Making Cars at Cowley: From Morris to Rover

by Gillian Bardsley (Author), Gillian Bardsley (Author), Stephen Laing (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $3.42

  In 1913 William Morris, one of the pioneers of the British motor industry, converted a derelict military college on the outskirts of Oxford into a modest workshop to manufacture motor vehicles. So began one of the extraordinary success stories of motoring history. By producing practical and affordable cars which sold all over the world, Morris widened the social scale of car ownership and thus helped to change the face of modern transport. This earned him a series of public honours, leading to his elevation to the peerage as Lord Nuffield in 1938. This book celebrates his remarkable achievement and the cars which made his reputation. It also records the uncertain fortunes of the company during the post-war period as it became subject to wider forces of merger and take-over, becoming part of the British Motor Corporation, then British Leyland and finally the present-day Rover Group. The authors have drawn on the superb collection of photographs preserved in the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust's archives to provide an account of this story. The photographs show the evolution of manufacturing methods which started with hand-building, developed into mass production, and culminated with the introduction of the robots of the early 1980s.

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $3.42

  In 1913 an ambitious young businessman named William Morris converted a derelict military college on the outskirts of Oxford into an assembly hall for motor vihicles. He thus opened the first chapter in one of the most extraordinary success stories of the British motor industry, becoming Lord Nuffield and a multi-millionaire in the process. From Morris Motors and Pressed Steel. via the British Motor Corporation and British Leyland to its role as part of BMW and their successful manufacture of the new Mini, car manufacture at Cowley has been a significant player. Though the old factory chimneys have given way to more modern developments, Oxford today would be a very different place without its influence. Most of the photographic material in this book is taken from the comprehensive archive collections of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust, which is located at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, and where Gillian Bardsley is Archivist and where Stephen Laing is the curator of the vehicle collection.