I never had the opportunity to work in the Production Development Department located in the end of No 5 M/c Shop next to South Engineering Block.  I was taken on a visit by a fellow apprentice and can remember seeing crankshaft journals being electrolytically plated, plastic gearboxes, chrome plating of plastic badges, something to do with ceramic engine parts, many types of plastic engine and car parts, special alloy welding techniques, friction welding, seat foam manufacture, high speed cold metal forming, high speed metal cutting with special cutting/ cooling fluids and many more that I cannot recall the details of.

According to Stewart Holbeche one version of a high speed metal forming press was called “Petroforge” and was a motorbike cylinder head mounted on top of a cylinder on top of the press, which was charged with a petrol / air mixture and then fired by a spark plug to drive the press down at high speed.

I know many apprentices worked in this area so get your pens to paper and capture what went on in this department so that we can all understand how this area contributed to the Austin; I believe many patents were registered from this department, so it should be of interest.

The works apprentices’ uniform of green overalls was like having a pass to all the rides at the fun fare. Although it did not guarantee that if you were caught in an area that you should not have been in you would not get a swift kick up the backside or a sharp hard tug of the ear.  In some areas it would also stand out like a sore thumb and draw attention to oneself, so one had to learn how a green overall was perceived in each area of the factory and make the necessary decisions on whether to venture into them and the risks if one did. If one decided to venture into an area it was useful to know which apprentices were working in the vicinity, then if challenged you could say you were looking for so and so to give him a message from the Apprentices Department.  The only problem with this was, if you were challenged by an Ex –Apprentice it did not work so well.

The Car Assembly Buildings were like working in a sweet shop, you were surrounded by highly interesting and desirable products which you could not consume. The warnings were very clear, if you were caught borrowing something, you would be dismissed, as some unfortunate Apprentices found to their cost.  The local management also made it clear that they viewed Apprentices as potential trouble and would scrutinise our every action; never-the-less I found it a fascinating move full of new experiences and steep learning curves.  In general, if you showed interest it would be reciprocated by the operators and supervisors especially if there was a problem and you contributed to resolving or easing of it.

Whilst working on line 1 assembly building A35 and A55 vans, preparations for the Austin 1800 were taking place; somehow I got involved with some material movement that an operator did not like.  This resulted in a shop steward making a big thing out of nothing, at which they were experts.  This was my first brush with the Unions and I did not know how to handle it, fortunately the Supervisor stepped in and sorted it out, the material remaining in its new position and the supervisor telling me to take no notice.  I still felt a little unhappy and not as confident as usual; the line was stopping a lot due to the A35 run-out, during one of these stops an operator approached me and asked me what the problem had been, I told him and he asked a few questions, then to my surprise he announced that he was Ken Meredith the Senior Shop Steward in the area and if anything like that happened again he would sort out the trouble makers personally, and that I was not to worry about the idiots and their antics.  From this incident a friendship developed eventually resulting some 6 years later in working as a Senior Foreman for him who, by now, was a Superintendent on Allegro BIW introduction.  I learnt many things from Ken especially the convoluted relationship between the shop floor, the senior stewards and the management, things did not always appear to be as you thought.  During many discussions he had a knack of winding you into a corner and if you did not concentrate on the discussion you ended up contradicting yourself or agreeing with him when you did not intend to, which he found amusing.

Ken’s thoughts on the Management were very varied but he felt that external forces often made the management appear antagonistic towards the Unions, which created the breeding ground for many disputes.  He did not like any mention of communism or the like and told me he had crossed swords many times with other stewards who preached it.  Ken had some fascinating stories about his army time as a Red Cap; he attended the Nuremburg War Trials and had responsibility for guarding Rudolf Hess for some time.

As a young impressionable apprentice I found most of what he said quite sensible, whilst not agreeing with all he said, it certainly gave me a view of the Austin from another standpoint and was certainly a useful part of my apprenticeship.

In terms of learning how a car went together there was no better place than the Car Assembly Buildings, you learnt how a car went together under flow line conditions despite the fact that many problems encountered stemmed from the lack of Design for Manufacture by Product Engineering.

Working with the line rectifiers was fascinating as you saw how they did little shortcuts using special tools to overcome problems which appeared quite serious and lengthy to put right.  The rolling road enabled you to do 40 MPH standing still and whilst doing this you learnt all the strange sounds and vibrations of imminent problems.  The off-line rectification was where major component changes took place such as power unit changes, this was very useful for apprentices as they were always blowing up their engines or putting more powerful ones in so this knowledge was invaluable as it identified all the little tricks to save time and make the job easy.  One trick was to weld a piece of wire to awkwardly positioned bolts so you could position them in their holes and place the nuts on easily.  During my time in CAB1 the General Manager was Albert Green who was well known as the man who built the first Minis on the line in CAB1; he was also awarded an OBE for services to Industry and Exports.  Our paths only crossed twice and for only a short time as he came to see some problems on the Austin 1800 introduction, no more than a few dozen words but 4 years latter he offered me my first a job as a foreman.

The final inspection / rectification lines were considered by most of the factory as the place were someone took a lump of quality off the shelf and placed it on the car and sent it to the customer, unfortunately this was not the reality of the situation as I found out.  Basically there was only time to check that all the identified problems had been rectified, plus a cursory check for basic faults and missing items, I was amazed at what they did find wrong in such a short space of time, I could not keep up with the rate of work & concentration needed to get the job done.  The inspectors pointed out that they had been at it for many years and had learnt all the little things that added up to being capable of doing the job.  I felt that the area was on a hiding to nothing as if they spent too much time on rectification they ran the risk of clogging the factory up, and if they passed everything off the customer could receive poor quality.
I left this area of the factory a little concerned and confused as it was not clear in my mind that the factory was geared up to really produce Total Quality Cars; there seemed to be a distinct bias towards producing volume.  I spent some time talking to the Supervisors in the area and felt they had had the stuffing knocked out of them over quality issues that nobody wanted to know about when they complained.  This was not a unique Austin situation and really reflected the norm for the whole of the UK Motor Industry in the 1960s and 70s, the industry probably woke up and changed too late to survive.

Digressing slightly, this was the area that I started my first job as a foreman, I was told by Albert Green to push the quality problems back to the source and make people take responsibility for them and he would back me up as much as he could; I soon found this was like pushing water up hill.  One night, faced with some very poor quality problems that nobody wanted to know about and nowhere to store the cars so that the management on days could view the problems, out of sheer frustration I decided to put them on the Kremlin lawn which was big time not allowed.  My Senior Foreman put in his log book that he had instructed me not to, but I had ignored him, one of my fellow foremen said I would get the sack.  I left a full report for the Management and went home fully expecting the phone to ring.  The phone never rang and I went to work that night with great fear that my days at the Austin were about to end.  On arrival I was confronted by my Superintendent who sat me down and thanked me for my reports and told me that Factory Instructions had been issued that all sections of the factory must respond to quality problems raised by our area and not ignore them.  No mention was made of the Kremlin lawn and I never used it again.
Things did improve gradually but it was still an upward struggle for many years.  I have noted in my mind that the quality gradually improved over the years as the amount of Kremlin Lawn diminished, eventually disappearing – a very strange relationship between the two.

I found that many of the line operators, especially rectifiers, were fully trained car mechanics but worked at the Austin because they could earn more money than in the local garages.  They were very useful as a source of information on all makes of cars, as like many Apprentices I used to service and repair cars to supplement my meagre apprentices wages.

I would like to thank Stewart Holbeche, a well known Ex. Apprentice who does my proof  reading and corrects my awful grammar and spelling, also adding interesting bits from his past knowledge.

Apprentices were sometimes called upon to move cars in bulk, this was usually when the cars had been built less some item and a large number had to be moved to keep the factory producing.

The first time I was called upon to drive we met in the Apprentices Department and a Production Superintendent gave us our instructions which concluded with a set of threats that basically frightened us to death.  These included No accidents, No speeding, No deviations off route, No eating in cars and No giving lifts to other apprentices.  He finished with the comment that apprentices are expendable, cars are not!  The cars involved were Wolseley and Riley 1.5 models which were on run-out and were not selling at all well.  This was my first taste of a real luxury car fitted with radio and leather seats and we all drove them as if they were made of glass.  We moved them from CAB1 to West Works, it took about 4 days; by about day 4 our confidence had risen and we began to actually enjoy it including pushing the speed and handling above the norm.  Fortunately no one got caught and the cars remained intact.

Another time we moved Wolsley Hornets and Riley Elfs from CAB 1 to the inside of the new Cofton Hackett factory; by now we regarded ourselves as potential International Rally Drivers and completely ignored all the dire threats, thus it was bound to happen and it did, somebody stuffed one into the car in front; no injuries but big dents. To our surprise the accident was taken quite lightly and we all carried on driving but with much more attention and care.  We finished driving and returned to our designated moves, the following day we were summoned to the Apprentices Department and individually asked if we had taken the cars direct to Cofton Hackett and had we not moved any, or had we left any around CAB 1.  Nothing else was said and again the next day we were questioned once more.  By this time we had concluded that a car had gone missing and we were told that one less car had arrived at the destination than had set out from CAB 1.  A black cloud hung over the people involved for about a week and then we were asked to attend the Apprentices Department at which a Superintendent from CAB1 addressed us; he thanked us for our efforts and announced that the missing car was a mistake due to a clerical error.  We all breathed a sigh of relief as we all thought one of us had done a runner with one of the cars.

When the Austin 1800 was introduced the initial few hundred had faulty gear changes and needed other items changed to meet improved specifications.  As parts were not immediately available we had to ferry some to the old RAF Depot at Wythall for storage.  Initially we parked them on the hard-standing but space on this ran out and we were told to park them on the adjacent grassland, we argued about this as it was very wet and soft and we were sure they would sink in to the ground; eventually it was decided to narrow the roadways, so we didn’t have to park them on the grassland.  Later they were moved onto the grassland and about 2 years later some apprentices were involved in recovering the Austin1800s that had sunk up to their axles; they had to be winched out with a tractor!  I remember being told that it was an absolute dream of a skive as they were just left to get on with it on their own, the worst cars were scrapped; others were rebuilt, updated and sold at a discount to employees.

The first car I drove at Longbridge was a grey mini van which was a bit of a let down, although I soon progressed to more interesting models, the real icing on the cake was the Cooper S which apprentices were basically banned from driving, but if you were in the right area you could sometimes get permission, but you were still restricted to the site speed limits so it was not such a big deal unless you wanted to chance it and run the risk of a severe reprimand or even the sack.

The first automatic I drove was a black Austin Westminster it was a cold day so I had to run it on choke; never having driven an auto before I moved the selector to 1, let the handbrake off and floored the go pedal, it leapt forward and shot down the roadway, luckily deserted, panicking I hit the brakes then tried a little less go pedal, it still seemed to go like hell. Eventually I pushed the choke in and used just a little go pedal. This seemed to work quite well and I even progressed into second gear; by now I was nearing my destination and I parked up.  Certain facts were now beginning to raise questions in my mind, like why was the headlining wrapped up on the back seat, why did it have a different speedometer and what was the additional switch panel for?  Eventually, I looked for the build card and immediately noted the UK Police Spec. Demonstrator on the card. Next I lifted the bonnet and noted the engine looked very much like one fitted to an Austin Healey 3000. No wonder it went like a rocket!  That day I learnt to treat all vehicles with cautious respect and never assume a vehicle was docile or safe to drive.

The BMC Advanced Driving Course was held at Abingdon and I think its motto was “Safety Fast” – the same as MG.  Apprentices were sent on the course in a vain attempt to instil some thoughts of safety and self preservation into them.  The course was run by retired police driving instructors which was a bit of a concern as we all gathered for the start of the course.  They informed us that the basis of the course was the police defensive driving system that enabled the police to drive at speed through traffic with the minimum of risk, using anticipation, positioning and observation as the core principles.  They made it very clear that the course was intended to improve our normal driving and not to turn us into police drivers and we were to strictly obey all traffic regulations at all times.  The cars used were Austin 1800 and 3 Litre models; we commenced the course with a 1 hour assessment drive followed by a critical debrief.  The debrief was devastating we were all told we were the worst drivers they had ever come across and it was very doubtful they could improve any of us unless some miracle occurred!  Each person had his worst features aired in public which made us all feel pretty stupid.  The instructor then took us out for a 2 hour drive all the time giving a running commentary on what he was doing, he just seemed to flow through the traffic as if it was not there and at a speed that was quite rapid, he then made the comment that he expected us to be capable of doing the same by the end of the course, much to our surprise he added that he would allow 10 mph on top of the speed limits if conditions allowed, but if he told us to adhere to the speed limits and we did not we would have to pay for everyone’s tea and biscuits at break times.  We took it in turns to drive and had to assess each others performance; if we missed faults we were told to concentrate more so it was pretty intensive all day.  Occasionally, he would drive to demonstrate a particular way of doing something, it was during one of these times that a car pulled out in front of us, with no room for braking, he went down the middle of the road missing cars each side by a hairs breadth.  He then made the comment that it had being 90% luck and 10% good judgement that we had got through, and no one could be immune from accidents no matter how they drove.

Gradually our confidence and skills improved and we began to drive how he wanted, less critical comments and more constructive comments from the instructor improving our driving.  Stopping one morning for coffee at a small café we had only just been served when a large aggressive looking traffic policeman strode in and demanded to know who had been driving one of our cars 2 minutes ago, someone owned up and the policeman asked did he realise he had gone through a 30 MPH zone at 65 MPH and how serious an offence this was.  The culprit went glowing shades of red at which the policeman greeted our instructor as an old friend and asked him if we were any good at driving; he then went to the door and beckoned his three traffic police trainees into the café.  By now it had clicked that we had been had and everyone had a good laugh, our instructor telling us it was a regular wind-up.

We arrived one morning to find new Austin 1800 S types that had just been introduced, basically fitted with an MGB engine this made the Land Crab actually move at an interesting pace.  The morning was plagued with road repair hold-ups and by the time I came to drive we were late for dinner, I was issued with the instruction to make rapid progress which I proceeded to do, but not without many comments about my poor clutch control to which I retorted that I was getting used to the clutch. Things did not improve and although it was a rapid journey it was not very smooth and I felt a bit of a Pratt; after lunch I went out to the car and decided to a have a look under the bonnet, to my surprise I could see that the Dogs Bone (top engine tie bar) had broken in half.  This had been fitted to cope with the additional engine rock caused by the more powerful engine and its fracture had made it very difficult to drive if one was using the full power available.  The instructor phoned the factory and reported the incident and we found out afterwards that tests had proved the tie bar was not strong enough and a modification and recall was issued.  At the end of the course we all had to take a driving test which we all passed with top marks.

Returning to work the week after the course I was turning into Longbridge Lane from the Bristol Road, which was always a nightmare before they installed traffic lights, and I decided to make a quick dash for it, as I crossed the Bristol Road a man on a bike, without looking cycled off the pavement straight in front of me, all anchors on and someone ploughed into the side of me but I did avoid the cyclist.  The person who hit me turned me turned out to be a shop steward from East Works with no tax, insurance or MOT and very poor brakes.  Much to my relief we both agreed to just forget the incident.  It was a most uncomfortable meeting in the Apprentices Department as I presented my results from the driving course knowing full well they knew about my accident.  Never-the-less the course was extremely good and probably saved me from some other horrendous accident.

One lunch time I was accompanying a fellow apprentice in his Bond 200cc three wheel car, we were hurtling down the Rednal Road at about 24 MPH, as we approached the island outside K gate evasive action had to be taken to avoid a day-dreaming pedestrian which resulted in the car falling over.  As many people rushed over to help, the driver shouted “tip me back on to my wheels” to which they obliged accompanied by clapping and cheering from the gathering crowd.  He then restarted the engine and roared off to the apprentices car park where he told me it was always falling over but was cheap to run. The whole incident only lasted about 40 seconds, but it took me about an hour to come out of shock, I vowed to decline any future offer of a lift

This one’s a bit cloudy in my mind, but anyway here goes; a very desirable car to have was the MGB GT which was a real totty puller, they were not cheap so apprentices could only dream of owning one.  That is, until an apprentice bought a right-off and set about rebuilding it.  It had extensive crash damage but gradually he rebuilt it in the Apprentices Garage, re-spraying and finally re-trimming it.  Eventually it was finished and looked splendid; he got in, drove it down the short road to Longbridge Lane, pulled out and someone doing well over the speed limit slammed in to him extensively damaging the MG.  I cannot remember the final outcome but I know we had to hide the block and tackle and any rope lying about as we thought he may have found a gruesome use for it.

I know many apprentices did special driving tasks for the  Publicity / Sales Department involving driving at motoring events, exhibitions, film and television, so please can we have your recollections including the one I heard about the young actress and how comfortable and interesting she found the back seat of a Cooper S in the Cotswolds, and the apprentice( Ian ?) driving at the Earls Court Motor Show who drove down a one way street in London wondering why everyone was flashing him, he managed to avoid any accident and carried on to the end.

This may be a good point to say why I ended up at The Austin as a Technical Apprentice.  Prior to leaving Bromsgrove College at which I was doing an Engineering based “O” level course and other important things like College Rag Week and Dances, I applied for a number of Apprenticeships with local firms and actually got four offers; from Austin, Hymatic, High Duty Alloys and The Royal Radar Establishment Malvern.  Only HDA now Mettis Aerospace continues to offer apprenticeships.  I  decided to go to Austin mainly on the basis that someone had told me that if you served an Austin Apprenticeship you could get a job anywhere in the world as the excellence of it was recognised in engineering circles throughout the world.  Other important reasons were: it was the closest to my parent’s home in Rubery where my mother would protect me from the mind numbing rigours of washing, ironing, bed making and similar frightening situations; my wife regularly tells me I still have a recognition problem with these items of basic life.  Also, in 1964 The Austin was winning all the International Rallies with the Mini Cooper S and I felt immense pride in joining a company that was so successful in beating the rest of the World.  Other reasons were the vast range of engineering processes and practises available at The Austin and the close-by Bromsgrove College, which from experience I already knew was reasonably good at educating near idiots .The whole Longbridge site appeared to me to be a gigantic engineering based theme park that would provide hours of fun and interest; I would even be paid for attending.  Finally I really did fancy myself driving a Cooper S, a dream that was eventually fulfilled.

Does anyone remember the Austin 7 that was put on the Bromsgrove College roof as a rag week stunt in, I think, 1963?  I am fairly sure an Austin Apprentice was involved, his dad owned a Crane Hire company; I seem to remember the College Principal was not too happy.

I remember going down Bromsgrove High Street during a Rag Week in the back of a furniture van along with others armed with garden pumps and water pistols soaking the pedestrians - an absolute hoot.  The Rag Magazine was censored by the college authorities who forbade its publication due to some artistic photos and VERY explicit jokes.  Somehow the number of censored mags printed was reduced to an insignificant level and there was a large print run of the uncensored ones; they sold like hot cakes, everybody wanted one and they sold out within a few days.  The college authorities were not too amused but did acknowledge we had made a lot of money for charity.  I am fairly certain Austin Apprentices were involved in this but cannot remember who.

The Rag Week have a drink in every pub along the main road through Bromsgrove was an event I can remember the start of, but for some obscure reason cannot ever remember the end of the event, for certain, Austin Apprentices took part in this event.

During one gloriously sunny lunch time whilst at Bromsgrove College, a group of us were considering the merits of open top motoring as being rather desirable, one of the Apprentices from abroad said he would love to own a Cabriolet. The group then broke up, he went off to extra English lessons, and we went off to revision /dreaming. Eventually some wise person suggested we cut the roof of his Ford Popular, we all agreed that this was an excellent idea and he would no doubt be very pleased with the result. A quick forage in the College Workshops produced all the tools to remove the roof, which we proceeded to do, cutting it level with the bottom of the glass line all round the car, we then bent over or taped up the sharp edges and disposed of the scrap in the College skip, We all then congratulated ourselves on an excellent redesign and sat waiting for the owner to turn up at afternoon break time. Eventually he appeared and looked just a little bit apprehensive, his main concern was, would it still drive OK, to which we all assured him it would, a test drive thus commenced, fortunately the result was satisfactory, although a little windy. By now half the College students were studying the car and some of the lecturers as well, everyone was quite fascinated by our redesign, and most people said it just confirmed how mad the Austin Apprentices were. He ran it for the rest of the summer and had great fun in it wherever he went.

The Forge at Austin was a spectacular place; it was noisy, dirty, hot, draughty and full of accidents waiting for the unwary apprentice to stumble into.  Most of the forging was by steam hammers which could turn a red hot billet of steel into a crankshaft in about six blows.  Presses produced gear blanks by the thousand.  Most of the forging was not allowed to be done by apprentices as it demanded a degree of skill, strength and self preservation, but you were allowed to watch and talk to the operators and gain knowledge from them, that is, if you could understand their Black Country dialect which, given the conditions, was extremely difficult.  You soon learnt that a system of hand signals and gestures were used for communication, some you soon learnt, such as “you are about to be run over by a staca-truck”, or “fill the billycan with some fresh water and put it on the top of the heating furnace”.  The staca-trucks were more like a large lift truck with the operator standing on a small platform at the back; they only moved two battered pallets at a time but were very quick and nimble as they hurtled round the slippery oily floor sounding their very loud horn when nearly on top of you; you really had to stay alert or risk injury.
It was winter when I moved to the Forge and one scene permanently imprinted on my mind was watching a gang on the crank forging, half of them stripped to the waist and as the hammer slammed into red hot steel the flames would leap out, for a fraction of a second looking as if they would consume the operators; whilst in the background through the open sides of the forge you could see it snowing.  The operators would work at a fast pace for a period and then stop for a rest and a can of tea; this was the time that you could chat to them and they would tell you tales of things that had happened in the Forge, usually pretty lurid in the details; whilst unfortunately some were true, I don’t think all of them were.  I always found the Forge crew to be friendly and interesting to talk to.  One area you were allowed to actually do something was in the blacksmiths section, this small area could forge anything that was required in the factory the only restriction being size.

They made all the tongs for the Forge, suspension parts for prototype vehicles, specialised tools for all parts of the factory and parts to overcome any breakdowns in the factory.  The senior man, who I think was called the Forge Master, was like an artist fashioning steel into any shape required, a truly skilled person.  One day I watched him make a small pair of tongs in about 12 minutes, I memorised the process and asked him if I could make a pair, two days later I presented the finished tongs to him, he looked at them and said very good, but did I realise that they were probably the most expensive tongs ever made; we both had a good laugh about it.  I still use them for the odd job, but not in a forging capacity.  I remember walking through the Forge soon after it closed and seeing all the tooling patterns in the blacksmiths area strewn across the floor, merely potential scrap metal, once an essential element of Austin car production.

Adjacent to the roadway, next to the railway line tucked in a corner just before the doorway into the Forge was a huge hammer base the size of a small room, I was told it was the largest ever made in the UK and had remained in this position because it was too expensive to move; some wag had painted on this enormous casting “Do not move”.  Does anyone know which hammer this formed part of, was it a relic from the WW I?  It disappeared about 12 years ago. When the forge area was redeveloped, it would have made an excellent display item as it could not be vandalised or stolen very easily.

One of the Engineers in the Forge said that as long as Lord Austin could hear the Forge hammers he would lie content in his grave at Lickey Church about 1 mile from the factory, well I wonder how he feels at the moment, as he can definitely hear a lot of hammering, the only problem is, it’s the hydraulic hammers breaking up the foundations of his beloved factory; the words, Turning In His Grave, spring to mind.

I remember when I was on the B Series cranks that a virtual war existed between the two crank machining shifts each shift would attempt to take all the Longbridge forged cranks and hide them around the factory for their use only, this would force the other shift to use the inferior Garrington made forgings which were not good on size and did not machine so well. I also learnt that if you had a nightshift and a dayshift you also had another shift called THE OTHER SHIFT this shift was always responsible for excess scrap, tool breakages, poor quality, low output and any other problem you could think of. The understanding of how useful it was to have THE OTHER SHIFT was invaluable knowledge gained as an Apprentice and was extremely beneficial when I became a Supervisor.

If you think I have made any mistakes, errors or misinterpretations of events, you’re probably right, as I can confirm that my memory soft drive is faulty, but unfortunately no replacements or alternatives are available, besides its better than anything Microsoft can supply.  Both Nigel Smith and I would welcome corrections, comments or additional information, so please send loads of information to Nigel, before total failure of your soft drive.

Part 1

Whilst attending  Bromsgrove College Block Release Courses for one afternoon a week we had to return to Longbridge for administration/admonishment followed by company lectures and films, some of which where fascinating whilst others were absolutely sleep inducing boring.  I often wonder what happened to all those films as they showed a pictorial history of Longbridge over the years.  Anyway, the journey from Bromsgrove back to Longbridge was little better than a road race, the highlight was the M5 motorway island at Lydiatt Ash; in 1965 it had little traffic and no traffic lights and could be taken at some speed, unfortunately it could also catch you out due to the cambers of the road varying around the island.  A number of apprentices had to be towed back to Longbridge with damage and bits missing from their vehicles, I remember one apprentice having a very long discussion with traffic plod about the merits of not driving around the island sideways.  At the time I owned a Ford GT40 in Gulf Racing powder blue (OK it was a Ford Popular) it had a propensity to devour crown wheel and pinions due to over enthusiastic sideways motoring.  One day, halfway round the island it started to sound rough so I limped home to Rubery, three of us then changed the complete rear axle in about 20 minutes and still made it back to Longbridge in time.  The main reason that we all raced back to Longbridge was to ensure you could buy a delicious greasy traditional English Breakfast from the Apprentice’s Clubhouse in Longbridge Lane.

No.5 machine shop underground cloakroom was the unofficial meeting place for apprentices; discussion topics included knowledge of how to skive off from various factory moves and ones that were considered potentially dangerous to attempt skiving from.  Other important topics were the best place to meet /liaise with young ladies, the latest music and good local pubs, sometimes we even discussed college work if only to borrow someone’s homework to copy.  Occasionally, the Apprentices Department in conjunction with works plod would raid the cloakrooms, but due to the layout some apprentices would escape leaving others to face the music, usually some loud words in one’s ear followed by a bad works move; I am sure Bert Hyde will remember these occasions with a smile.
Various other areas existed, especially rooftop sites for sunbathing during the summer months; one I remember was the cooling area for the castings from the foundry; my mother could never understand why I went to work in a factory but seemed to come home with a sun tan.
As of April 2008 the cloakrooms still exist, although they are full of, and buried under, piles of crushed factory buildings.

Starting in the factory was a shock to most apprentices, it was another world, full of strange processes, inexplicable rules, procedures that made little sense and people who you had little hope of understanding.  Self preservation soon kicked in, and listening to older apprentices in combination with a small degree of common sense, one would slowly become involved with the shop floor.  There were basically two ways of doing this, the first was to get stuck in and do as much as possible to please your local supervisor and the operators on the section, and in the long term hope that they would feel amenable to any of your possible future indiscretions and not give you a bad report.  The other way was get involved in a minimum way and plant the thought that you were pretty useless and could not contribute much to the overall situation, hoping that the supervisor would not be too bothered and not give you a really bad report, a somewhat risky strategy.  I tended to use the former way, looking for pressures that the supervisor had and trying see if I could ease the situation in an attempt to gain brownie points. I soon learnt that every move had its golden egg; it just needed to be recognised and worked on.
Working on the machines or on assembly processes was quite a challenge, but I soon found that if you showed willing the majority of operators and supervisors would help and guide you, admittedly, into the mire at times, much to their amusement.
Getting involved at the grass root level gave me an excellent base for future work and eased my apprenticeship into an enjoyable time.  During a move to in-line B series gearboxes, which had a particularly grumpy supervisor, a dispute occurred in an adjacent area, which resulted in the operators being sent home, so the gearbox assembly went home in sympathy.  This created a problem, as on the line at the time were some specially made MGB gearboxes with overdrive which were urgently required for an American order.  Eventually, the supervisor and two others started to run the line to complete the batch, as well as all the other gearboxes in front.  By this time I knew most of the assembly stations and I decided to join in and help, much to the surprise of the supervisors who were struggling with some of the operations.  Eventually, at about 7.00pm we finished.  This resulted in us all being friends for many years and me getting a glowing move report and plenty of time off the section without any questions.

Many of the shop floor operators, whilst doing very mundane jobs had a wealth of knowledge and experience and in some cases qualifications, it was fascinating talking to them, I only wish I had recorded what they said, especially their war time and early motor manufacturing experiences.

A favourite stunt to pull on the unwary apprentice was when you had a move to the foundry you would find an apprentice who had yet to experience the joys of that move, and invite him along to watch the end-of-shift dropping of the bottom out of the cupola furnace.  The dropping resulted in the area surrounding the furnace for about a distance of 40ft being subjected to molten iron, slag and red hot coke cascading across the floor.  You would then strategically position yourself where you could move to one side behind some protection, leaving the poor apprentice having to run for his life as the molten iron chased him across the floor.  I don’t remember too much thought about H & S in those days!
In the adjacent core shop women made cores out of sand and linseed oil which caused a strange aroma in this part of the works. The women where tough and rough but in general quite friendly unless you upset them, when you could easily have ended up with linseed oil and very rough sand rubbed into your vital equipment areas.  When I worked in the foundry the core shop was off limits due to some incident prior to the Christmas shutdown involving the core shop ladies and a contractor working in the area; rumour was he had insulted one of the ladies and had ended up with a severe case of inflammation around his privates.
I seem to remember spending most of my time in the foundry making miniature engine blocks in the aluminium section and helping to make prototype parts for experimental cars, all very interesting.
The foundry operators came mainly from the Black Country and some spoke with a dialect that I could hardly understand; often they would speak using words and phrases that meant nothing to me; although I learnt to basically understand what they said, I never ever fully understood the many Black Country Dialects.
I spent a short time in the foundry laboratory, collecting samples from the cupola, taking them back for analysis and then taking instructions back to the cupola supervisor.  I seem to remember that the instructions were something like “one of salt and three of horse shit” I don’t remember what the slang terms actually were in technical terms, but most areas had their own names for materials, parts and processes which often caused much confusion for the new apprentice.

As I used to have problems with the roadside scenery jumping out and damaging my car, I looked forward to a move to the West Works body shops as experience gained here could help with repairs to my car, although I was warned to be on guard against upsetting in any way Ivor Edwards, the General Manager.
Ivor was a short guy but made up for this by a loud voice and short temper who did not tolerate fools in any way.  He used to take a personal interest in apprentices as he regarded them as basically lazy good-for-nothing intruders into his empire.  Our first meeting indicated that it would be a good idea for me to do as I was told and the only thing I did not need permission for was breathing.  He then presented me to a supervisor who he told to keep his eye on me.  Dennis, the supervisor seemed a reasonable guy, he gave me a job setting some flanges back so that they fitted on the Austin 1100 better.
After a few weeks I became reasonably confident on most operations and had even done some gas welding, scaring myself witless from a few backfires.  I had not escaped the attention of Ivor who quite often appeared as if from nowhere, although the operators would usually flag up his imminent arrival by some choice words. This move was proving to be one that could not be escaped from easily.
Time went by and a pressed bracket arrived on site with a serious fracture.  It coincided with a general shortage of labour so the supervisor went off searching for labour to weld up the bracket.  In the meantime I decided to have a go at welding it, presenting the finished bracket to Dennis on his return, he said very good but it needed welding both sides to be sure it was OK.  I got the job of welding some of the brackets and other areas did the rest; soon Ivor appeared and asked what I was doing and then inspected the brackets, making no comment he left.  About an hour before the end of shift he sent for me and proceeded to give me a lecture on the expected behaviour of apprentices in his empire; he then told me to report to his office in the morning.  On arrival, he said he was going to allow me to move round all his sections and each week he would require me to tell him what I had learned.  On the one hand I felt trapped, but on the other hand felt that at least I was getting a better move than in some other areas.
At one of our meetings I ventured the question of being allowed some time off the job to study in the Technical Information Bureaux, this was standard apprentice’s language for “I really would like to skive off for a time”, surprisingly he said yes!  I did not overdo the skive as I feared he might check up on me.
Near the end of the move I was informed by the Apprentices Department that my next move was not available and I was to stay at my present move.  I was not too unhappy about this as gradually Ivor was checking up on me less, and I was finding the move quite interesting.  Also, I was making friends with many different people, learning many new skills and absorbing valuable information that was to be very useful in the future when being subjected to Body Shop Bullshit.
At the end of the move Ivor sat me down in his office and told me how good his empire was and I should look for a job in it when I finished my apprenticeship as he felt I fitted in well.  He then proceeded to tell me in no uncertain terms what was wrong with every other Department at Longbridge; he certainly was a character.

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