This was evidently to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, which I was determined to see. I had been present at Longbridge for the 1972 event to celebrate fifty years of Austin Sevens, though I have little recollection of that - save that the Austin Swallow that I'd been asked to drive there (90 Miles) proved to have a slipping clutch from the start! (A year previously I'd bought my own Swallow - which these days sometimes appears at SA7C events, but at that point it was still at the stage of being a total wreck.
Although plenty of people arrived on the Friday, the main
action was on Saturday and Sunday. There were cars as far as the eye
could see - even more so on Sunday - and Ruairidh spotted half-a-dozen other
members of the SA7C there [Paul and Lenore Rickards, Andy and Lydia
Sherlock, Jetta and Mitchell Sorbie, Ian and Jenny Dunford, Kevin and Marie
Cunningham and Ryan Bond,
Tony Smallbone's magnificent Austin 20 Sports.
apologies if I have missed any out!]. The weather was sunny and hot,
and the spacious layout and gentle undulations of Cofton Park meant that you could see the arrays of the various models even
from a distance. The Park is straight across the road from "The
Austin", as the Longbridge factory complex is known - a sad sight, since its
future was uncertain, and naturally the intended factory visits had been
dropped from the weekend programme.
Not
so the coach trips to the Austin Village: the pre-fabricated cedar-wood
chalet-type bungalows imported from USA in 1917 by Herbert Austin to give
housing to a couple of hundred of his workforce. These are nowadays not
showing their age in the least (199 of the original 200 are still in use),
and are now privately owned by proud householders. On the trip we also
saw the nearby Lickey Church where Lord Austin and his wife are buried, and
a plaque erected in memory of Stanley Edge, the draughtsman who
played a leading role as Herbert's assistant when the design of the Seven
was first committed to paper (1921-22). A memorable trip: our guide
having been at one time in charge of the development functions of the
company, he told us.
There were two arenas in which vehicles were displayed, with commentary, throughout the two days, in accordance with a schedule contained in the beautifully-produced rally souvenir programme: "100 Years of Austin and Longbridge". This 36-page A4 size, full colour booklet was packed with information - not only the rally itself, but also about the history of the Company, its leaders through the years, the selected 100+ cars which formed the cavalcade from Birmingham City Centre to Longbridge/Cofton Park on the Saturday morning, and some of the models of cars produced. I thought the £5 well spent.
There was an extensive array of trade stands and autojumble: almost forty in total. Some of these were specific to the needs of Austin owners, but many were offering wares unrelated to any particular make of car. I succeeded in tracking-down a couple of dealers from whom I've been buying for my Swallow over the years but had previously not met face-to-face: so much more satisfying for each of us to know what the other looks like!
Just some of the 450 Austin Sevens on Display.
Many of the attending took the opportunity to patronise the camping area on the rally ground itself, while others came and went on one or both of the two days. Sunday had the bigger attendance - people and cars. Whereas I had seen only one Swallow radiator shell (only - the rest of the body being very much a "special") on the Saturday. there were several actual machines present on Sunday. And the whole event was not confined to attendance by the converted: the public was welcomed and out in force.
Judged merely by eye, Sevens were the biggest category (over 450 in attendance)- ranged by year of manufacture. Austin Tens also had a major presence - with other machines in lesser numbers. There were 33 Austin & Longbridge related clubs for the cars produced by Longbridge: I treated myself to one of the limited-run (200 struck) gunmetal medallions produced for the Centenary, and bearing the wording "Federation of Austin Clubs, Registers, and Associations", in whose name the whole, memorable event was organised.
Peter Kendrick and Irene Stirton.
Rally
Report from the
Austin
Ex-Apprentices Association.
Austin
Centenary Celebrations, Droitwich Spa and Longbridge
- Austin Ex-Apprentices Report.
Having attended some of the Federation of Austin Clubs meetings in the last couple of years leading up to the Centenary weekend, I knew that it was going to be something special. Most of us had a worry that MG Rover might not survive until the event, and this was unfortunately the case, though the event was deliberately structured so that it could carry on independently of any company involvement. On the positive side we were blessed with one of the finest weekends of the summer, which is always half the battle with any major outdoor event.
Friday evening saw the Austin Centenary Dinner at the Chateau Impney. Naturally, for all the Ex-apprentices who attended, this had distinct echoes of previous Reunions held here, except that it started in daylight on a glorious summer evening, and of course the mixture of people was rather different, with many folk from the various Austin clubs, plus special guests such as Stirling Moss. In common with the best Reunions, we had Tony Ball as one of the after-dinner speakers, with his usual brilliant blend of humour and thoughtful comment. Sir Digby Jones, head of the CBI , and famously born over the Longbridge Post Office (must have been Special Delivery ?) gave an interesting speech about the UK's current status as a manufacturing nation, reminding us that because of Nissan, Toyota and Honda, we were making more cars than ever, and that we made the most important bits of the Airbus and so on. For some reason, I didn't find much consolation in this! I was hoping for more about Sir Digby's Longbridge memories, but much of his time was spent attacking the Phoenix Four, which seemed rather inappropriate to the occasion. On a lighter note, we were all coerced into singing the Austin Unity Song, there was good food and company, and a good time was had by all.
Earlyish next morning, it was good to find that Jon
Nightingale had set up the Ex-apprentices meeting point on Cofton Park,
with his delightful Austin Ten as Exhibit Number One. Not having a classic
Austin, I had to make do with parking my 75 Tourer on the patch - but at
least it was made at Longbridge ! Various other interesting Ex-App
owned cars appeared at various times, including Charlie Bernstein's
competition Mini and Tony Ham's gorgeous and utterly pristine Healey 3000.
Over the weekend, many Ex-apprentices made use of the meeting point to
catch up with old friends and make new ones.
All the clubs were busy setting up their stands, as much-loved Austins and
Longbridge vehicles of all kinds gradually flowed onto the verdant
pastures of Cofton. Before long, the hundred Cavalcade vehicles,
representing key milestones of the 100 years, began to arrive from their
flag-waving journey down the Bristol Road from Birmingham. They were
supposed to then queue up to do a tour of the arena while Jon Pressnell
(of Classic and Sports Car Magazine) talked on the PA about each vehicle,
but many people, including yours truly and several of the drivers, weren't
initially aware of this. So when I saw Tony Ball in the 1959 Mini
wondering where to go, I did my boy scout bit and pointed him up to the
Ex-apps site. Shortly afterwards, realisation dawned, so Tony kindly
trundled the Mini back down to arena to tell his story of the 'Magic' Mini
launch at Longbridge, 46 years ago.
Another cavalcade arrival was FF1, the famous 1910 Austin Endcliffe that used to live at Gaydon, being driven by ex-MGR PR man Kevin Jones and his family - and chauffeured in the back were Aubrey and Jean Edwards. Aubrey, along with the late Ivor Greening, was instrumental in preserving FF1 and other historic Austins during the post-war period.
Cofton Park is a big place, and there were plenty of Longbridge vehicles to overdose on, from fire engines to customised MG ZRs. Immaculate 'Counties' Austins lined up in their dozens, Austin Sevens of every type filled acres, and you could find just about every type of Austin somewhere on the patch.
The A30/A35 Owners Club stand had a superbly-crafted full size replica of the battered A35 van which Wallace & Gromit will be seen using in the new film out in October - an example of Life imitating Art, because the 'original' is a scale model !
Purists needed to turn a blind eye at one point, where two Austin Devon 'hot rods', with big American V8s, were parked. It was amusing to note that one of them had the engine painted in BMC green and bore 'Austin' nameplates on each rocker box. I think I'm right in saying that Austin never actually built a V8 engine.
While trying to take all this in, I was pleased to meet Ex-apprentice Chris Johns and family, with John Sheppard. John, of course, worked with Issigonis on the Mini, while Chris's wife Sue was secretary to 'Issy'. We all decided to go on Doug Adams' coach tour. This included Lickey Church, to visit Lord and Lady Austin's grave, and to see a special Austin display inside the church; we also went to the Austin Village, where one kind resident allowed us to look round her lovely wooden bungalow - these charming dwellings, with all mod. cons., must have seemed quite fantastic to the Longbridge munitions workers of WWI ! On our return to Cofton Park, I was very kindly invited to participate in an excellent picnic lunch prepared by Sue - much better than the hot dog I had planned to buy, and most civilised. In the course of lunch, it was fascinating to hear so many stories about Longbridge and Issigonis from Sue and John. Glancing across to the works from time to time, it was almost possible to forget all the recent bad news, and to imagine that it was simply shut down for the weekend. We wish…
The rest of a glorious afternoon was spent looking into various corners of the show, including a big Autojumble, and catching up with various old friends and colleagues that I bumped into. It really was a fabulous day out - and I gather that Sunday was equally successful.
While the entire event was the result of a major team effort by the Federation of Austin Clubs, and many other folk, including many Ex-apprentices, I can't spare the blushes of Tony and Pat Osborne, because without them, I don't think it would have happened - well done !
Ian Elliott, Austin Apprentice, 1965-70
Ian was not at Cofton Park on the Sunday to see the Bishop of Birmingham (Arch Bishop Elect of York) conduct a religious service or even the Cambridge Oxford Owners Clubs session in the arena titled 'Badge Engineering for Beginners'. All excellent stuff. Almost 2,000 Austin and Longbridge built cars visited the rally over the weekend and we know many Austin Ex-Apprentices visited the rally, some even finding the Ex-Apprentices paddock. A good weekend was had by all who attended.