Awstin or Ostin

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

You bunch of silly hyggers.

N.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

I wonder how the Texans call their Austin?

Mike

[Peter BellParticipant @peterbell11509]

Michael,

Thanks for the link to austinmemories. I've often wondered what Longbridge was like, thanks to that excellent website I now know from start to finish!

Peter

[SpurryParticipant @spurry]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 01/10/2020 12:39:53:

Posted by Bill Dawes on 01/10/2020 09:13:43:

Well I shall continue […]

.

Pronounced oil if yowm from Brum

MichaelG.

You might even remember "Oil give it Foive", with a good memory.

Pete

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

Janice!

[An OtherParticipant @another21905]

When we lived near Oxford many years ago (large BL factory), we all called them 'Rustins'

On that note, I always thought at the time that the Wover 2000 bonnets were made of aluminium, but I can clearly remember seeing hundreds of them stacked on end in the Pressed Steel Fisher yard, and every one was a beautiful delicate shade of reddish orange. At first we thought it was paint or some sort of treatment, but close up, it was a nice smooth coat of surface rust.

[MeunierParticipant @meunier]

Posted by Mike Poole on 01/10/2020 17:07:19:

I wonder how the Texans call their Austin?

Mike

I would be surprised that Austin's export drive had been so apparently successful as to reach Texas…..
DaveD

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

I worked with a bloke from Nottingham, and he was always going to the caastle for a baath, whereas I went to the carsle for a barth.

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Although the Rover 2000 body was made in Cowley it was shipped out of the plant without skin panels or bolt on parts like bonnet, boot and doors. The Rolls Royce body shell built at Cowley did have aluminium bolt on panels. In the early 70s body shells were sometimes stored outside but were sprayed with protective oil and only for a short period. Panels stored outside in the manner you describe were probably scrap, they certainly were in the condition mentioned. Rust was not kind to any cars until the introduction of zinc coated materials suitable for the fine finish required for skin panels, standard galvanising is not suitable for this task. Cars these days will easily reach 20 years old without significant corrosion damage, cars are probably scrapped these days for emission failures more than rust.

Mike

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Meunier on 01/10/2020 19:25:48:

Posted by Mike Poole on 01/10/2020 17:07:19:

I wonder how the Texans call their Austin?

Mike

I would be surprised that Austin's export drive had been so apparently successful as to reach Texas…..
DaveD

.

**LINK**

https://www.tourtexas.com/texas-maps/interactive-map-austin

MichaelG.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Mike Poole on 01/10/2020 19:36:09:

…

Cars these days will easily reach 20 years old without significant corrosion damage, cars are probably scrapped these days for emission failures more than rust.

Mike

Electronic issues and indecipherable fault codes are common too.

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Although not a native I have lived in Brum for nearly 40 years – now only a few minutes away from Longbridge, and you can split the ages of people who worked there into those who worked 'up the Austin' those younger who worked 'up Longbridge' and the youngest who worked 'up the Rover' (although even that was nearly15 years ago ….)

The Rover Car Co in Solihull was always referred to as 'Rovers' – note the s and more recently as 'Land Rover' before becoming part of JLR.

A friend who held many very senior posts in the motor industry was once a shift supervisor at the Chester Road works of Fisher and Ludlow (which became part of Pressed Steel Fisher, but the works itself is now a Jaguar body plant) Ron claims that in the late 1950s the first prototype Mini was given to him 'in white' ie bare metal and told to get it fettled up ready for dispatch to Longbridge in the morning. After it was completed he sent a note to his boss saying that if this is what motor manufacturing was coming to, he was in the wrong profession!

Anyone interested in the history should try and get hold of the books 'Making Cars at Longbridge' by Bardsley & Corke and 'Making Cars at Cowley' by Bardsley and Laing.

Edited By Nick Clarke 3 on 01/10/2020 19:58:36

[MeunierParticipant @meunier]

Thank you MichaelG, I was aware of Austin.TX through following the exploits of a car restorers/reformers outfit at Johnson City, Austin.TX. My comment was a wordplay and probably unkind dig at Austin/UK's export drive.
DaveD

[TrickyParticipant @tricky]

As a Rover 2000 owner I can confirm that they do have aluminium boot lids and bonnets and, in fact, all the body panels are bolt-on.

Richard

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Meunier on 01/10/2020 20:12:44:

Thank you MichaelG, I was aware of Austin.TX through following the exploits of a car restorers/reformers outfit at Johnson City, Austin.TX. My comment was a wordplay and probably unkind dig at Austin/UK's export drive.
DaveD

.

Sorry for taking your words literally, Dave

MichaelG.

[norman valentineParticipant @normanvalentine78682]

Oil give it foive! Does nobody remember Janice from 'Juke Box Jury'?

[MeunierParticipant @meunier]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 01/10/2020 20:21:41:

Posted by Meunier on 01/10/2020 20:12:44:

Thank you MichaelG, I was aware of Austin.TX through following the exploits of a car restorers/reformers outfit at Johnson City, Austin.TX. My comment was a wordplay and probably unkind dig at Austin/UK's export drive.
DaveD

.

Sorry for taking your words literally, Dave

MichaelG.

No apology needed, Michael
Mine however added for a (first ) intentional smiley.
DaveD

[Tim HammondParticipant @timhammond72264]

Posted by norman valentine on 01/10/2020 20:27:48:

Oil give it foive! Does nobody remember Janice from 'Juke Box Jury'?

I f my memory serves me correctly, Janice Nicholls appeared in ITV's "Thank Your Lucky Stars". Mind you, it was a very long time ago!

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Dave Halford on 01/10/2020 16:59:08:

Posted by Mick B1 on 30/09/2020 22:18:58:

Mummy and Daddy always taught me to say Awstin, but when they sent me to a posh school I found there they all said Ostin. But since their Daddies drove Rovers and Wolselys, and even mine had a Humber, perhaps they were trying to reflect the social stratum they thought the brand belonged to…

It's Ostin, Mater and Pater taught you wrong loike.

The posh can't saw R so it was Wovers

Yes, I knew they were wrong.

I was driving Ostin Montego Estates for years in the 80s and 90s, and I liked 'em too.

[David NobleParticipant @davidnoble71990]

Posted by norman valentine on 01/10/2020 20:27:48:

Oil give it foive! Does nobody remember Janice from 'Juke Box Jury'?

Not to mention the 'Esso Blee Dooler'

David

[GeorgineerParticipant @georgineer]

Surely we should ask Herbert Austin's heirs and successors how he pronounced his name? Certainly my friend John Austin pronounces it Ostin, and he should know. On the other hand, I had two pupils in the same class whose surname was Hindley, and they pronounced it differently.

My uncle, who ran a country garage for many years (and was a Morris agent), had a stock of elderly motor-car jokes and this was one of his:

"If Morris put the Ox in Oxford and the Cow in Cowley, who put the 'oss in Austin?"

George B.

[old martParticipant @oldmart]

The answer has been posted by the people who actually worked at the factory.

[Bill DawesParticipant @billdawes]

I had an Uncle who worked there and he called it 'The Awstin'

Bill D.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Georgineer on 02/10/2020 14:13:43:

Surely we should ask Herbert Austin's heirs and successors how he pronounced his name? Certainly my friend John Austin pronounces it Ostin, and he should know. On the other hand, I had two pupils in the same class whose surname was Hindley, and they pronounced it differently.

My uncle, who ran a country garage for many years (and was a Morris agent), had a stock of elderly motor-car jokes and this was one of his:

"If Morris put the Ox in Oxford and the Cow in Cowley, who put the 'oss in Austin?"

George B.

… but it could equally well be the 'orse in Awstin…

[herbert punterParticipant @herbertpunter99795]

While we are on the subject of pronunciation, how should Tangye be pronounced?

Bert

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