kwilco

Another fun fact - when parts were delivered by road from Coventry to Linwood, the distance was too far/long for HGVs on tachos, so they all had to stop on the way for compulsory sleep break before continuing on their way. The Linwood plant was a political animal and the work force were not trained sufficiently to work in the motor industry - no v=background at all and the management couldn't train them. The Rootes family really didn't understand what they were getting into with the Linwood plant but it looked like they were getting a good deal off the government. When this finally collapsed and Chrysler took over, it was inevitable that things would get even worse. US car companies could never manage European work forces - GM, and Ford realised early onto give them as much autonomy as possible, Chrysler thought differently and to their cost. The Imp was just one of the symptoms of the demise of the UK motor industry – a potentially good product totally ruined by poor management, lack of vision and no product development. In the 1960s and 1970s the UK motor industry entered a downward spiral from which they couldn’t recover. Contrary to popular myth, this wasn’t a deliberate sabotage by the unions, it was dreadful management and appalling product development that left the UK industry training behind the rest and unable even to identify Japan as a competitor, let alone actually compete.

English language is an important commodity that is sold around the world. Although many claim US English as the dominant form, when it comes to learning English by both children and adults, British English was equally popular. Many international schools in Thailand and around the world use the UK curriculum. One now has to worry about the future of British English as industries around the world see it as less important than US English and other languages like French, German Chinese Korean, Japanese etc etc…. However the UK or England at least, has gone against the grain – rather than learning to do business with people who speak other languages, with Brexit they have withdrawn into themselves. As little England they no longer want to trade with the biggest trading block in the world or benefit from the world trade that brings in but are concentrating instead on home-growing enough turnips to fill the gaps left in supermarket selves by produce from the EU that is no longer available.....

Brexit played on the ignorance and prejudices of many – here are some myths and disinformation they promulgated – everyone is complete fallacy 1. The UK sends 350 million pounds per week to the European Union. This money would go back to the NHS. 2. Migrants are stealing Briton’s jobs and the UK would have control over its borders. 3. UK Sovereignty is at stake. 4. The EU is undemocratic and resembles Nazi Germany. Boris Johnson made the statement that Hitler and Napoleon both failed to unify Europe, and the EU has done the same. 5. Poverty in the North has nothing to do with austerity, it’s the European bureaucrats’ fault. 6. EU forbids the UK from forming trade deals with other countries. Leaving the EU would allow the UK to form trade deals with the rest of the world. 7. The European Army creation - nonsense 8. Lisbon Treaty Conspiracy Theory. This involved many lies in one document that spread around on different social media channels. Many of the tweets started with, ‘I have been reading the Lisbon Treaty’. This misinformation campaign began in March 2019 when it looked like the UK may not leave the EU. 9. Brexit has no plans to leave the single market 10. We have several trade deals ready and waiting to go. It is of course very difficult for Brexiteers to admit they were both wrong and duped -

the difference between being old and young..... When you are young, you fall over, when you are old - you "have a fall".

actually that just shows how deluded people get as they grow old.

Complete and utter nonsense.....

no there isn't - try to explain the difference in medical terms.....you think you know what that means but I'll wager you don't in rea;ity.

The IMP engine was fantastic - it was originally used in Fire pumps! All alloy, developed by Walter Hassan of Jag V12 fame and also used by Lotus in one form or another. TH dam thing was OHC!!! - Compare that to the engines put in the Minis.....mind you Issigonis didn't want them!...not even in the Morris Minor

Another “Brexit benefit” - Airports boss Charlie Cornish said in November that Brexit has harmed UK aviation sector and its ability to recruit workers and has “massively exacerbated” (his words) worker shortages. The shortage of frontline staff caused queues and chaos in UK airports in the short meant that they were unable to deal with the sudden increase of passengers after Covid. This sudden shortage of labour has meant that although immigration from EU is down it is up from elsewhere – e,g, importing Doctors from Nigeria instead. All leading economists will tell you that the damage is real. The rate of growth i.e recession is unique to the UK. The single issue Brexit government has no idea how to get growth to return. Whilst other factors such as Covid had structurally altered the labour forces in all EU countries, the problems in UK are exacerbated by fewer Europeans coming back into the UK. “This damages the UK’s ability to recruit workforce. Pre-Brexit, this problem was didn’t exist. Economic recovery in the EU, is much further ahead than that of the UK. You can’t argue that this suddenly appeared from nowhere and has nothing to do with Brexit going to be able to say that’s not due to Brexit.

Brexit changes caused 22.9% slump in UK-EU exports into the first quarter of 2022 – research, and the variety of UK products exported to EU were down by 42% has shown that UK exports to the EU fell by an average of 22.9% in the first 15 months after the introduction of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, In fact, the negative effect on UK exports has got worse from January 2021-March 2022 from the previous period with Covid. The UK has also experienced a significant reduction in the variety of goods being exported to the EU, with an estimated loss of 42% of product varieties. This, combined means that concentrating export values to fewer products, will have further, serious ramifications for the UK’s exports and productivity in the future. Businesses are calling for a return to the single market and freedom of movement to address the labour shortage.

Not really – the handing was good from the start – the mods were an improvement on something that was already good. Remember the Imp had coil springs and rear trailing arms – something almost unheard of in those days. The front was designed to counteract the effects of a rea engine car – it was copied from the Chevy Corvair (they learned from Chevy's mistakes) and a radical improvement on the old VW.

The Imps did handle well - the running gear was specified by Mike Parkes who apart from being an F1 driver was also an engineer for Ferrari. He is the reason the car had a Coventry Climax alloy engine and not the 3 cylinder one originally envisaged. The mechanicals of this vehicle were streets ahead of the mini ... it's a pity the production was so bdad

Never had a problem driving all manner of cars for 58 years and in several countries... never REALISEd you had a problem. lots of people did that because they did it in VWs - wasn't needed

not needed! It was your driving.

Sounds like you had the clutches set up badly. The Imp used a diaphragm spring cutch and the Laycock original was actually the best but save cylinder problems etc may have spoiled it for you. Imp range could handle really well if the suspension was maintained. The VW habit of putting weight in the front was unnecessary and could actually impair the handling.

The government's own fiscal body, the OBR has stated that Brexit has reduced UK's GDP by 4%....which is on top of the problems facing the rest of Europe. on top of this the UK's ability to recovered is hampered by the damage Brexit has done to trade that no amount of deals around the world can replace. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) economic and fiscal outlook, published alongside the government’s autumn statement, forecast that Brexit “will result in the U.K.’s trade intensity being 15 per cent lower in the long run than if the U.K. had remained in the EU.” [OBR].

the Imp was. classic example of how the British motor industry collapsed. A really interesting design that was compromised engineering and then ruined by build quality. The car had a long run, but like most UK cars too long a run and very little development. The release was a cock up and the moving of production was a total shambles that resulted in the car being released before it was ready. The move to Scotland was political but the fact that it happened was down to Rootes management which like all auto industry management in the UK at the time was dominated by a blinkered class system attitude that lead to confrontation rather than cooperation and pride in product.

Says in the opening line where its from. All of the polls now show that a clear majority of people in the UK think Brexit was a mistake – mostly around 54% think it was a mistake and 32% think it was a good idea and the ret just don’t know (or can’t bring themselves to admit it)

If you look at this thread and the one on UK struggling, it is easy to understand why Will Self and others have pointed out that whilst not all Brexiteers are racists, all racists are Brexiteers

All of the polls now show that a clear majority of people in the UK think Brexit was a mistake – mostly around 54% think it was a mistake and 32% think it was a good idea and the ret just don’t know (or can’t bring themselves to admit it)

Brexiteer arguments re always so spurious and ill-informed - especially their claims re democracy - it simply is irrelevant - You can't accept Brexit anymore than you can vote the world is flat

Makes me think that somewhere there is an enormous police station with bungalows, swimming pools and a golf course with thousands of police all on "inactive duties"

Market forces don't exist in Thailand - schemes like this may be devised in murky rooms behind closed doors - contracts involve big money to contractors and graft and corruption flourish. Mega schemes around the world are particularly open to graft and corruption. They happen, not because there is a need but because it is a signal project and feeds the greed of contractors. This could happen and the island inhabitants will have little or no say in it.

so is this totally different from the episode in 2010 or the similar episode in 2017? etc etc.?

Cars aren't magic - an there's no such thing as Murphy's law - that's what it's about... if you or someone who knows what they are doing looks at a car, you can tell with remarkable certainty whats going to happen. There are even manufacturers manuals or parts life etc. If you buy off a dealer they may offer some form of warranty, if it's off a private vendor, you have no comeback from them; so it's a good idea to get a mechanic or better still an engineer to look at the vehicle. Cars are the same all over the world, so are the sellers - some a e straight, some are dishonest. As an amateur buyer you need to protect yourself with a knowledge of cars and an ability to make some assessments of the person you are buying from. Many foreign buyers in Thailand have their chances spoiled by their own prejudices.... well no sympathy there - they just miss out on a good deal.