the freebies. As a Humber owner I feel for the Rootes Group, if Super Mac's Conservative government had not persisted in getting Rootes to build a factory in Linwood as apposed to extending the existing plant in Ryton, who knows the Rootes Group might still be around, rather then being forgotten about. But back in the '60's and '70's there were strikes nearly everyday. Strange to think that up in Sunderland which was famed for ship building many years ago, now produces world class products (i.e. Nissan cars), whist some of the folk at Linwood just chucked themselves on the scrapheap. The Imp should have been a world beater, it was a far better car than the Mini, alas the quality let it down, which is a great shame because all of the Humbers I have owned in past are a pleasure to work on.

[@chrismorgan5474]

Great Doco, very much enjoyed, thx for sharing!

[@78a67h]

I owned an Imp in the late 70s without realizing the politics and economics behind its manufacture. When it ran it ran well though it took quite a bit of tnkering to keep it going

[@peterbustin8604]

Great stuff! Thanks!

[@giuseppebenvenuti2396]

Any car factory nowdays in Scotland? In northern italy we lost from '90: Lancia's Chivasso. Alfa Romeo's Arese. Innocenti's Lambrate. Autobianchi's Desio. De Tomaso's Modena. Also Pininfarina and Bertone plants..

[@ColinMill1]

Interesting that, at the time, having an assembly plant 300 miles from the centre of the component manufacturing hub in the midlands was considered a disaster but these days the car industry has vast long supply lines (many originating in China) and apparently that's fine.

[@kevinroberts8441]

People in China work hard every day people in Linwood go on strike if they don't get a free hot Danish while getting paid 100 times what a Chinese worker makes

[@saints16o5o87]

@@kevinroberts8441 no one in Linwood had ever seen a "hot danish" in the 70s outside a porn mag. Nor did they recieve 100 times what a Chinese worker does now and relied on supply from the midlands where any strike there meant strike in Linwood. Those working there were seeing all other local industry suffering through once local jobs going abroad while seeing cars built where higher wages were paid in France or West Germany flood the roads yet wondered why they could not recieve the same guarantees of work and income. My family was destroyed by all this and led me to find out all i could about why this happened to not just me but every 2nd person i knew at the time while the TV was telling us how great things were and Norman Tebbit telling men to get on their bike when their kids couldnt even have one.

[@leopold7562]

I guess the cost of making products in places like China offsets the expense of moving them about the globe.

[@mervynstent1578]

@@leopold7562 Boy that’s changing after Covid 🦠

[@johndavison9699]

Long supply chains are always a problem. But, the car manufacturing in China tends to have all the component plants in China located around the car plant. It is the final product that is then shipped. In addition, the labour costs in China are very low and they are forced to work long hours. Linwood had a problem of having a labour force not skilled in motor manufacture, that wanted wages equivalent to the skilled work they had lost in the ship yards and no local supply. The movement of parts for Linwood was phenomenal. Whilst the engines were cast in Scotland they had to be sent back to Ryton for the finishing works as the Linwood workforce was unable to do this. The engine was then shipped back to Scotland. Also, many other parts were shipped to Scotland from Coventry where, after all, the motor industry was based. I had a friend that used to drive trucks loaded with bumper bars from Coventry to Linwood and came back empty. Even when full of bumper bars the truck was so light it was hard to control when windy.

[@phillipecook3227]

I came of age in the 60s and 70s. Growing up I accepted strikes in all the car factories, tyre factories, docks, shipyards, buses, road hauliers, railways and the mines as being normal like the weather. If a whole plant/ factory didn't strike then it seemed as if one part of it could and would bringing the whole operation to a shuddering standstill. Did any of the shop stewards or union officials give a damn or did they not realise the damage they were causing? Not for nothing was it called the British disease. For me the madness culminated in the " winter of discontent" of 1978/79 when it seemed everyone including the road hauliers, tanker drivers, car workers and NHS auxiliary staff all went on strike so that even dead bodies accumulated in hospital mortuaries and couldn't be buried. I was aware of Linwood of course but it's only with the advent of the internet and the first hand accounts of the people who worked there that I now understand that given the prevailing norms of the time it never stood a snowball's chance in hell of being a commercial success. Many years after it had closed i was looking after a patient at the Victoria Infirmary who'd worked at Linwood told me he'd been a supervisor on a production line spray painting car doors. He told me in all seriousness that if he decided that some doors needed respraying he had to first of all get the permission of the shop steward covering the line otherwise it would never happen.

[@jimtaylor294]

Sounds about right, unfortunately. Wasn't just us Brit's though; in Italy in particular the trade unions were arguably worse, resorting to terrorist bombings and murders, among other grim stuff. Add into that the mafia, and it's no surprise that FIAT had numerous generous bailouts from the government in Rome, as the italian government couldn't risk such a major employer going under. (Alfa Romeo was also kept going in such a way, even though their per-employee production figures were lower than even BL's, at 6 cars, vs 8.5 cars [GMC at the time was doing about 18.3, and Toyota a record setting 43 cars, per employee)

[@burdenben]

As a former T&G shop steward in the motor industry I now consider that there was a general failure on the part of the Unions to understand that the real issue lay outside the factory gates. If a company is unable to make profit it fails. If it fails there is nothing left to argue about. In saying this I do not absolve the owners. In many cases there was little investment in new plant and machinery. This led to an inevitable decline in production and competitiveness. Basically, everyone was to blame for a complete lack of farsightedness. The result was a withdrawal of capital (why invest in a strike ridden factory?). So, we basically commited industrial suicide.

[@jimtaylor294]

Precisely. It's not a mistake only we in the UK have made, but it certainly cost us a great deal... and the worst bit of it is that it could all have been avoided, had the politicians realized in the preceding decades what a socio-industrial tinderbox they'd allowed to accrue all around the nation. (it was the Liberal Party in the 1910's that made Trade Unions immune to legal action over damage to property or profit [the reason being purely to curry electoral favour]; which among other things helped create such an imbalance of power, and the inclination to strike over anything)

[@burdenben]

@@jimtaylor294 Well, I agree with a lot of what you have said, but giving unions immunity from legal action was not the cause of what happened to British industry. Remember that capitalists can 'go on strike" by refusing to invest. Britain's industrial decline was due to a failure on both sides to speak honestly about the existential threats that faced workers and capitalists. Someone has to take the lead (and I would argue that employers refused to do this). The result has been calamitous for workers, but capitalists simply relocated their businesses to locations where labour conditions were worse than on the places that had been left behind. That choice was one that workers could not make, and cannot be blamed for. The tactics employed by both sides were nothing in comparison with the strategic thinking that informed decisions to close down plants, to cease investment and to have honest talks with workers about their futures. Of course, it may have been the case that employers figured that such an overture would be interpreted by workers as an attempt by employers to destroy workplace trades unions. Who knows. It was never tried. And whatever you think about the situation, employers had an obligation to explain and to lead. They did neither. Instead, they poured petrol on the flames and went on a union bashing exercise.

[@jimtaylor294]

@@burdenben Actually; the general trend from the 1910's until the 1980's was of public & private sector employers cowtowing to union pressure, more often than they resisted it (a trend government generally encouraged, out of fear of lost votes). Over time it put the wages and overall costs in various industries above the market rate, and the trend was only getting worse. In life there is no such thing as a free lunch, yet the trade unions were determined to squeeze the employers for every penny and block almost every efficiency measure, whether it was sustainable or not. I pointed out making trade unions immune from prosecution in the 1910's, as it was the first in a long line of trade union appeasement, that led to disaster, with employers leaving / going under in droves by the '70's. (a net benefit for the 2nd & 3rd world, at our expense) Emboldened into the delusion that they could simply strike themselves into prosperity, the trade unions only succeeded in pushing various companies abroad (which the latter had every right to), and caused many that couldn't to just go bankrupt, as indeed Rootes Group essentially did (taking losses so bad they had to accept a Chrysler buyout), and BLMC literally did (having to be salvaged by the government, in a contraversial use of emergency treasury funds). There was also the grossly unjust practice of Closed Shop, which *forced* anyone applying for a job in a unionised workplace, to join a trade union; even if the individual *didn't* want a chunk of their wages going to the Labour Party. That; and a Trade Union is at the end of the day a type of Workplace Cartel, an age old means for a group of people to exclude anyone willing to work for less, or anyone not on board with the union's [typically very left wing] policies. Employers were by no means flawless saints, but the climate of constant strikitus wasn't any encouragement for the employers to be benificent to the employees either, rather to be distrusting of their employees, and see any workplace issue raised by the latter as a passive-agressive way to have the shirt off their back. A succession of weak and useless governments didn't help either, especially with the mess the latter made re' facilitating employers with basic utilities and logistics (that the far east have long been excellent at), and mismanaging the economy and currency so badly that various products were at various times unprofitable to export (the Triumph TR7 V8 for instance, was axed in the US due to a dreadful currency exchange rate, that meant BL was losing money on every car sold). On balance: I would say the Politicians & the Workforce both failed the employers, more than anything else.

[@samdavinchi1624]

That's the different between the german and the British industry. They believe that only a healthy and happy worker can manufacture a good quality product and they take their worker's wellbeing very seriously and before anything. That's why the Germans became the winner of the quality manufacturing,..

[@MarquisRex]

Except that's only one side, the blue collar British work ethic is lazy and entitled. You don't have that in Germany

[@chasleask8533]

never underestimate the bloody mindedness of the scotch, I am scotch.

[@davidfisher3142]

@@chasleask8533 Scottish surely!

[@chasleask8533]

@@davidfisher3142 The latest fashion is to say scottish. I'm scotch.

[@bazza945]

I owned one in the mid-sixties, loved it as it was my first motor car. It was roomier than it looked, but mechanical problems started early and continued during the couple of years I owned it. I should have stuck with my Vespa.

[@owenbaker3606]

Its very sad watching this documentary. I lived through this time in industrial Britain. late 70's and early 80's. not a good time for anybody back then. The level of unionism was infectious, infecting all levels of British society. Any of you remember the winter of discontent? Every major public service was on strike. I still remember our non union building site being pressured to pay bribes and stand over money. They never got a penny. British car back then were poorly made and had a life span of approximately 5 years before they were unsalable. The Japanese and Koreans built into there cars long term reliability. I still see Japanese cars from that time on the roads. I don't see a Hillman Imp.

[@marklittler784]

The Hillman Imp had a smaller engine than many other cars, the interior was very roomy like the mini and the Austin 1100, stability and braking were good. Japanese cars rusted faster the seats seemed to be designed for Japanese, a long journey could be crippling.

[@MrPoupard]

I was working in the NHS in 1978/79 that Winter. Man it was a horrible, dark time. I remember bodies accumulating in the mortuaries. Strife everywhere on our streets, in our every day lives. Horrid.

[@flipper2392]

Late 70s I was delivering steel into Linwood, they wouldn't allow foreign built trucks, (Volvo. Scania, DAF, Merc) on site. Stupid bastards didn't realise steel was imported.

[@sutherlandA1]

@@flipper2392 really! Where was it imported from? The documentary suggests ravenscraig supplied the steel

[@Arltratlo]

i never heard about that car or producer...!

[@anton101101]

From Paisley, my dad served his time there, also was told pay was great.

[@stewartmcmanus3991]

The very reason I emigrated. I was sick to death of strikes in the Rootes factory in Coventry.

[@richardclarke376]

My friend at school got dropped off in a blue one in the 70s. Even back then I noticed how it had a puddle of fluids dropping off it !

[@glenjarnold]

My first car. Fondly remembered, wish I'd kept it!

[@peteredwards338]

A German I new worked in the Goodyear factory in Toronto in the 1970,s .He was shocked when Glasgow migrants began"working"there and deliberately damaged machinery to get time off.They would do anything except work!!!

[@davidgraham6434]

Peter Edwards I’m afraid Glasgow, like Liverpool, have got a hard core militant, mentality, if you look at the SNP in Scotland now, they are destroying Scotland, from the inside

[@DavidSmith-ze2wi]

@@davidgraham6434 I worked in the motor industry in the Midlands and met two men who had been sent up to Linwood. After twelve months they told their managers down here " bring us back or we're resigning". They came back. God they could tell some stories. Don't know how any functioning Imp ever left the factory.

[@simonabbott7323]

2:27 "It gives me great pleasure to declare this "whatever-it-is" open!"

[@yellowdfp]

Quite....:). I always wondered what happened to the Opening Ceremony Plaque - it was no where to be seen when I visited the repurposed buildings in the 1990's. However, happily, last year I found it on display at the Glasgow Riverside Museum.

[@moochincrawdad]

...I don't care, I'm fabulously rich so I don't give a damm!

[@MrPoupard]

The man always was - and always will be - an imbecile.

[@richard7crowley]

But then when the curtain opens, there is nothing there. So I have to agree, so "whatever-it-is" seems completely appropriate.

[@MrPoupard]

@@richard7crowley Whatever was or wasn't on the plaque I think even an idiot like him should have had an inkling he was there to open a car factory.

[@georgel74]

A strike because the pie wasn't hot enough.. 😂😂

[@steveshattah]

No you don't understand. The original strike was because the pie was too hot but by the time management finally capitulated to all the various and sundry extra demands tacked on by the union the pie became too cold and so the strike continued.

[@georgel74]

@@steveshattah 🤣🤣🤣

[@madcommodore]

As a kid growing up I used to see one on a driveway every day on my way to school/college, I slowly watched it rot over a decade on that driveway, unloved.

[@freddieparrydrums]

Poor cars

[@madcommodore]

@@freddieparrydrums People's health go down the toilet very quickly, then and now. I hope that wasn't the reason back then.

[@freddieparrydrums]

@@madcommodore Yes I think that's the main reason why so many are abandoned.

[@madcommodore]

@@freddieparrydrums Today the cost of keeping classics you rarely drive insured, taxed and MOT'D doesn't help. All my cars are 2-3 decades old but only 1 is not SORN, my daily driver. When I finish my workshop I can start working on the other 2 myself and use the money saved on garage and body shop costs to get 1 of them on the road full time.

[@kennedysingh3916]

No wounder Britain no longer as a auto industry,I loved those English cars and I still have one of those Imp.Most of us in Jamaica had no idea what was going on ,why the Japanese was taking over but now I understand. What do the British people think now as they took back?

[@yellowdfp]

kennedy singh Personally, I've always been very fond of British cars of the 50's, 60's and 70's... despite a general increase in production problems and reduction in build quality during that period, I like their designs and intentions and to me, they look and feel far nicer than their Asian counterparts. However, many people obviously became disillusioned with 'Buy British' then and wanted or needed to choose reliability and function over form, and so were happy to buy Nissan Sunnys and Datsun Bluebirds and latterly the likes of Kia Rios and Hyundai i20s. I think manufacturing techniques, labor relations and quality control all got pretty much sorted across the world by the early 1990's (when did you last see a rusty car?), but too late for the big British owned car makers (a Nissan factory in Sunderland, England has however been very successful for many years, so it is possible to make good cars here). We like our European designed / assembled cars too; Fords, Vauxhalls, Peugeots, Fiats etc. and especially (and rather ironically after what happened in both 1914 and 1939) the big German brands.

[@kennedysingh3916]

yellowdfp I share your sentiment .I too was sadden when I saw them disappearing from our streets,but I had respect the Japanese,even if you don't like them they did their jobs well.

[@msgcheckout]

Why do you think British bosses love East Europeans, they work hard and without needing any excuses, because they have seen what is real grafting and to earn a honest living, blood and sweat money. They (linwood workers) dug their own grave. I used to love Hillmans, and owned Hunters and Minxes. My most favorite car was Hillman Hunter GLS, quickest car in its class, and beat the shite out of Ford Cortina MKII

[@MaximilianvonPinneberg]

Britain does have a car industry but it is run by the Japanese (and French) and Germans.

[@DanJ.Hendon]

Chrysler and The Rootes made a deal... I'm still thinking about this one lol

[@apmcd47]

I recently read an article on Austin Rover Online about the Alpha Sud. Same story: manufacturer asks government for funding for a new car and they force them to build a new factory in a different part of the country.

[@andybussa1323]

My dad worked there,David Everett ,or Davie as he was known 😌

[@ColinMill1]

I have a soft spot for the Imp as I passed my test in one. Still see a few around as some enthusiasts keep a few in a barn near here. The Climax engine was light for its output (considering the time) and I understand enthusiasts sort the cooling with relocated radiators. As for the politics of the time, perhaps this makes it more understandable to those not familiar with the period how Thatcher came to be elected. The country needed a total b@$t@rd and it got one.

[@daveconyard8946]

Spot on Mate 👍

[@solidstate0]

I wonder what the fuse boxes were like in the Linwood factory?

[@notrut]

An Automatic Choke? Nah, we had a fleet of 25 and they were all Choke cables.

[@glenjarnold]

Yep. My choke control was a little lever between the front seats, if I remember correctly.

[@maggiebeggs9633]

my father did the test drive along with Alec Wise his name was Bill White best day of my life they would drive to Carlisle and back every night 8 think the reg was dwd 171 i do have pictures somewhere

[@yellowdfp]

+Maggie Beggs Very interesting, thanks for sharing :). I imagine they were test driving random sample cars after each days production run?

[@maggiebeggs9633]

No that was the only one they took in turns one drove one night then one the next they had to get so many miles on the clock my father then taught apprentices then became a chauffeur to a director i remember as a kid them getting drove up through linwood to Johnstone railway station to get distributed to wherever oh i had a wonderful childhood in linwood

[@raymeilak7702]

In Malta, being a hot country the Imp didn't do well, so many owners fitted them with vw beetle engines, then they worked forever, Linwood should have made them with air-cooled engines.

[@yellowdfp]

Certainly, there were many succesful air cooled rear engined cars, the vw beetle in particular, but others, as with the imp, were water cooled and also did well.... was the imp more suseptible than them I wonder? classics.honestjohn.co.uk/top-10s/top-10-rear-engined-classic-cars/

[@ivanvisanich]

Don't forget the many " experts " here in Malta. Was always a rear engined Skoda guy, still have 4 of them. Never did one over heat. Have an 80 degree thermostat, lower operating fan switches and replace coolant and clean the cooling system every two or so years. Always worked fine. Knowing what you're doing is the key in everything.

[@angelsone-five7912]

At approx 14.00 it is said that "no management orchestrates strikes", well the one at British Aerospace, Kingston did so with the help of our so called union. We were locked out and when they finally let us back in it was just for a few months while the place was wound up. It`s a housing estate now. Unions? paahh!

[@wickiezulu]

The Imp should have never been built at Linwood, it was a monumentally stupid idea and one of many factors that ultimately did the Rootes Group in resulting in being bought by Chrysler, who would have been better off building Simcas in the UK then acquiring another company and not merging them until it was too late. Seriously building a factory 300 miles away and making rounds trips in order to produce a complete car over building a car at an existing factory that has been expanded?

[@sarahtaggart7397]

wickiezulu Ii

[@bruceburns1672]

Doctor Mentalcommo I didn't need all your Union conditions as I worked for myself , no sick pay , no holidays , no long service leave , no shift and overtime penalty rates , I worked 7 days a week 15 hour days during the week , weekend 8 hours , no holidays in 40 years , I have payed my way through life myself , I don't need Communist gangster stand over girls to lift my standard of conditions and pay as I am a true man not a sniveling gutless coward that hasn't got the fortitude initiative and perseverance and drive to stand on his own two feet , oh yes Mr Union man you are so fucking brave in a mob and so they were in Britain in the 60's and 70's when they obliterated all of Britain's manufacturing , did it dawn on you fuckstick that all those fancy conditions you talk about is why there is no manufacturing left in Britain or Australia where I am from , manufacturing is still being destroyed this time as usual from the communist vermin leftist with their global warming religion closing down the coal fired power stations driving electricity prices through the roof and forcing businesses to relocate to Asia to survive , now fuck of Comrade I don't usually converse with Neo Marxist Effeminate Snow Flake Safe Space Girly men .

[@bruceburns1672]

Dickta Mangledbrain No Fucktard Fuckstick , I am a Metalworker and used my hands and skills all my life , now what angle is a Communist parasite going to try now , fill that void between your ears with something other than victimhood Fabian Socialist dogma .

[@lee2217]

Bruce Burns that’s right blame the Scottish It’s not like their was ever strikes in English car plants yah fucking fool

[@paulbroderick8438]

All built on political arm twisting and tax incentives. Wonderful business plan!

[@grahamariss2111]

Its a good program, but gets a bit side tracked by the national issues in the last 1/3.It misses the point that in the Chrysler plans of 67/68 the Imp would have been discontinued as Linwood became home to a range of RWD saloons using the Avenger plaform, with what became the 180/2Litre being built at Ryton.However the costs of bringing the Avenger to production and moving the Arrow (Hunter) to Linwood (also missed in the program) along with poor productivity meant that the business was fundamentally unprofitable and so in 1970 Chrysler stopped its investment plans so stopping the new big car (so only being built in France as the 160/180/2Litre), the V6 2.0 and 2.4, coupe and compact lift back variants of the Avenger that would have come when capacity expanded with the move to Linwood.The move for investment in 1975 from the Government was done on the back of the money being poured into British Leyland (Ford and Vauxhall also requested and got support for the Fiesta and Chevette production in the UK as well).

[@joaovilaca4204]

My God, the Hillman Imp's engine, heat like a tea boiler.

[@brianvogt8125]

Look at Rootes promotional films of the time. The rally Imps had their rear gate propped ajar to let engine heat escape.

[@user-ho4rv6kg8u]

Volvo P1800 body shells were made at Linwood.

[@johnclayden1670]

It did have a great engine ...

[@Arltratlo]

hm, how many was sold on the continent?

[@tripsadelica]

The "British Disease" (strikes). Don't get me wrong...I have an abiding respect for the British and all things British BUT their unions became delirious with power...striking over things like insufficiently warm pies in the canteen, etc. The unions thought the gravy train would last forever. It didn't Here in Australia most shop stewards on factory floors were "ten pound Poms" who attempted to cause the same sort of mayhem in Australian factories as they did in the UK. They did for a while and then ordinary Aussies just wanted to go back to work. In truth the unions, who had done so much good in the 19th and early 20th century created the conditions in which the large multinationals were able to dupe national governments into accepting the greatest hoodwinking of the west...that being globalisation. Globalisation meant that union power were severely curtailed because every individual worker knew that if he or she went on strike someone in a factory in Taiwan, China or Thailand was ready to take their place in vast new efficient factories where locals were paid a pittance and there were no unions to speak of. In effect, the unions in England, some of the EU and here in Australia shot themselves in the foot. They had become too power hungry and giddy from their ability to paralyse governments and get what they wanted. I have been a union member all my working life. I believe that unions can do a lot of good in situations where genuine wrongs have been committed against individual or groups of workers BUT I'll be damned if I ever went on strike just because some idiotic union leader decided to make trouble. Nowadays unions have returned to their traditional arbitration and conciliation roles as well as advocating for worker safety. Common sense has returned...it had to because union membership was falling through the floor. Car factories in the UK are models of efficiency now...the unions collaborative and not obstructive. Even the factories here in Australia are very efficient...sadly, however, due to our small economies of scale our car factories are being wound up now and we will only produce components from now on. Globalisation...don't you just love it?

[@kirky0073]

Looking back with hindsight, I feel with the cold war going on and at its peak. There was a communistic input to the Unions at the time. It was a successful campaign to destroy industry in the UK. Scotland was an easy target, the people believing they were treated as second class citizens compared to their English counterparts. Different wages for Linwood and Coventry. Mostly though it was just Union hard headedness.

[@taxus750]

No - they've become conciliatory, if not spineless, gutless and useless. They "advocate" for workers' rights and "safety" as far as it goes until they encounter employer/ industry lobby group resistance (+/- government disapproval) and then they run away. And all this while charging ordinary workers extraordinary union fees. They're a rubber-stamp; a gloss on "enterprise bargaining"; a useful and trivial inconvenience to BAU.

[@jonathanteagle]

The other British disease in evidence was that people blamed each other for failure instead of taking responsibility for improving the situation themselves. Most of the nations that still own and operate big car industries work together, whilst we just squabble, egged on by the tabloid press.

[@MePeterNicholls]

Maggie, is that you?

[@mbaker335]

Loads of comments below about the unions. Well the blue collar work ethic during the run up to the Falkland conflict was fantastic. Properly motivated people put in 110% and achieved miracles getting the task force ready. It is all down to quality of management and leadership. Now in Germany we see the railways constantly striking. Large projects vastly over budget Hamburg Opera House 1000% over as just one example. Berlin airport became a joke, Mercedes cars with the reputation of being unreliable rust buckets. I strongly suspect the management has become greedy, lazy and abusive towards their staff. Like the UK in the 70s German workers, in some areas, now are very capable but badly let down.

[@jimtaylor294]

Management is one aspect, but only one, of many issues. With the best will in the world, even the best Manager would have failed to get Linwood to succeed, what with the poorly thought out political decisions above them (which they could do nout about) and trade union pettiness below. Granted: had the Imp not relied on long logistics lines for essential components things might have fared better, but even Ford UK (whom once had the largest car plant in the UK, at Dagenham; which even had its own in-house supplying facilities) gravitated toward making more & more of their vehicles elsewhere.

[@marklewis4793]

..whats it for?

[@grahamariss2111]

One of the problems of the IMP was that it was too small (just like the Mini), people did not want a car smaller than the BMC 1100 / Ford Anglia (the fuel crisis following Suez that led to demand for "micro" cars was long gone when the Mini and Imp arrived in the market), had it had 12 inch longer wheelbase and a 1100 / 1300 engine with a four door option it would have been able to sell at a much higher price and yet cost not very much more to make. My father worked for Roots and the Imp did not cost much less to make than an Arrow and cost more than the Ryton built Avenger to make.

[@wickiezulu]

While much has been mentioned about the problems of both the Imp and Mini, the fact that both cars were not available with a 4-door option when other carmakers proved producing a small 4-door car was possible did not help matters. Besides didn't Rootes already consider developing a larger Imp-inspired 4-door BMC 1100/1300 rival at one point?

[@grahamariss2111]

+wickiezulu The four door supermini did not arrive until the early 80s with the Fiat Uno and Peugeot 205 which moved the whole supermini market in the same way Fiat127, Renault 5 and VW Polo had in the early 70s. Roots did look at replacing the Minx with a sophisticated car in a market segment that was split between the advanced BMC ADO16 (1100 etc) and more conventional offering such as the Ford Cortina mk1. The initial plans was a longitudal fwd like an Audi 80, by putting a bigger 5 bearing 1300 climax derived engine like in an Imp but in the front. But issues with front overhang and cost then of CV joints changed this to a transverse mounted mid engine design a bit like a saloon version of an MG-F. However the cost of bringing it to production was too high while the company was bleeding cash at Linwood so they developed the Arrow (Hunter etc) by reskinning the Minx/Super Minx oily bits.

[@wickiezulu]

You are right though know that early attempts at a roughly Imp-sized 4-door include the 1st gen Mazda Familia and SEAT 850, which demonstrates it was within the realm of possibility. Seem to recall reading of an old Autocar article with Chrysler proposing the Imp being converted to an Audi 80-style longitudinal FWD hatchback, though unsure how accurate that is since the Imp article appears to be talking about two different projects. Have read that Rootes also considered a rear-engined 1100 model at one point via styling sketch though unsure whether it was initial thoughts towards what became the Swallow or another project intended to sit between the Swallow and Imp. Why did Rootes not simply carry over the Swallow's Climax engines (allegedly capable of 1250-1800cc) over to the more conventional Arrow rather then carry over the aging OHV engines?

[@jimtaylor294]

I would disagree that the Mini wasn't what people wanted; if anything the opposite was true. While fuel crises came and went; the Supermini concept remained popular, as shown by the fact that the Mini would outsell even the Morris Minor, and the Mini Metro of decades hence fared even better. (sales of over 1,000,000 units domestic was rare for UK cars, and only the Metro ever cracked 2,000,000+) The Imp's relatively high cost was the result of being expensive to make (as had been predicted, but ignored), due to the nightmarish logistics and toxic trade union relations. History has proven that the Mini started in 1959 a trend for small but nippy cars, that hasn't gone away. (especially in countries like Japan, which took the concept much further)

[@grahamariss2111]

@@jimtaylor294 My point is that they did not value its smallness, as was reflected in people being willing to pay more for a Ford Anglia so showing people were not prepared to pay a premium for the Minis packaging. Yes it outsold the Morris Minor, but that was primarily because unlike Morris and Austin small cars, it was sold through both dealer networks. As for Superminis well they are more ADO16 sized, basically a 90" wheelbase until the 205/Uno took it out to 94" in the early 80s. The initiator of the Super Mini was not the Mini but the Renault 5, which sold more units that the whole BMC/BL small cars combined.

[@brianwhelan5382]

Was the decimation of the British car industry orchestrated from behind the scenes? simply by controlling a few at the top, I wonder

[@MrPoupard]

Nah Brian. Evil manipulating capitalist managers? Soviet puppet masters in Moscow controlling the Unions? Either way you'd need to be a Svengali of God-like proportion to orchestrate that. We didn't need evil manipulators. We did it to ourselves. I lived through the 60s and 70s and honest to God I can tell you that strikes in every manufacturing industry were as common as the weather or the air we breathed. Strikes make the news today. They were hardly reported then.

[@swedishdissident3406]

The Scottish IMP is to Scotland as the Trabant is to East Germany cheap and unpractical cars at the time. Now with high nostalgic value.

[@DL-ls5sy]

Talbot Sunbeam lotus was made in this factory, this plant.

[@gerardcarter5794]

Ah, union trouble! Workers lose their jobs but the union bosses always keep their comfortable incomes.

[@colinvalentine7660]

The UK now makes more cars than in the 60's & 70's. The cars are called Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW etc. The same UK workers & Unions. I think the difference is in the Management. I worked at CUK in the 70's and I was very impressed when Mgmt negotiated a Deal with the Unions to make payments when sales dropped. Traditionally Car Factories "layed-off" workers when sales dropped. A regular "Hiring & Firing" Management Policy unsurprisingly turned workers into a hostile group. Hence the Workers were stamped as "revolting" by the right wing popular press. . But, when a downturn came the company provoked a strike over some minor issue, and this saved them making any payments. Sometimes you haveto dig behind the headlines to get to the truth. And weren't big enough to survived. They bought bodyshells from Pressed Steel in Oxford (owned by BL) So Rootes wanted a Press Shop and a paint shop, but Gov were trying to spread industry, so operated a "carrot and stick" policy. No chance fo Planning in Coventry, but loads of Grants for going to almost anywhere. Ford when to Halewood, Triumph went Liverpool, Vauxhall went to Ellesmere Port, Leyland Trucks went to somewhere SE of Glasgow and Pressed Steel & Rootes went to Linwood. Then Chrysler came in to fund the Avenger and buy the Pressed Steel Press Shop is Rootes had more controll over its destiny. The rest is history.

[@cogidubnus1953]

Like Scargill...

[@hermanmunster3358]

That's a prime example of socialism at work. The haves, and those who have FUCK ALL. Unions are a dinosaur from a bygone era, and in my opinion, completely non viable in this day and age. We have a minimum wage, wage equality, health and safety legislation, and an H&S executive, and workers rights, all protected by legislature. What is the point of a union, really? Except for some fat cats just creaming more money off of hard working people for nothing in return but strife.

[@BANKO007]

Thank God the unions were castrated by Thatcher. In the old days of wage slavery, they had a noble purpose, but then came along Marxist ideology and an unwillingness to work.

[@deadfreightwest5956]

As Homer Simpson said, "I'm sorry, but I will not apologize" - labor strikes for a reason, never for a whim. Whims are the realm of management.

[@MrPoupard]

David see Andy Cameron's comment in the doc about meeting the striking Linwood worker.

[@bneon]

Most of the footage of strikes are filmed in England , very little footage in Scotland always remember the Union guy can't remember how second name but it w jimmy something , his last words before the whole place shut was aye they won't shut this place it's to big , oh dear .

[@peterbradshaw8018]

Barry Massey talking truth to power. It doesn't make economic sense. I would buy the bloke a pint any day.

[@neiljackson3494]

Yep the union leaders of the 70's had a lot to blame for the downturn in the British way of life and the British working life

[@tamer1773]

This is what happens when government begins influencing businesses to make bad decisions. Coupled with radical unions and you have a recipe for disaster. This is one reason why a lot of American workers in "Right to Work" states reject unions. VW wanted their Tennessee workers to unionize because they were used to dealing with German unions. The workers rejected the "opportunity" to be represented by the UAW because they knew that a militant union coupled with bad management had almost destroyed the US car industry. I realize hindsight is 20-20, but this looks like the government and the Rootes company were all wearing rose colored glasses when they came up with this fiasco.

[@MrPoupard]

Tamer. Brilliant comment. With hindsight WE can see that the Linwood plant never had a snowball's chance in hell to make it as a going concern but it was impossible to see it at the time.

[@tamer1773]

@@MrPoupard Except that it was predicted for them. Rootes' own people told them it was going to be a disaster. Long supply lines and a work force that was disaffected before they even got there were recipes for disaster. Coupled with a car that hadn't gone through pre-production to work out the problems and a blind man could see that it was going to fail. I'm not putting all of the blame on the union. The government and Rootes share equal amounts of blame. Government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers among private corporations. And private companies must demand to be left alone by government.

[@harrykuntz878]

as a child in the late 70's a bloke used to come to our village to the pub in a Hillman imp even as a child it was not a likeable car in the least however I though the Humber septer was a smashing car would I be right in thinking it was a badge engineered Hillman hunter ? unions had a lot to do with the Ford car factory and Dunlop tyre factory in Cork city closing down . a lack of vision and old gits managing the British motorcycle factory's caused them to close well building bikes with 1930's technology in the early 70's compared to what Japan was offering only for police forces buying lots of Harley-davidson's around that time they would have gone out of business too they were lucky the huge amf company bought them or all the hard men would be riding around on Suzuki intruders in their arse less chaps LOL

[@arknu]

And what did they achieve with all their strikes? No jobs at all!

[@jonnyc429]

The thing that confuses me the most. Striking for all number of small reasons, then when there were murmers of plants closing, striking for the "right to work"

[@Darwinion]

If this was a family owned business then why were they basically forced to have a factory in Scotland? The guys went up there to check it out and said it was a huge mistake. Yet they were forced into going there. I don't understand that.

[@TheDuchessWellington]

Great car ,great product, good production line...bad..bad..investment

[@OsbornTramain]

"A family firm"? It was Chrysler?

[@yellowdfp]

Before being taken over by Chrysler in 1967, the company was The Rootes Group... a family firm.

[@OsbornTramain]

Ah, okay, I thought Chrysler Took it over in 1964, I now see that it was a phased process culminating in 1967

[@pauldavies8638]

OsbornTramain not at first it was rootes

[@williamkennedy5492]

They really did get a good deal for the workers , NO JOBS , surely they could see what would happen.

[@peterbradshaw8018]

What did the narrator say" Family owned firms could not compete." What about the Porsche-Piech family or Toyota, Honda at one time, Fiat the Agnellis

[@lessevdoolbretsim]

"It was a lovely wee car."

[@tecnaman9097]

The Japanese back in the seventies showed the world how to build a quality and reliable motor car at a competitive price. British industry and union leaders during this period were more interested in measuring the size of their appendages than focusing on the product and what was happening on the other side of the world in Asia. The tigers were awakening, their teeming millions prepared to work longer hours for a lot less. Globalism had arrived by the eighties and the rest is history. English manufacturing is but a shadow of its former self. English cars in Australia had a reputation for poor build quality, rusting out prematurely and breaking down regularly. The joke was you had to buy two.... one to drive while the other one was in the workshop. As for the Hillman Imp , best forgotten.

[@jimtaylor294]

Partially true. Japanese cars of the '70's rusted almost as bad as Alfa Suds (themselves already worse than the British average), partially because they weren't designed with atlantic/north sea air or salt gritted roads in mind. Japan had nixxed the trade union problem back in the '50's/'60's, and invested in modern semi-automated production methods. This combo allowed them to break production records, while the rest were struggling to come half as close. Their cars weren't stellar, but there were more of them, and they were cheap & came with nearly everything as standard. Now as compared for a BL manager: Want to rationalize your plethora of production facilities?: Nope, unions - nor government - won't allow it without a fight. Want to modernize your production line?: Nope, unions won't allow it. Want to make changes to your product after launch?, even basic trim changes?: Nope, unions won't allow it, without lengthy negotiations over everything. Even the best manager in the world, would have struggled in such a toxic situation.

[@bigkev8949]

This is one of the main reasons this country has no ``british owned`` major car industry....unions.

[@peterbradshaw8018]

Cost plus manufacturing DWL Prince Phillip was right in calling the plant a whatever it was far from complete .

[@Imp5011]

No factory at Linwood or Rootes group but we still have fucking HRH Philip. What an utter disaster.

[@bogenious8474]

Well i know at Ford here in Louisville, Ky no way could a part of a line or shop just up and strike , the Uaw national would have to do it and it would be the entire factory , but strikes are very very rare and not over this shit here, it became part of the past long ago becase they will just ship overseas for production looks like these guys didn`t want to work much , find people who will

[@adrianattrell7808]

SHOULD HAVE KEPT PRODUCTION IN THE MIDLANDS ............. AND GOT A FOREIGN MANUFACTURER TO BUILD IN SCOTLAND .......BUT THE UNIONS WOULD HAVE PUT PAID TO WHO EVER WAS THERE IN THE END

[@polygamous1]

Lets not just blame only the workers n am talking overall not just this plant, when they couldn't produce enough MINIS BMC gave incentives to workers based on production performances in terms of bonuses, and guess what when they where exceeding their targets n it meant workers would earn more than the lower management BMC went back on their word n never paid the workers the bonuses they earned through their hard work soon after a strike followed, its Not always the workers to blame

[@roconnor01]

A shed on four wheels.

[@lucythemoggy1970]

maybe if they had listened to the logistics side of it, the future might have been better

[@stefantrbovic936]

What do they actually build in Scotland?

[@jerseybean59]

Distrust

[@DanafoxyVixen]

Any good bottle of Whiskey.. but in all seriousness, Scotland had an estimated nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of up to £152 billion in 2015... they are doing quite well with what they make

[@user-ho4rv6kg8u]

MAHLE Engine Systems UK Ltd., Kilmarnock BAEsystems Govan.

[@rogermanvell4693]

An interesting documentary but one that ignores the other factors contributing to the demise of Linwood.

[@anthonyeverett1391]

If it had an air cool engine, it probably would not have heating problems.

[@graemedurie9094]

"The eyes of the world were on this little car and the people who made it"?????? Maybe the eyes of the people of Scotland were, but it was not very important elsewhere.

[@clarencewilson5253]

A brilliant car better than the mini

[@clonSanG]

You wouldn't mind imps are going for mad money now adays

[@thedangler1754]

I can remember these strikes on TV at the time, the Unions have to take the main responsibility for the failure of the British car industry. The likes of 'Red Robbo' at Leyland for example. Sad times leading to foreign companies benefitting.

[@puskascat]

The management were in their own way just as bad.

[@martinburke362]

WHAT ABOUT THE CAR!!!

[@Mishima505]

If Stoneybridge made a car...

[@53jed]

I remember the term 'industrial disease'.

[@MrPoupard]

I remember the term " the British Disease". First heard it in the 70s from continental Europeans then later on heard it indirectly from Australia to describe British immigrants working there.

[@53jed]

@@MrPoupard Pretty much the same thing. English industry was almost fatally infected with union militancy. Thatcher identified it correctly and almost eradicated it. English migrants brought it here. The buggers even got into our federal parliament. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWS7ZKWBqdeoick

[@eugenekochnieff]

One of the biggest failings of British industry was Managements steadfast reliance on traditional methods and outdated production machinery. Refusing to invest in more modern , more productive machines just because the old machine still works pretty much killed productivity and quality as productivity gains fell on workers shoulders.

[@jimtaylor294]

Partially true. Lord Morris of Nuffield was certainly guilty thereof... but in the BL era, the main reason was Trade Unions. The latter fought every proposal to innovate, killing the issue stone dead for years. (their motive being that modernization would bring smaller workforces, thus smaller dues for their union; petty self interest at its worst) The late-'70's & '80's saw *Unimate* robots and other semi-automated production features come in (and the workforce shrink & surplus facilities closed) and productivity shot up... but it was already too late.

[@billy4072]

jjeeeeeeeeeeeezzz Rowley Birkin QC @ 3.37 lol

[@mbaker335]

I lived through these times and drove several Imps. The later models were great, and I drove back from Cornwall to buckinghamshire during freak snow storms in front of the snow plough. Brilliant handling. Yes there were loads of strikes but British management was appalling. Arrogant, greedy and unwilling to invest. They really brought the trouble on themselves.

[@seansands424]

Both to blame management and unions and the workers stricking over little things

[@off-roadrcaddict4572]

The Hillman Imp, was a great car. Just sad it had to be ruined, by bribery and lazyness.

[@23hublock1]

Well, this is what you get when you offer the Scottish an opportunity like this on a plate. All completely wasted on men and women who strike if the pie machine goes tits up....or not enough cheese on a pizza....sums them up really.The bold Scots thought they could run the company their way, and were proved so wrong. Karma I do believe.

[@celticboy1950]

Imprisonment if they didn't work, and a 75% pay cut or else.

[@Templemain]

It was fatal. hundreds, thousands of workers shitting in their own buckets. Now they buy all their cars from Japan, Korea and China. There is a Chinese story going around about a Chinese Company moving their business to the USA to save transit costs of their product. But they quickly realized just how casual American workers treated their job, gossiping, laughing & taking excessive breaks. The company was losing so much money they were on the verge of calling it a bad decision & returning to China when management decided to take all the American production & floor managers to China to see how a Chinese plant operated. The Americans were amazed by how dedicated, hard working, heads down the Chinese workers were. They were simply told then if you can't get our factory in USA to work like this, you are all out of a job, that did it.

[@yesman2755]

A friend of mine had an Imp which nearly killed him. The weight distribution with the engine in the rear was atrocious so he filled the front boot with sandbags to stop it flying off the road. If you put two passengers in the back you were lucky to make it to your destination without serious injury or death. He offered me a lift in it once and I declined preferring to follow in my Mini.

[@johnschofield6675]

nowt changes

[@andreaziz5499]

you needed comunisim to rule the factory like china or Russia to step up and improve the product

[@bigglesflysagain1749]

2.27.....'declare..whatever this is...open'...WHATEVER THIS IS....he did not even know where he was and what he was opening...NO wonder this plant went down the toilet....