My experience with British quality control came in 1974 - while working as a lot/prep staffer at a small import auto dealership in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.
Tosa Imports had a very bizarre combination of lines - Saab/Volvo/Alfa Romeo/Subaru/Triumph and motor homes. We would get transport trailers full of cars delivered to the street and it was my responsibility to drive these cars onto the main lot or to the other dealership location (about 4 miles away, where the Triumphs were sold). During 1974 the TR6 was in its twilight of production - and there was some sort of labor strife going on in Britain that year. There were deliberate labor actions to harm the brand by failing to completely or correctly assemble the vehicles before they left the factory. We would get the cars off the trailer and find them about 3/4ths assembled - and a pile of parts thrown in the small trunk (boot), The mechanics would spend hours finishing the assembly job before they could properly prep the cars for sale. I recall getting into one of the cars fresh off the truck and reaching for the shifter only to find myself grabbing a handful of the threaded gearshift - the shifter minus the knob which was probably in the glove compartment or the trunk at that moment. Later the shifter stalk came entirely out of the boot - it had not been bolted to the transmission linkage.
The cars were junk - the pure antithesis of six sigma or typical Japanese auto manufacturer's quality control. The British have to be spending a lot of time looking at each other and wondering what the hell happened - and their auto industry has to be emblematic of the problems with their country in general.
"The cars were junk - the pure antithesis of six sigma or typical Japanese auto manufacturer's quality control. The British have to be spending a lot of time looking at each other and wondering what the hell happened - and their auto industry has to be emblematic of the problems with their country in general."
I don't see a word I disagree with.
Can we spell Unions, socialism, and a masochistic love of being bullied?