Government Motors 1975

City Journal ^ | Autumn, 2009 | CLAIRE BERLINSKI

[TigerLikesRooster]

CLAIRE BERLINSKI

Government Motors 1975

America should learn from Britain’s disastrous takeover of its biggest auto company.

PETER MARLOW/MAGNUM PHOTOS
Striking became a way of life for British Leyland autoworkers during the seventies.

After the Second World War, the United Kingdom’s newly elected Labour government resolved to build of Britain a New Jerusalem. It nationalized the commanding heights of the economy and inaugurated the cradle-to-grave welfare state. By the 1970s, the UK faced an economic crisis unrivaled since the Great Depression. Shabby and hopeless, Britain had become, in Henry Kissinger’s words, a “tragedy” of a nation, reduced to “begging, borrowing, stealing.”

British Leyland, Britain’s largest automaker, faced bankruptcy in 1975. Fearing that its collapse would leave a million workers unemployed, the Labour government nationalized it. The company remained a ward of the state for 13 years. During that time, the British taxpayers invested 11 billion pounds—the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $22 billion today—in a company whose only sign of life was a willingness to spend that money. Though the British economy recovered, British Leyland did not.

If this story sounds troublingly familiar to you, you appear to be nearly alone. Few of the policymakers currently nationalizing the American auto industry seem to remember the British experience, and fewer still seem to have learned anything from it.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[SonOfDarkSkies]

1975?

That's, like, history dude!

Obama has no interest in history, particular English history!

[pnh102]

Anyone else see that episode of Top Gear where the presenters drive some of the “best of the worst” of British Leyland’s offerings?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Right. He does not care. But we should.:-)

[Frantzie]

They also had one on Top Gear where they tested Russian and eastern European commie era cars. The showdown had Jeremy in a commie BL Austin Marina versus a Russian accented James in a Lada to see which commie car would win.

Clarkson, who I generally do not like because of the fat American and bush cracks to make his BBC bosses happy, ripped commie workers at BL. He said they spent more time on strike than making cars.

[Richard Kimball]

I owned a 76 MG. Every part that fell off of that car was of the finest British craftsmanship.

[Fred Hayek]

Throw in the electrical components from Lucas, Prince of Darkness.

The three positions on a Lucas headlamp switch:
Dim
Flicker
Dark

[henry_reardon]

yes the cars were crap, but in fairness most of them were designed pre-nationalization. the allegro, marina and the princess being the biggest turds. The montego which was designed during nationalization was actually a pretty good car and I had a couple of them as pool cars when I worked for Jaguar. And don’t get me started about how bad those cars were during the 80s

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

I owned a 76 MG. Every part that fell off of that car was of the finest British craftsmanship.

Hey, that's not funny, I have a Jaguar... my parts are much more expensive...

[rose]

Great Read.

[PJammers]

I had a bright orange Allegro. I actually drove it to a local inspection garage and when it surprisingly passed I asked the owner how much he would give me for it.

300 quid and a long walk home. One of the best decisions I made in my life.

[Charles Martel]

Yeah, I’ve seen the “British Leyland Challenge”. I think my favorite part was on the rough-surface test track, where the entire door fell off Jeremy’s Rover. The part where they filled the cars with water and then drove them while breathing through snorkels was quite entertaining, too.

[henry_reardon]

the all-agro was based on the austin 1100/1300 series. in redesigning it they made the car heavier and with less interior room. truly a lose-lose, it’s only claim to fame was a 5 speed transmission on the 1500 and 1750 engines.

[Tupelo]

Claire Berlinski is dead on the money with this article. However there are another couple of points she missed, at least in the motorcycle industry. 1) Old & obsolete parts were not thrown out or melted down, they kept using them until they exhausted their supply, then change to newer more efficients components. For example Brit bikes had magnetos well into the 60s when the rest of the world had already converted to battery & coil. 2) Tradition. The British parallel twin was over 20 years out of date when they finally folded up.

[pnh102]

Clarkson, who I generally do not like because of the fat American and bush cracks ...

To be honest, these types of things coming from foreigners do not really bother me... in fact, I wish that all those who feel the same way but live in the USA do the same as Clarkson... and live abroad. :)

[IronJack]

Britain had become, in Henry Kissinger’s words, a “tragedy” of a nation, reduced to “begging, borrowing, stealing.”

In Britain's past, see America's future.

[niteowl77]

I owned a 76 MG. Every part that fell off of that car was of the finest British craftsmanship.

Mom and dad bought a BL Triumph Spitfire in the mid-'70's, and it was a handsome but unloveable blend of tradition and unreliability. The fuel pump went out almost immediately, and was from then on replaced at alarmingly short intervals (by an OEM part of finest British craftsmanship) until one day a Japanese-made pump was installed... that one worked perfectly and was on the car until they found a sucker sold it. The electrical problems alone made dad and I wonder how in the world the RAF managed to fly anything across the Channel, let alone do it at night.

I will admit that it was most convenient to be able to tilt the hood up and sit on a front tire to work on the engine- a very considerate feature on a vehicle that needed so much work on the engine.

Mr.niteowl77

[PJammers]

I had the 1100. I also remember having to re-gap the points every 300 miles. If you happen to forget the car would definitely remind you!

Didn’t it also take 50 weight oil. I can remember changing the oil once and put 10 w 30 in it. Every morning when I started it up it would fog the entire estate.

I think I still have a Chilton’s manual. A must if you own any British Leyland automobile.

[bleach]

I bought a new MGB in 1977. Fun car for drivng the backroads of Kentucky and W.Va. Between the Vapor locks, incomplete wiring harness (no left rear turn signal) bad stereo, and other defects it was a trade off.

I didn’t have it long enough to totally fall apart as I dozed off diving it one night. The cops woke me up with a tailgate emblazoned with CHEVROLET a few inches from my face.