I think we in the Cambridge-Oxford Owners Club are the only classic car club in the UK to have our own play. It was written to be performed at the 2005 Longbridge Centenary event and we revived it and performed it again at the 2009 event, Farina 50, celebrating the 50th-anniversary of the BMC Farina-designed cars. This is a film of that second performance. It was a great fun thing for the club to do although it was a massive logistical operation: we had to write a script, buy a car, acquire and paint all the panels, and make sure everyone knew what to do when by rehearsing in the corner of the field before the actual performance, sort out a PA, etc etc. It was great fun though and gave a different focus to the 2 events we performed it at. This was filmed before everyone had a mobile phone with a 4K camera on it so the quality is not great but it's worth watching just for Bob Metzner's performance as the Foreman. Watch to the end to see his final flourish. Enjoy! John.
If Pininfarina hadn't worked his magic, BMC would have been in financial difficulties by 1959 when Issigonis created the Mini. Prince Philip was the real push that moved Lord to do something radical and perhaps the earlier Suez Canal Crisis that sounded a wake up call to the motor industry of Great Britain.
The Farina design was a vast improvement over Lord's A55. Leonard Lord was a cheap skate who rationalized production to such an extent, he even killed of entire range of engines.
The Somerset and the A40 just couldn't save Austin by the time of Farina's intervention. The Morris Minor and the new Mini along with the MG were faring much better.
