The rise of car imports | British car industry | European Cars | Japanese cars | Drive in | 1977 

This had already passed the point of when the customer was not that concerned about where the car was built, but as long as it worked.

The Volvo is probably still on the road.

The decline and fall of the British Motor Industry between mid 60's and early 80's is one of the saddest tales of incompetence, militant Unions, overpaid rubbish Management and corrupt Politicians.

I really love these old footages. They are extremely educational in many ways, not just the contents but all these comments and discussions contributed by the viewers are equally as interesting and educational.

I think that man would've fainted if he knew Jaguar was going to be made by the makers of the Tata Nano.

For those who are curious like me: the Volvo's last logbook was issued March 1994 and tax due September 1994, the Vauxhall Cavalier's last logbook was issued March 1989 and tax was due December 1990, the Chrysler Alpine's last logbook was issued was November 1983 with tax being due April 1984. Try as I might, I can't make out the Ford Fiesta's number plate _or_ I have and those are fake/dealer plates. Looks like PWO 637R (which doesn't work) and I've tried variations to no avail. Either way, I doubt it would have lasted all that long and the Volvo still easily won for longevity before being scrapped/SORNed and forgotten.

What an excellent interviewee, very clued in but also diplomatic in giving his opinions of BL.

LOL at calling Korea a 3rd world country. We were SOOOO short sighted and arrogant. We deserved to lose our car industry. We just didn't see any of it coming.

You can see how utterly mad British Leyland were of their products. Looking at the 1979 edition of Motor's Road Test Annual, it has a Morris Marina 1.8S (72bhp mid-range model) competing against the Toyota Carina and Honda Accord. Both Japanese cars were less than three years old in design. Marina was launched in '71 and is poorly equipped (not even a radio as standard) with slightly less power yet same cost as the Toyota and £200 cheaper than the Honda although the Accord came with a huge standard list of equipment. Both cars were replaced by entirely new Carina and Accord designs in 1981 while BL came up with the Morris Ital. Bonkers. Good build quality, reliable and well equipped cars allowed the Japanese to sell their products across the world, British Leyland built their cars to a standard of what British people thought was a good car in 1971.

They totally ignored the real problem with British industry which was severe under-investment due to short-termism.

A high quality, reliable, Volvo 244DL or a pile of rubbish shat out by BL that starts to rust on the forecourt? Ummmmm.........

8:30 prophetic statement back in 1977

In Australia alone Britain had already squandered a huge market by this stage...the cars had become a byword for 'flaky'. At the end of the decade all that was being imported from GB were luxury models and a few bus chassis.

I like how the map of Europe still shows Germany's borders before WW II... but strangely, Eastern Prussia is missing. Well, never mind.... it's the spirit that counts 😀

Lack of investment in often excellent engineering and design plus the appalling build quality of British manufactured cars combined with almost continual union action made for a perfect storm and cost the industry dear. Those unions ultimately succeeded in beating their (often poor) management and in so doing destroyed the industry. Well done lads.

You could buy a new Toyota in 1977 without having to wait weeks for delivery due to industrial action, the car always started and never broke down, it had a radio as standard and was cheaper than a British car, You never went back to British Leyland.

I think this is just a perfect example of integration of markets in Europe and the way in which business co-operate. This is good for Britain and indeed all the rest of business. Well it was until we left the EU...

I would love to see the full episodes of these put up, brilliant content and quite spooky some of the predictions and foreshadowing some of these old clip show. We are never going to see these on normal tv, com’on Thames make it so.

The Japanese may have taken advantage of striking British workers, but mostly they took advantage of crappy BL cars. The British consumer, oth, took advantage of Japanese cars that actually worked all the time vs BL cars that didn't.

Nobody is like Tony Bastable

" I thonk Korea will become something of a force in the car market". Did this man have 2nd sight?

1:37 What was that map based on? Germany has pre 1939 borders! (looked at its eastern border with Poland. It still has Pomeria and Silesia!) Also it was still two separate states in 1977 West & East Germany after being partitioned in 1949. It was re unified in 1990.

This video highlights what killed the British car industry. When discussing what to do about it, not one person suggested that it may be a good idea to stop making crap cars.

Did that guy call Korea a third world country? Oh How it’s changed.

The presenting Host had the MOST British face I've ever seen in my long life!!!!!!!!!

For me the volvo set high standards. My dad switched from rovers p6 when they ended and went to volvo.

I wonder how this will play out for the British car industry...

The visualization techniques of facts and figures has certainly improved since then...

That map of Germany was a bit outdated even in 77.

It shows how times change. Even in the 70's, did people really care where their car was made? It simply does not matter.

Very interesting, even more so retrospectively.

The last guy interviewed saw the writing on the wall, but the truth turned out to be much worse. There is essentially no British owned car industry left, almost everything with a British nameplate on it is now foreign owned. You don't hear people dismissing South Korea as a "third world country" these days.

Thnks for this piece of history

A piece of history!

Is that a bird's nest on Geoffrey's bonce?

im a little over 40 and live in America, but something about that opening scene when the Thames logo rises out of the water and the theme music starts to play resonates with me. I don't know if my parents watched when i was young or if that was possible, but it feels like that is a part of my past some how? It is really freaking me out, and now I am obsessed with old British cars, mostly Fords... and Leyland more out of curiosity and I had a spitfire i use to drive around the yard when i was 15.

Jeff owen knew what he was talking about. Even Shaw was muttering in agreement.

I miss programs like these. All interesting information about what's going on in the motor industry at the moment the program was being made. No dicking about with 200+mph supercars here! I love a bit of Shaw and Tony.

Fantastic

A Volvo 244 or a Morris Marina? An Austin Allegro or a Nissan Cherry? Decisions, decisions..

It was not the fact that only 50% of the brits chose a british car that killed its car industry. It was the fact that only 0,5% of the rest of us europeans sought after a brittish made car in the 70’s & early 80’s.

It always strikes me when I watch these old shows how nationalistic the UK was around the car production industry.

Reading the comments about poor British reliability, I suddenly remembered that it wasn't just the manufacturers who were responsible for the state of British car quality. I have been a reader of CAR magazine for close to 50 years. Most memorable were the multi-car comparison tests, memorable because in many cases the quirks or faults of British cars rarely hampered their chances of winning the tests. Unless a British car was seriously deficient, it always managed to win....unless the test involved a BMW. CAR rarely included Japanese built cars in their comparison tests, and 1 reason given was that the Japanese did not appreciate the obvious bias of the staff at the magazine. As much as the average British car buyer disliked the " home-built " autos, those of the Japanese were derided as unsuitable for the average British car buyer. But to be fair, the car manufacturers in Britain fell into the same trap car manufacturers in America were in. That is, they looked at what their " domestic market " competition was building/selling, and made products just good enough to compete with the domestic competition.

The reason why the Vauxhall Cavalier was assembled at Antwerp by General Motors was to save costs, at the time Vauxhall were losing millions of pounds a year, and GM did think about closing Vauxhall's two UK factories and moving production elsewhere. The Vauxhall Chevette and Cavalier became big sellers for Vauxhall making Vauxhall into a profitable business so production of the Cavalier was moved to Luton. The coupe and hatchback versions of the Cavalier continued to be assembled at Antwerp along with the Opel Manta and guess what, Vauxhall supplied all the body pressings!

1:45 Uhh, why do they have Germany in it's pre-1938 borders? Surely that map should only show West Germany

The Volvo is not on the road. But it lasted the longest. It was registered 7 Sept 76, last log book issued 8 March 94, then it was taxed for 6 months, expiring in 31 August 94.

Interesting sidenote: It is Britain and Europe but not Britain and continental Europe. As if the UK does not want be part of europe. And for me it seems that never changed. Look at the computer industry in that days. Many UK companies like Acorn, Amstrad, Oric and Sinclair and with the exception of Amstrad they all ignored the (continental) european market. They could have been big but they did not wanted to.

in 1977, i been 10 years old.... no English cars driving in my town, here in Germany...some SD1´s showed up just before 1980, and went away soon...but plenty of Japanese, French,Italian, Swedish and even DAF´s....that is a car from the Netherlands! btw: i drive a Hyundai and a Japanese motorbike!

Was a global industry even back then, so what are we going back to??

Milton Friedman would be proud of this video.

Remember keep em peeled

Pre-1939 Germany on the map in th 1976 tv programme.OMG!

Foreign cars were bought because fully British ones rusted away and broke down all the time. I had a 4 year old mini in the seventies and apart from the body rust the bonnet came away from cross frame that fastened it down at 70 mph. Dead good build quality where weld totally fail and it could have ending up killing me. Fords were equally as bad too. Everyone rated fiestas but the first generation Renault 5’s were better in all ways, lighter, quieter better mpg and the mark 1 5 TS with it 1.4 engine with twin chokes out performed many “performance” cars of the day and, managed to have space for the spare wheel in the engine bay, thus freeing up boot space.

8:55 To hell with patriotism! If I'm spending £1000s of my hard earned money on a car, I'll buy what I like from whoever is selling what I want, whether it be German, Italian or whatever. People who buy British just because it's British are not only severely restricting their choice of products but very likely to avoid a superior product better suited to their requirements.

Vexed - not a word one hears that much anymore.

That chap on the stairs reminds me of Inspector Gadget.

Was this review the first use of 'bombshell' in the motoring, journalistic industry? JC rung it out.

As a Polish person I am conflicted in one thing:) At home I think it is ridiculous how we took German lands as ours completely wiping out their history and in my imaginary better world those land should remain German and we Poles should be living only on ours ethnic lands cause that would tone down ridiculous levels of nationalism here and maybe teach us some humility and how to be cool little nation like the Czechs or the Danish and yet this is the second British broadcast and I have seen maybe seven of them, that is showing pre war Germany borders. It would be v infuriating for Polish people back then as at first everyone was afraid that war would break out soon because of this very border and no one wanted to move there. It was also Churchill and Britain that accepted the deal and shaped those borders and people in the mainstream British tv think that it is honest and righteous to show the ‘proper’ boarders and it is 1977! And apart from that I think there should be no national states just one big Europe so I don’t really care about this border.

Jeffrey has the most interesting hairstyle I have seen in a long time. Was it built by a mouse family?

As a kid growing up during the 70s ,BL cars were ugly outdated rubbish compared to the fords ,vauxalls vw,s audis of the time.

No wonder with the crap they were building.

8:25 South Korea a third world country.....how times have changed....

Even back then the Uk failed to see that to survive it needed to do like it;s European rivals and see europe as a whole as there home market cause only then could it hope to survive.

The begging of the end for the British motorcar industry ☹️

3:21 a what load of components!!

Shawn taylor asked what can we do. Strike and then pile-em high and sell them cheap (metro) Shame they didnt realize it was game over already.

I had 3/4. Not Fiesta..and of those in my choice 1 Volvo. 2 Chrysler & 3 Cavalier. I did drive a friends Fiesta but not really comparable.

The fact was, and is, they are much better than ours.

Fords US, Chryslers US, Vauxhalls German, Volvos Swedish, none of those cars are British.

4:11 who else was waiting for his wig to blow off in the wind?

You might wanna update that map...

British car industry had it coming. Striking workforce and crap cars for too long

The examples shown there where just the tip of the ice berg. By then all Granadas and Capris where built in Germany and the Vauxhall Chevette was effectively a knock down kit. A few years on and British Leyland would only exist by bolting chrome grills and wood effect door cappings to Hondas. Just compare the direction Britains car industry took to Germany or France and we are still arrogant to consider ourselves “great”

By 2003, the British car industry had decayed so badly that the only way that Rover could introduce a new subcompact was to have Tatra build it in India (as the CityRover). It was so horrible, that Rover wouldn't even let car journalists review it. It didn't have to be this way. In 1960, Britain led the aerospace and automotive industries with cars like the Austin Mini and Jaguar XK. But terrible build quality and a refusal to update old designs eventually doomed everything.

Who the hell is this guy basically answering Geoffrey Owens questions... I mean, why bother asking if he's so knowledgeable....

They use a map of Germany from the interwar period?

The FT guy made a lot of sense. If we have to rely on patriotism... hold up!

They all share one commmon value: they where all made on planet - "Earth"! God, how even back then, they where so patriotic and bigoted?!!

The British press as ever doing down BL as the culprit then asking why BL were foundering....the lack of support in its home market didn't help.

The sad part is that the British destroyed their own car and motorcykel brands. Yeah, thats sad. 😞

Shaw Taylor looks a little bit like Peter Sellers

The headquarters of the society of motor manufacturers and traders.... 😂😂😂😂😂 I suppose they have moved to a shed in the back-garden now.

1:46 Wait a minute... Do they really draw the German Borderlines from 1937??? Well that is...odd, I think :-D

Isnt Chrysler American? Or am i missing something? !

This is what capitalism does, it makes countries rich. Then the countries who were persuading those poor countries to become capitalist, are now bitching that these newly rich countries are taking jobs and industry from them.

And the Opel go to Peugeot.

Is that Austin Powers dad?

It was indeed fatal for British Leyland.

You have to hand it to the Germans and Japanese as far as their car industry is concerned. Hardwork and dedication can achieve everything. When in Britain we had poor cars coated in Strikes and Union power they made damn good cars at the time, and sent Britain packing. Toyota is the only car brand you'll find in the jungles of Tanzania, deserts of Algeria, streets of London.

ahaah Look at the map of Germany, with pre WW2 borders...

If you do not Export to them they will Export to you. If You, both the workers, investors and Government made trips to the East and see what you were competing against you wouldn't be in this mess. All you have is workers want more money for same or less work, investors want quick money and governments wants more exports. Just before anyone comments i import containers FCL from All over Asia to the West, and i suggest go see the factories in the East and the biggest trade fairs on the Planet.

Nowadays the companies send the manufacturing to countries like China or other countries with cheap labour.

Very prescient.

I hate to say it, but the British cars could have been so much better...

Love a mk1 Cavalier

God, the uppity arrogant accents of these people is unbelievable. I bought a Honda Civic Del Sol new in 1993 and still drive. it. Greetings from a Brit residing in the USA.

Lesson 1........if you keep going out on strike, someone else will do your job for you...and will probably continue to do it quite happily.

Chrysler Alpine worst car of the lot.

Hahahah comparing to Korea as a “third world country” doesn’t look so favourable these days 😂😂

back when gerry built meant it was shit for the ww2 vets,the power of propoganda