Longbridge is the name of an illustrious motor works and its surrounding area in Birmingham, England . To the immediate south-west lie the Lickey Hills, a favorite recreation spot for southern Birmingham. Cutting alongside and with a spur deep into the plant, the railway line from Barnt Green divides the plant off from the Bittell Reservoir to the south-east. The Birmingham Cross-City Line now situates a station opposite the plant near the Bristol Road (A38) headed northwards into Birmingham. The area is skirted by Rubery and West Heath, where many workers who toiled at the motor plant have traditionally resided.
The site was once the biggest manufacturing plant in the world and many thousands were employed producing and assembling cars in peacetime, which include the iconic Austin Mini, as well as aeroplanes, such as the Lancaster bomber, and munitions during the Wars. Over a period of some ninety years the name of the firm operating from the Longbridge factory has changed many times. Despite radical changes in management, name and a succession of foreign owners, the physical fabric of the factory itself has remained, evolved, and most importantly been used day-by-day in the production of motor vehicles, munitions and aeroplanes for nearly a century.
The Plant is Founded.
Berkshire-born Herbert Austin learnt the engineering trade at Wolseley, working on tools as well as cars. He produced an experimental three-wheeled car, and then a second which followed in 1896 and was exhibited at the Crystal Palace. The experiments continued and in the early summer of 1905 he resigned and looked around for somewhere to start on his own.
Austin rode numerous exploratory rides around Birmingham on his bike. At Longbridge, seven miles out of the city, he found a small derelict printing works. He bought it; friends came forward with financial help and the Austin Motor Company was born. On paper the first Austin was described as a 25-30 h.p. high class touring car with a four speed gearbox and a chain driven transmission. Material quality was guarenteed and supervision during manufacture would be such as to secure the best results. The first model was delivered at the end of March 1906, at a list price of £650.
Skilled workmen soon found their way to Longbridge and in the first full year 270 of them built 120 cars in the original 212 acre factory. Expansion and extensions followed and other cars were added to the range. Austin coachwork, with its large selection of Phaetons , Limousines and Landaulets , came to be admired and respected as much as the dependability of the chassis. By 1908 nearly 1,000 workers were employed and a night shift was found necessary. In February 1914, the Company changed from private to public ownership and the capital was increased to £50,000. All seemed to be set fair and then the situation changed almost overnight.
An Important War Factory.
In 1914 the situation in Europe became so severe that Britain was forced to declare World War I. Within a few weeks the machines that had been building Austin cars began to turn out munitions, and all the resources of the factory were harnessed to serve the country. As the appetite of the armed services for weapons and equipment of every kind continued to increase, the rapid expansion of the Longbridge factory became inevitable, until by 1917 it had trebled its size and in addition had its own flying ground on a flat-topped hill south of the main works. The employees, many of them women, rose to over 22,000 during the peak years. During the four war years over 8,000,000 shells were produced along with 650 guns, 2,000 aeroplanes, 2,500 aero engines and 2,000 trucks, plus a host of other items.
The Interwar Years
Before the end of the war, plans were announced for concentrating, when peace returned, on the production of a 20 h.p. car only. However, the engine used for the 20 h.p. model was also adapted for an Austin tractor, running on paraffin, which won many agricultural awards between 1919 and 1921. A 13 ton truck was also produced, using the same engine.
The Company's post-war programme also included, for a short time, a range of aeroplanes. The Austin Greyhound 2-seater fighter was one, and the Austin Ball single seater another. Then there was a single seater biplane with folding wings, which sold at £500, and a fourth called the Austin Whippet.
After 1921 Austin moved onto smaller vehicles including a 12 h.p. car and the tiny, and still familier, Austin 7 . In many ways the car was a large car in miniature, scaled down with with a certain sense of simplicity which is the hallmark of Lord Austin's car building approach.
The Second World War.
Immediately upon the outbreak of the Second World War, the change-over from peace-time to war-time production began. The same machines and hands that a short time back had turned out highly finished cars, took in their stride the production of a whole miscellany of intricate parts for the nation's war machine. The variety and quantities of articles produced were staggering. Over one-and-a-quarter million rounds of 2, 6 and 17 pounder armour-piercing ammunition and twice as many ammunition boxes. Over half-a-million jerricans , nearly as many steel service helmets, and almost as many assemblies of one sort or another for mines and depth charges. A hundred thousand bogey suspension and driving gear units for Churchill tanks was considered almost a side-line.
And all this against a steady output of wheeled vehicles of various types to a total of over thirty-six thousand.
The shadow factory at Cofton Hackett, which started production with Fairey Battle light bombers and Mercury and Pegasus aero engines, ended by turning out Lancaster four engined heavy bombers. The latter were too big to be flown from the Longbridge flying ground and so they were assembled elsewhere, as were the Stirling bombers which preceded them. Nearly three thousand of these aircraft, along with Hurricane fighters, were ultimately produced, in addition to aero engines, Horsa gliders, Beaufighters and Miles Master fuselages.
After The War
The impact of a new chairman's drive and vision on the fortunes of the Company in the post-war years was to prove decisive. L. P. Lord laid plans for a rapid expansion of Austin car production for overseas marketing. A new post-war range would be produced. Eight, Ten, Twelve and Sixteens were planned, the latter being powered with an entirely new four-cylinder overhead-valve engine. In June 1946, the Millionth Austin was produced, and this car, painted in a matt cream, was signed by the Chairman and the workpeople at a special celebration.
There was a collaboration with Healey.
In 1956 Austin was combined with Morris and became BMC.
There are some nice sports cars from this period which someone could mention.
British Leyland was put together in 1968 by Harold Wilson's industrial planners.
Nationalisation
The British Leyland company was nationalised in 1975.
Derek Robinson, or "Red Robbo" as he was dubbed by the media, became synonymous with the strikes which crippled production at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham in the 1970s. Between 1978 and 1979, Mr Robinson, convenor at Longbridge, was behind 523 disputes at the then government-owned British Leyland plant, at the time Britain's largest factory. He was eventually sacked amid intense press attacks. Many of the strikes were held in Cofton Park opposite Q-Gate.
Privatisation.
By the 1980s, BL had been severely rationalised and many businesses and other factories within its empire had either been closed or sold off. It had also entered into a collaborative deal with the Japanese giant Honda which gave it a new lease of life. In the 80's, Longbridge produced models such as the Austin Metro and Rover 200-series which helped to keep BL, now named as the Austin Rover Group afloat.
Initially the Longbridge plant was sold as simply 'Rover' to British Aerospace in 1988.
In 1994 BMW, fearful of their small size in a progressivly oligopolizing market, bought Rover and the Longbridge plant passed into BMW's hands. However, after a few years it was sold in a management buyout, and many financial commentators commented that the plant was not modern enough and it would surely run out of money in a few years.
The End?
In April 2005 the Phoenix Consortium put MG Rover group into administration and the 6000 remaining workers were asked to go home. After 100 years of constant it is possible the workers have packed and gone home for the final time.
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