The Longbridge Plant from the Air, 2005.

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. Public Domain image of the Longbridge factory in Birmingham. ... Public Domain image of the Longbridge factory in Birmingham. ... The city from above Centenary Square. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... The Lickey Hills are a range of hills in Worcestershire, England, eleven miles to the south-west of the centre of Birmingham near the villages of Lickey and Barnt Green. ... The city from above Centenary Square. ... Barnt Green is a fairly large village south of Birmingham, in Central England (UK). ... The Bittell Reservoirs are located above Barnt Green to the south of the Longbridge motor plant. ... The Cross_City Line is a suburban railway line in the West Midlands region of England. ... The A38 is a major trunk road in England. ... Rubery is a suburb of Birmingham, England. ... West Heath is an area of Birmingham, England. ...

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 and partners, 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. Cars is: The plural of the car Cars, the seventh Pixar movie, scheduled for release in 2006, and the final Disney/Pixar movie. ... The Mini is the name of a rather petite car produced from 1959 to 2000, and the name of a newer one known as New MINI launched in 2001. ... The Avro Lancaster was a four-engined World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force. ...

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. For other places named Berkshire, see: Berkshire (disambiguation) Berkshire (pronounced Barkshe(e)r; sometimes abbreviated to Berks) is a county in the south of England, to the west of London and also bordering on Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Greater London, Surrey, Wiltshire and Hampshire. ... Sir Herbert Austin (1866-1941) was an English automobile designer and builder. ... Wolseley can mean: Wolseley plc, A British company formerly known for car manufacture, now active in other areas Wolseley, Saskatchewan, Canada Wolseley, a provincial electoral district in Manitoba, Canada Wolseley, South Africa, a town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid... 1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The facade of the original Crystal Palace Another view of the Crystal Palace A huge iron and glass building, The Crystal Palace was one of the wonders of 19th Century Britain, if not the world. ... 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

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. The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ... Austin is: An Anglicization of the name of Saint Augustine, noticeable in the English version Austin Friars to refer to the Augustinian Order. ... The Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) was incorporated in 1895, operating the mine at Broken Hill in western New South Wales. ... A gearbox is an assembly of gears allowing the rotational speed of an input shaft to be changed to a different speed. ... Transmission is the following: Generally, transmission is the act of passing something on. ... 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

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 (858,000 m²) 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. A limousine (or limo) is a long luxury car, traditionally black in color. ... A chassis (plural: chassis) consists of a framework which supports an inanimate object, analogous to an animals skeleton; for example in the construction of an automobile or of a firearm. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

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. Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... War is conflict, between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of weapons. ... 1917 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

The interwar years

The Austin 7.

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 Austin 7. ... The Austin 7. ... Paraffin is a common name for a group of high molecular weight alkane hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2, where n is greater than about 20. ... The driver of a car transporter truck prepares to offload Skoda Octavia cars in Cardiff, Wales For further uses of the word truck, see Truck (disambiguation). ...

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. This article refers to the tool of travel. ... A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings of similar spans, normally one mounted above, and the other level with, the underside of the fuselage. ...

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. 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... The Austin 7 was a vintage car produced from 1922 through 1939 in the United Kingdom. ...

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. German soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad World War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the worlds nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. ... An Armour piercing shell is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armour. ... Boxes of ammunition clog a warehouse in Baghdad Ammunition is a generic military term meaning (the assembly of) a projectile and its propellant. ... Pith helmet of Harry S. Truman A helmet is a form of protective clothing worn on the head and usually made of metal or some other hard substance, typically for protection from falling objects or high-speed collisions. ... General characteristics Length 24ft 5in/7. ...

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. Cofton Church, 2005. ... Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle was a light bomber of the Royal Air Force built by Fairey Aviation in the late 1930s. ... A light bomber is a military bomber aircraft which, when compared to other bombers, is relatively small and fast; such aircraft will probably not carry more than one ton of ordnance. ... Bristol Mercury engine The Mercury was a 9 cylinder one_row radial aircraft engine that was developed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1925, as their Bristol Jupiter was reaching the end of its lifespan. ... Bristol Pegasus piston engine The Pegasus was a 9 cylinder one_row radial aircraft engine designed as the follow-on to the Bristol Aeroplane Companys very successful Bristol Jupiter, following lessons learned in the Mercury effort. ... The term aircraft engine, for the purposes of this article, refers to aircraft reciprocating, or rotary, internal combustion engines as opposed to jet engines or turboprops. ... The Avro Lancaster was a four-engined World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force. ... The Stirling was a World War II heavy bomber design built by Short Brothers. ... The Hawker Hurricane is a fighter design from the 1930s which was used extensively by the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. ... The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a World War II troop-carrying glider built by the British company Airspeed Ltd and subcontractors. ... The Beaufighter was a long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Companys earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design. ... The Miles Master was a 2-seat monoplane trainer built by Miles Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm during World War II. It went through a number of variants according to engine availability and was even modified as an emergency fighter during the Battle of...

After the war

Austin's car number 1m. A Mini.

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. Public domain image of the Austin Mini. ... Public domain image of the Austin Mini. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

There was a collaboration with Healey.

In 1956 Austin was combined with Morris and became BMC. BMC may stand for: BMC Software Bombay Municipal Corporation British Mountaineering Council British Motor Corporation Bolan Medical College Behaviour Management Classroom Bryn Mawr College This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

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. Derek Robinson was a well known Trade Union spokesperson and shop steward within the British Leyland (BL) company for much of the 1970s. ...

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. 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Honda Motor Co. ... 1989 MG Metro Turbo The Rover Metro was a hatchback automobile of supermini size, originally launched in 1980 as the Austin Mini Metro (miniMETRO to give the official badging), intended to replace the Mini. ... The Rover 200-series is an automobile produced by the Austin Rover Group, and latterly the Rover Group and MG Rover. ... The Austin Rover Group was a British motor manufacturer, which was formed from the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BL), and existed between 1982 and 1987. ...

Initially, in 1988, the Longbridge plant was sold – simply as 'Rover' – to British Aerospace. BAe evolution since 1955 until 1999 merger to form BAE Systems British Aerospace (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, now part of BAE SYSTEMS. The company was formed on April 29, 1977 by the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act. ...

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 to the 'Phoenix Consortium' in a management buyout. At the time, many financial commentators claimed that the plant was not modern enough and it would surely run out of money in a few years. The BMW logo is a circle (known as a roundel) divided into quadrants of alternating white and light blue color. ... 1962 Rover 80 Rover (the MG Rover Group) is a manufacturer of automobiles in the United Kingdom, based at the famous Longbridge plant in Birmingham. ... Consortium is a word that comes from the Latin consortium meaning association or society, from the word consors meaning owner of means or comrade. ...

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 occupation it is possible the workers have packed and gone home for the final time.

External link

• Birmingham City Council (http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/)
• Technical data from Longbridge (http://www.technispec.com/a50/page6.htm)
• Grid reference SP009770 (http://www.rhaworth.myby.co.uk/oscoor_a.htm?SP009770_region:GB_scale:25000)