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56 Hours, 7 Cowley Built Cars, One Shopping Centre and me

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  • 56 Hours, 7 Cowley Built Cars, One Shopping Centre and me

    It's a bit of a long story that I won't bore you with, but last month I ended up taking 7 Cowley built cars into Templars Square shopping centre, which is about a mile or so from MINI Plant Oxford and the old North and South Works. I was there for 6 days, Saturday through to Thursday.

    The shopping centre is 50 years old this year and was built for the Cowley workers. Many past and some current employees still use the Centre, so I knew it would be a great opportunity to talk to former employees, hear their stories and a good opportunity for them to be able to reminisce. Sadly, Cowley doesn't anything similar to the Pride of Longbridge and there a few opportunities for both local people and former workers to celebrate Cowley built cars and to be able to see them.

    Former employees particularly enjoyed telling me about the bodges that went on, cars falling out of cradles etc. I had some pointing at the Marina and Arthur, my Maestro saying I slept on the back seats of those (in breaks or when the track had stopped).

    Some of the former employees were quite emotional about seeing the cars. I had all different ranges of working there, from half a day up to 48 years. Many of them had worked there for 30 years plus.

    It was also a good opportunity to talk to younger people about Cowley built cars. Most of them knew the MINI factory, but not many knew that Cowley has been building cars for 101 years and the variety of different models that have been built there. The Centre is in an area of social deprivation and I knew that I would have unaccompanied kids to manage. They tended to be in groups of two to four, aged between 5 and 10 years old. They lived locally and were used to being out and about by themselves and were reasonably streetwise. Although they could be a handful they were all interested and wanted to know about the cars. I had a couple of boys about 7 and 8 years old who wanted to sit in the Bullnose. The Bullnose has a pipe rack with a pipe resting in it and the eldest boy picked up the pipe and asked me if it was for weed. It was a genuine question as cannabis is commonly used by a number of families in the area and I know lots of teenagers who opening talk about using it. I just told them it was for tobacco and left it at that!

    I had all the windows on the cars open so that people could smell the interiors. I had a boy of about 10 years asking me why the windows were open. I explained why and with a puzzled expression on his face told me that it wouldn't be possible as the car alarms would go off!

    Next year we're going to have a larger display and I already have some volunteers to help me man it which is great. I'll be able to do Bullnose though to MINI and hopeful to have around 12 to 15 cars.

    Generally people were good with the cars, and it's just a question of engaging with them and when necessary, reminding them to be careful. Pushchairs weren't' too much of a problem, but I did worry a bit about mobility scooters, as some can be a little too quick for my liking!

    Although I was shattered by the end, it was a real privilege to meet so many former workers, hear their stories and to be able to tell young people about Cowley's history.

    Here's some pics of the cars:









  • #2
    Here's Beverley who worked at Cowley for 17 years. She was a CO2 welder, but also fitted trim on Maestro doors, hence she's pointing at the door.


    Here's a very proud Alec with his old Morris Motors clock tag that he carries everywhere with him. The EM is for Electrical Maintenance and the when Cowley became computerised 35 was added in front of the 289 to make his new clock number.


    Here's Well Well Well Walter, as I nicknamed him. He was so surprised to see the cars that he just stood there looking at them and saying 'well, well, well'. He had worked at Cowley for 30 years and two days. He came back a couple of days later to show me his old site pass.



    Here's John, who calls himself Mr Montego as he was responsible for Montego's timing for the three years prior to in coming into production. He stayed with Montego until production ceased and had 13 of them as company cars. He's a compete Montego devotee!


    I didn't get the name of this man as he was deaf mute. However, he pointed to all the cars that he had worked on and was very proud to show me his long service watch. I had a number of former workers showing me their long service watches.



    Here's Juanita who worked at Cowley for 11 years. She was mainly in the trim shop.

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    • #3
      Here's Ralph with his grandson. Ralph was at Cowley for 36 years, and I worked with him for a short time on Rover 800. He was a team leader and a great bloke, everyone liked and respected him, both those above him and those below him.

      He told me a story about a Police Montego that got him into trouble. The Police had ordered a batch of Montegos and they were marked up as Police Montegos on the track. Unbeknown to him, someone from him team had written in marker pen on the painted rear seat area, before the seats were fitted. It was something not very nice about the Police, I think used swear words and was signed, but the man who wrote it signed the name of a co-worker.

      Two or three years later, this Montego was involved in a crash so was stripped for investigation. Of course, the writing was then discovered and the Police were not happy and contacted Cowley. Ralph got pulled into and was asked to explain it. He recognised the writing and was able to say that it hadn't been written by the person who had appeared to sign it. I don't know what the outcome was, but it certainly caused considerable embarrassment to Cowley and a bit of a kerfuffel!

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      • #4
        What a great post! Good work

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        • #5
          Indeed as above, very interesting to read & the stories of the former workers from a lost time sadly.
          I can see how emotional it must have been for some just by reading the above.

          Interesting on the Marina pick-up as back in the early 80's my then next door neighbour had a Ford Granada with CLX 937T as the registration number.

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          • #6
            well done it was nice to see the post and the pictures of past cowley built cars.nice marina pick up/and coupe.also nice to see the morris oxford.its a shame the factory is now a housing estate.it was a pitty they ran out of money to invest in new models to replace the montigo and maestro.

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            • #7
              Excellent story Tanya, thanks for sharing!

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              • #8
                Very enjoyable read, well done indeed.

                Ian
                Ian Drew
                MG Maestro Turbo '400'
                MG ZT V8
                Rover 75 V6 Estate

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                • #9
                  Excellent thread that
                  1958 Ford Consul Convertible. I love this car
                  1965 Ford Zodiac Executive. Fab cruiser being restored
                  1997 Jaguar Xk8 Convertible. Such a fab car
                  2004 MGZT cdti. Great workhorse
                  2004 MGZT V8. I love this car

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                  • #10
                    Very interesting, well done!

                    C

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                    • #11
                      This letter was in today's Oxford Mail

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                      • #12
                        Hi there,

                        Just browsing about and found this thread, so had to join up to say thank you and well done to the people who organised it.

                        I know the shopping centre and the general area and it is certainly a very deprived area.

                        It is easy to forget what a big place Cowley used to be, how many people it employed once upon a time and how it positively affected the local economy.

                        The guy above, "Well, Well Well Walter", would have been working on the 800 line at the time of the pass, which was in Cowley North Works. His pass is for B Block and B Block was North Works.

                        Quite sad somehow seeing this.

                        How did we end up here?
                        Last edited by 620turbo; 25th February 2015, 11:31.

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                        • #13
                          Thank you for your kind words :-)

                          Originally posted by 620turbo View Post
                          Hi there,

                          Just browsing about and found this thread, so had to join up to say thank you and well done to the people who organised it.

                          I know the shopping centre and the general area and it is certainly a very deprived area.

                          It is easy to forget what a big place Cowley used to be, how many people it employed once upon a time and how it positively affected the local economy.

                          The guy above, "Well, Well Well Walter", would have been working on the 800 line at the time of the pass, which was in Cowley North Works. His pass is for B Block and B Block was North Works.

                          Quite sad somehow seeing this.

                          How did we end up here?
                          Thank you for your kind words. I organised this and organise other Cowley cars events, some at the Plant in T Building and outside in what is now the employee car park, and some at various events in the local community. Sadly, other than what I do there is very little opportunity for local people and former employees to celebrate Cowley cars and remember their time at the Works.

                          Yes, Cowley was huge in its heyday employing about 26,000 people and it is very fondly remembered by most locals.

                          It's sad that we've lost North and South Works, more so as BMW have now run out of room at Cowley to built MINIs, which are built at a rate of 1000 per day, and 80% of those are exported. Some MINI production is now at Nedcar in the Netherlands.

                          While what has happened to Cowley is sad, Cowley can fared much better than Longbridge and employs around 4,000 people compared to Longbridge's 450 ish.

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                          • #14
                            That's really interesting Tanya. It must be fascinating talking to these former workers and hearing all the anecdotes!
                            1985 Austin Maestro 1.3 Base (B662 DVX)

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                            • #15
                              Tanya,

                              Of course, you are spot on and we should be thankful that Cowley is still a player in volume production and does still employ a fair few local people. As you say, poor Longbridge has been absolutely decimated.

                              I just found it sad seeing the people, their memorabilia and of course the cars. It reminded me what a much bigger concern Cowley used to be and in turn, the UK in terms of a player in the manufacturing world.

                              These cars were all designed, engineered, productionalised and tested in the UK. Most of the components were of course sourced within the UK. The amount of people employed in the entire process must have been staggering.

                              When you think back and look at the pictures again, it just hit me for a second that we have lost a hell of a lot.

                              Was sad seeing Walter's Rover, MG, Land Rover pass. I would say that was from around 91 or 92.

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