DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

.

- in the days before 'cool vests' ...

the pic before last reminded me of this one....

You're weird keith.

911hillclimber wrote:Mike..
Too many players maybe, but I would look to management first and their aptitude for a competitive world, and certainly their children who took over those players?

owners selling up, cashing in, and moving to sunny Spain with a big pension pot.

Graham

Most of these manufacturers were prospering well after the second word war. They were selling small quantities of top quality lorries to a multitude of small haulage firms with between one and a dozen vehicles in their fleet, my own grandfather included. He started in 1922 with an ex-RAF Leyland SQ2 (solid tyres!!) 6 ton platform lorry which he borrowed £600 from his elder sister to buy. Paid it back in six months and was never in ‘the red’ again. He worked for 30 years, through the second word war transporting raw cotton, cloth, spinning yarns etc ‘ in and around the North West. Then two things happened.

In 1947 Britain was beginning to feel a little guilty towards the Commonwealth which had sacrificed so many men in the cause of WWII. A leg up was needed and the UK began to mobilise things to spread work around (is was not that big a guilty feeling as they knew the labour would be cheaper). India. Pakistan and Ceylon were granted full independence from British rule soon after the war. My grandfather began transporting the looms from Lancashire mills to the docks at Liverpool faster than he was hauling cotton the other way. These looms were bound for India and Ceylon etc where they are still in use today. We were cutting our own throats. It caused work to slowly dry up and fewer payloads meant fewer new vehicles needed. Despite this, with an array of loyal customers my grandfather ordered his first new platform lorry in 1948, a Commer, because up till then his cautious nature would only allow him to risk good second hand vehicles. Then,

In 1951 a new labour government decided that Nationalization was the key driver to efficiency, job security and maintaining the standard of living of the average working man. So, in 1952 my grandfather along with a plethora of other small haulage firms all over the country had their vehicles, spares, garages, offices, customer lists taken from them, without any payment whatsoever, in exchange for ‘transport stock’. That’s 30 years of graft in a small family business (my grandmother and father were the two other employees) snatched from you for no return (including his ‘newish’ Commer). The transport stock or ‘shares’ in the new ‘British Road Services’ dropped in value to zero in just a matter of a few months. You were only allowed to sell a tiny fraction of your holding at any one time. Such a situation would be unthinkable today. There would be rioting on the streets if businesses were stolen in such a way today.

Customer Service dropped through the floor because no one cared any more as it was not ‘on their head’ if a business failed. The government were guaranteeing a job virtually for life in the new Nationalized industries. Vehicles weren’t looked after, service schedules dropped, and customer deliveries weren’t treated with the same care and urgency. Profits began to move away from the black to the red and the British Tax Payer had to start funding the bill. So,

The government wanted better value for money from lorry manufacturers because margins were tight so they asked motor vehicle builders to downgrade their spec. to cut costs. Over a number of years the build quality of these vehicles was gradually diminished because there was only one main customer and they virtually decided how much they would pay for a lorry and no more. Just like the motor car industry the governments of the day destroyed the quality builders of just about anything in favour of jobs for the boys and a cheaper product. By the time the 1960’s came along Scania and Volvo looked to have a much more robust product than anything made in Britain. Hence the demise of all those great manufacturing names whose reputations were destroyed by a government who stole the heart of road transport services in the UK and made no apology for it later. Those manufacturers were left dead in the water after nationalization ended because nobody rated their now downgraded products against the foreign competitors who had not suffered the same interference and had simply concentrated on improving their vehicles following the war.


Regards
Mike

sladey wrote:You're weird keith.

You've only just noticed. I can't believe he thought wearing blue tights and red shoes was a good idea.

sladey wrote:You're weird keith.

So farewell Mr.Honda – T'was nice knowing you.
You made unpretentious, comfortable, reliable family saloons that were a pleasure to drive.
They weren't trendy, yet were brilliantly conceived and staggeringly reliable.
You also made some interesting sporty cars and the odd motorcycle or two I believe ?
Good luck with your future back in the Land of the Rising Sun.

210bhp wrote:

911hillclimber wrote:Mike..
Too many players maybe, but I would look to management first and their aptitude for a competitive world, and certainly their children who took over those players?

owners selling up, cashing in, and moving to sunny Spain with a big pension pot.

Graham

Most of these manufacturers were prospering well after the second word war. They were selling small quantities of top quality lorries to a multitude of small haulage firms with between one and a dozen vehicles in their fleet, my own grandfather included. He started in 1922 with an ex-RAF Leyland SQ2 (solid tyres!!) 6 ton platform lorry which he borrowed £600 from his elder sister to buy. Paid it back in six months and was never in ‘the red’ again. He worked for 30 years, through the second word war transporting raw cotton, cloth, spinning yarns etc ‘ in and around the North West. Then two things happened.

In 1947 Britain was beginning to feel a little guilty towards the Commonwealth which had sacrificed so many men in the cause of WWII. A leg up was needed and the UK began to mobilise things to spread work around (is was not that big a guilty feeling as they knew the labour would be cheaper). India. Pakistan and Ceylon were granted full independence from British rule soon after the war. My grandfather began transporting the looms from Lancashire mills to the docks at Liverpool faster than he was hauling cotton the other way. These looms were bound for India and Ceylon etc where they are still in use today. We were cutting our own throats. It caused work to slowly dry up and fewer payloads meant fewer new vehicles needed. Despite this, with an array of loyal customers my grandfather ordered his first new platform lorry in 1948, a Commer, because up till then his cautious nature would only allow him to risk good second hand vehicles. Then,

In 1951 a new labour government decided that Nationalization was the key driver to efficiency, job security and maintaining the standard of living of the average working man. So, in 1952 my grandfather along with a plethora of other small haulage firms all over the country had their vehicles, spares, garages, offices, customer lists taken from them, without any payment whatsoever, in exchange for ‘transport stock’. That’s 30 years of graft in a small family business (my grandmother and father were the two other employees) snatched from you for no return (including his ‘newish’ Commer). The transport stock or ‘shares’ in the new ‘British Road Services’ dropped in value to zero in just a matter of a few months. You were only allowed to sell a tiny fraction of your holding at any one time. Such a situation would be unthinkable today. There would be rioting on the streets if businesses were stolen in such a way today.

Customer Service dropped through the floor because no one cared any more as it was not ‘on their head’ if a business failed. The government were guaranteeing a job virtually for life in the new Nationalized industries. Vehicles weren’t looked after, service schedules dropped, and customer deliveries weren’t treated with the same care and urgency. Profits began to move away from the black to the red and the British Tax Payer had to start funding the bill. So,

The government wanted better value for money from lorry manufacturers because margins were tight so they asked motor vehicle builders to downgrade their spec. to cut costs. Over a number of years the build quality of these vehicles was gradually diminished because there was only one main customer and they virtually decided how much they would pay for a lorry and no more. Just like the motor car industry the governments of the day destroyed the quality builders of just about anything in favour of jobs for the boys and a cheaper product. By the time the 1960’s came along Scania and Volvo looked to have a much more robust product than anything made in Britain. Hence the demise of all those great manufacturing names whose reputations were destroyed by a government who stole the heart of road transport services in the UK and made no apology for it later. Those manufacturers were left dead in the water after nationalization ended because nobody rated their now downgraded products against the foreign competitors who had not suffered the same interference and had simply concentrated on improving their vehicles following the war.


Regards
Mike

Interesting stuff Mike. Thank god you dentists are safe eh

I had no idea about the big-brother style of nationalisation - and as you say if it happened today there would be more consequences

One for Andy.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

richkaz wrote:So farewell Mr.Honda – T'was nice knowing you. You made unpretentious, comfortable, reliable family saloons......

but their first model into the UK was a sports car, the tiny over the top, rev it to 10,000 S800! Had some fun in one of those back in the day...



Not me driving by the way, my hair was longer than that.

They were great little cars - can't remember the last time I saw one on the road though ...

All to do with shifting sands in China, USA and a few other regions according to the news today.
Such a shame.
I had a company car Accord exactly like the pic above, beautiful reliable do everything car, Mrs Hillclimber had a Civic and that was unburtsable, perfect in every was, fab car that did everything well.

I restored a mid 70's Honda CB 175 bike, the engineering was a dream, lovely assembly and a great bike.
Big loss to the UK.

Mike, thank you for your detailed response.