MG Rover goes into administration (BBC)

[bobthedrummer]

The last UK owned volume auto maker is bankrupt. The government is now involved and Tony Blair is insisting that a deal with a Chinese group will bail MG Rover (6,000 employees) out.

I have fond memories of MG's, a Midget and a GT-6. Lots of workers and families are hurting over this failure.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4423181.stm

[PeaceProgProsp]

1. They're UK owned because BMW unloaded them for £10 a couple years ago.

I heard on the radio that BMW bought them in 1994 for, IIRC, a billion dollars, lost 600 million on them in the first year, and then, recently, sold them to a team of executives for £10.

[bobthedrummer]

2. My State of Wisconsin experienced the loss of manufacturing plants

and jobs that once provided for a good quality of life too.

Then we went through the Tommy the man who sold the world Thompson "privatization" era of class warfare and criminal greed.

[seemunkee]

3. Why didn't BMW bring them back to the US like MINI

I love the styling of British cars. I was looking at buying a classic mini when BMW announced they were bringing the new mini into the states.
Back in college my brother and a few friends covered almost the entire British Leyland line. Combined we had Austin Healy 3000, Sprite, GT6, Sptifire, TR3. We were too poor to have a jag.

[bobthedrummer]

5. Sunbeam Tigers too, with that shortblock Ford V-8 289 under the "bonnet".

Yeah, I hung out with the Anglophiles too. We were American mods.
:hi:

[Gold Metal Flake]

16. Sunbeam was Rootes Group, not MG or BL.

Rootes was sold to Chrysler in 1967, which is what killed the Tiger.

[bobthedrummer]

18. We didn't care as long as it was a UK auto, especially a Mini S!

That was the main thing, it was made in the UK. It wasn't a Volkswagen bug.

We modified them too, like a friend's brother that put a Chevrolet 283 in a TR4A but he always blew up the rear end, it had way too much torque.

[Gold Metal Flake]

20. ahhhhh. I get it now.

You guys sound like some folks to know.

Well, back in the day steel was cheap, and so was speed. Still, Tigers were certainly not common around where I commited acts of exibition of speed. You got lucky! I did have an Alpine. Great car, but not swift. Cleveland-powered Torinos were my weapon of choice.


EDIT: Speelllung

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

10. Regarding MG...

They're competing in a staggeringly competitive market over here. There are just so many similar cars that you can buy sans worries about the status of the manufacturer, spare parts in the future, etc. That said, the newer MGs are very cool cars.

[Henny Penny]

4. £200m question over Rover accounts.... and the rest!!

An interesting account in the Guardian describes how a group of 4 business men managed to buy the company for just £10, when its assets were worth considerably more.

The four, whose company is known as Phoenix Venture Holdings said that an apparent £200 million missing from the company accounts could be explained by "accounting technicalities"! Well mystery solved then!

>>snip
The four paid £10 for MG Rover, but the business came with a multi-million pound dowry of cash and assets. BMW gave MG Rover an interest-free loan of £427m, repayable by 2049, and handed over cars made, but not sold, valued at £385m.

The business also came with more than £112m of cash. BMW gave the car company a further £65m in cash when it handed over the Powertrain business in 2001.

Subsequently Phoenix Venture Holdings (PVH), the private company controlled by the Phoenix four, raised more than £200m by selling off Longbridge land and buildings, the parts business and technology to SAIC.

It was MG Rover's failure to forge an alliance with SAIC which triggered the its demise.

>> end quote

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1455667,00.html

:evilfrown:

[bobthedrummer]

6. Welcome to DU, Henny Penny! I see you're an Irish citizen, bless your

heart! I had a grandfather that was born in Dublin.
:hi:

[Henny Penny]

11. Thanx Bob!

You could play for our soccer team!:toast:

[bobthedrummer]

13. It would be a honor. I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Where is your

local team located? My wife plays bass btw, we are known as The Books Banned.

[Henny Penny]

17. sounds cool!

I meant the Ireland national team :-)

We have a bit of a standing joke about the number of players we have that
qualify for the team through their grannies! For example, there is an advert on TV where a team of monks are playing football in an Italian monastery and they are very good. The voice over is done by a well known former player who qualified thru his granny and he asks "I wonder if any of them has an Irish granny!"

Hence my remark. I'm actually in Ireland so my local team my be a bit out of the way! :-)

[wallwriter]

7. Sad to see the demise, but

As far as I'm concerned, MG died in 1981. I just sold my 1971 MGB. It was charming junk. I may have to buy another.

[bobthedrummer]

9. Was it British Racing Green with black and wood interior?

I was going to welcome you in the subject line but then I saw you've been here since 2002-lurker,:hi: so was your MGB the combination I described?

[htuttle]

14. I had a 1963 British Racing Green Midget with a black interior

Back around 1980 or '81. Best car I ever bought for $750.00.

No wood inside that I can recall, IIRC. I think the interior was mostly black anodized/painted metal -- with lots of gauges and a steering wheel as big as a semi truck's. It had knock-off spoked wheels, close ratio gearing and dual Webers.

It was almost as much fun to work on as it was to drive it. Which is a good thing, because I spent almost as much time working on it as I did driving it...

:)

[bobthedrummer]

15. Yeah, I loved driving a Midget that belonged to a friend except it was

red with black.

But the 1970 GT-6, that was a WAY groovy car to drive. An inline six with a great powerband!

[wallwriter]

24. Actually, it was black

Thanks for the welcome.

I have been reading the DU quite a bit since the election season; I have only started posting recently. I am still trying to figure out how this all works...

[democracyindanger]

8. In the UK, going bankrupt is called "administration"?

Geez, they even go broke with more class than us.

[orpupilofnature57]

12. What,, besides Shrub killing the dollar along with all other American

ideal's,why is there so much occidental interest? What ever happened to the " made in china "

[Stinky The Clown]

19. As I recall my British auto history .......

Austin and Austin-Healey were part of British Leyland. So was Morris Garage. They merged MG and Austin Healey and badge engineered the Midget and the Sprite. Fast forward to the 80's(?) when Rover Group took over the whole shebang. There was a spin off known as BL Heritage, which supported those wonderful - and wonderfully anachronistic - cars.

I have a 1959 Bug Eye (Frog Eye to the Brits among(st) us) Sprite. BL Heritage sold many of the restoration parts to Moss Motors here in the US. Not sure if Moss had any tie to BL Heritage other than as a customer.

Will I still be able to get parts for that little joy (my Bug Eye) anymore?





(SCCA) H Production Forever!!!!!

[eggplant]

21. My Spitfire comes out of hibernation tomorrow

I can't wait!

[bobthedrummer]

22. Welcome to DU, eggplant! Keep cruising in it.

:hi:

[eggplant]

23. pics

Hopefully, this link works:

Photowiki