Author Topic: Industrial Birmingham  (Read 38608 times)

Sidecarsid

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #143 on: August 11, 2019, 06:49:15 AM »
Re the insurance for the Beemer,
I think that for some time the Beemer has been one of the ultimate targets for being stolen either for spares or export to order. As for the TR, it was a bit of a flop, I would have suggested the Dolomite Sprint, that would knock the spots off many of the so called sporty cars. I once went into the rolling road booth while being sat in the passenger seat of a police Sprint, it was bouncing from right to left on the rollers and when I looked at the booth speedometer it was showing 125 mph. That was a serious car for it's day.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #144 on: August 11, 2019, 09:50:05 PM »
.......Little did I know what lay in store  for me.
Peg.
I'd been working only a matter of days at Reliant when the whole workforce of some 110 people were summond to the main shop floor, I attended and we were told the company had gone into administration, everyone was told to go home and await instructions, a skeleton staff of 12 remained (plus me) to attempt to complete 50 unfinished cars.  Reliant's Bank appointed a Merchant Banker (censor: careful Peg, yellow card on the horizon, no honest he was a merchant banker, it's not cockney ryming slang) as the Administrator and he took up residence at the plant the following day, he took control of the factory and had complete autonomy and set about trying to find a buyer for the company, he had an assistant, Dawn, and part of her duties was to meet suppliers who were owed money to carryout an inventory, suppliers would then submit a claim as a creditor to the administrator, to be frank they had little or no chance of being paid.
One day Dawn came into my office pink cheeked and confided: I was having a meeting in the warehouse with the suppliers of screenwash equipment, we found their boxes of kit and then one of them asked: any chance of a coffee? When I got back with the drinks they'd gone and taken their goods! I acted sympathetically but thought what a good move!
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #145 on: August 12, 2019, 05:57:07 AM »
My activity at Reliant counted towards my NVQ4 (I had to record what I did  for scrutiny by the assessors) and this is where I've discovered a mismatch in the timeline, which I can't explain, a newspaper report of the day records Reliant going broke (on that occasion) in December 1995, but that is not my memory of events and I was actually there, my NVQ4 Certificate is dated May 1995, which means Reliant going into administration was around April 1995, anyway I continued to commute to Two Gates and was now alone in the buying office, the assistant buyer having left with the majority of the workforce, the next problem to hit was no window glass for the Robins, normally from Triplex supplies had dried up, I'm on the case and suggest we buy from Unipart who was a Leyland company stocking spares for all cars, yes it will cost more than from the manufacturer but it does offer a solution if you want supplies "today" to get cars out of the door, only the administrator could make the decision, I could only present him with the options. :-\
Peg
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Spud

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #146 on: August 12, 2019, 08:47:56 AM »
Regarding Peg's experience with Purchasing. I worked In  Purchasing for the Aerospace Industry for over 30 years. Four things you had bear in mind when Purchasing.
1 Quality
2 Delivery
3 Price
4 Spend the company's money as if it was your own.

The Only Free Cheese is in The Trap

JudithM

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #147 on: August 12, 2019, 01:13:36 PM »

My son had a TR7, I only ever attempted to drive it once. I hated it because you had to almost lie down to drive it. As he was only 19 the insurance was astronomical so he sold it and bought a BMW which cost more insurance, work that out if you can, because I couldn't.
::)

One of my friends learned to drive in one (his uncle's car).  He had the inevitable Hillman Imp for a short while, then bought himself a Citroen 2CV.  Awful car!
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Phil

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #148 on: August 12, 2019, 02:21:46 PM »
::)

One of my friends learned to drive in one (his uncle's car).  He had the inevitable Hillman Imp for a short while, then bought himself a Citroen 2CV.  Awful car!


Another car I only drove once, I purchased a GS Citroen Club in 1980 and it developed minor problems after a couple of days so I returned it to have the problems ironed out. The showrooms loaned me a 2CV whilst it was being sorted. I nearly pulled the gear-change out of its trying to change gear and most of the time I was in the wrong gear. I can only agree a terrible car.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #149 on: August 13, 2019, 11:46:38 AM »
.......Little did I know what lay in store  for me.
The day I rued accepting a placement at Reliant Motors Part I of III.
It was Friday and an early finish, I leave the Reliant Plant and head for the UCE, Perry Barr to submit NVQ documents for assessment and to collect my wife who was a member of the UCE staff. I negotiate the Bassett's Pole Island and head SW along the A453 Tamworth Rd, I pass the Crem on my left and the traffic lights at the top of the hill come into view (Whitehouse Common/Tamworth Rd/Weeford Rd Junction). It's a 40mph stretch through the lights but I check my speed in th event the lights change against me, they don't but I still reduce my speed to about 25mph. My route takes me straight through the lights, on the opposite side of the road at the junction a long wheelbase transit van is underway, in the off-side lane intending to turn right crossing my path into Whitehouse Common. ???
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #150 on: August 13, 2019, 12:40:20 PM »
The day I rued accepting a placement at Reliant Motors Part II of III.
The van driver looks at me but, inexplicably, he continues with his manoeuvre as if I was not there, I hit the brakes, there is a screetching of tyres and I manage to reduce my speed to about 10mph in the space of a few metres but I still hit the van somewhere near it's front nearside corner, I see the expression on the driver's face: Where the hell did he come from?!
Thankfully no-one is hurt, my Escort is immoveable but, unfairly, the transit suffered only minor cosmentic damage. The van driver uses his vehicle to drag my car to the kerbside in Whitehouse Common, amidst clouds of steam and pools of hot water. We pause on the footpath nearby to exchange insurance particulars, the van driver says little (in-line with his company instructions, no doubt) except I didn't see you and This is my last day working for this company. With formalities over the van driver sets off to deliver the rest of his parcels. I survey the front of my beloved XR3i, which is now unrecognisable, and then I head for the near-by health centre to use their phone (no mobiles around at that time) to contact my wife, I was now well late. >:(
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #151 on: August 13, 2019, 12:58:36 PM »
The day I rued accepting a placement at Reliant Motors Part III of III.
Mentioning no names the van that hit me was big, red and a national parcel delivery organisation, I thought the damage was repairable but my insurer still wrote the car off, the settlement offer was rediculous but thankfully I had a policy in place with a claims company that negotiated a fantastic settlement, such that I was actually in profit after buying a direct replacement XR3i - a rare result when dealing with motor insurers.
I got in touch with Reliant soon after my accident when I explained I was off the road, No problem said the General Manager, I travel near your house, I'll give you a lift. That continued until I left Reliant on completion of my NVQ4 in May 1995. O0
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #152 on: August 16, 2019, 11:41:51 AM »
What was Reliant's fate after I had finished my NVQ4 secondment March 1995? Despite collapsing owing £1.12m to 350 creditors (including on average £900 to each of it's 110 employees) somehow the company avoided liquidation and was eventually sold on 9th April 1996 to ex Senior Jaguar Manager Jonathon Heynes, more than a year after first going into administration, becoming Reliant Cars Ltd. Production rose to 50 cars/week and the product range was extended to GRP body panels for other motor manufacturers and non-automotive products. Production ceased at the Two Gates factory in 2001 with the production of the Robin 65, a luxury version of the Robin retailing for £10,000 to commemorate Reliant's 65th birthday.
Car production was then transferred to a factory in Brownhills, from where subsequently (Trading as Reliant Partsworld) French Microcars and the Piaggio APE range were marketed, Reliant became defunct in 2002.
The old Two Gates Factory became The Scimitar Park Housing Estate, where many roads were named after Reliant cars, such as Robin Close.
Peg. 
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.

Peg Monkey

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Re: Industrial Birmingham
« Reply #153 on: August 19, 2019, 06:10:50 AM »
OK, folks, time for a pub quiz style question - the prize for getting the correct answer? Eternal admiration from fellow Threaders(?!)....... I'll publish the answer in a future post. O0
Peg.
It's far better to look back on a rejection rather than a lost opportunity.


 

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