The industrial revolution did much to bring the masses of people out of poverty. Better off, they can themselves buy more goods expanding the market continuing the cycle. Until the manufacturer has to start cutting prices to keep sales going. Then those factory workers start to look expensive. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Britain was trying to put a good face on car production in the UK in 1982. This Austin stamp was perhaps the most optimistic. The old car on the stamp the Austin 7 had legitimately expanded the car market and the then current Austin Metro was the last British designed model to play in that part of the market. The other stamps in the set are less successful. Ford and Vauxhall are appropriated as domestic. Jaguar and Rolls Royce were low volume luxury niche players.
Todays stamp is issue A317, a 15.5 Penny stamp issued by Great Britain on October 13, 1982. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the manufacture of British automobiles. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 35 cents used.
The Austin motor company was founded in 1905 by Herbert Austin. He was able to acquire a mothballed former print works in Longbridge where both cars on todays stamp were built. The Austin 7 model on the stamp was his big success in the inter war years. It was a very small car that could be manufactured cheaply and sold a cheap price that expanded the car market down to less well off people. The car was a large success and was licensed to sell around the world including the USA. In Germany, the Austin 7 was the first BMW. In Japan it was the first Nissan. Typical of Asia then and now, the Nissan version was an unlicensed copy. The light weight of the car saw sport specials built off of it including the first sporting cars built by Bruce McLaren and Lotus’s Colin Chapman.
Post war many auto manufacturers merged down to only a few as it required ever more economies of scale to make a profit. This is often blamed on union worker demands but throughout the industry there were ever demands for new and better with no willingness to pay for it. There was also the issue that Britain like the USA allowed lower cost foreign manufacturers in to sell their products at prices that could not be competed with. This hit the British manufacturer like Austin with declining volume to go with the rising cost. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/01/14/great-britain-1962-the-pm-pontificates-to-the-queen-about-productivity/ .The quite successful Mini managed to sell over 5 million units but Austin lost money on every one of them. They needed that volume though to keep the dealers in business. There was the further issue of the baby boom generation was rebellious and part of that rebellion was not to support domestic industry with whom they did not feel a connection.
To replace the Mini for the 80s, a new Metro model was designed. It was modern and safer and rode better than it’s foreign competitors thanks to the hydragas suspension. Air springs normally being luxury car fare. To keep cost down, carry over engines from the Mini were reused. The tag line for the car was send the foreign invaders back where they came from. It didn’t quite do that. It did sell over 2 million units and lasted 18 years in production. This means it outlasted Austin itself with later models getting the Rover name. It was the last time Britain attempted to design and build a car completely in country for it’s biggest car market segment. The leader in the segment is now the Ford Fiesta, but it was designed in Germany with third world assembly. Ford being American the profits would go to America if there were any, but there is no need to worry for that.
I mentioned that the Metro and the Austin 7 were built at the same Longbridge plant. Most of the plant closed in 2005 with the end of Rover. The Chinese acquired it from bankruptcy and for a while assembled a few of the old cars from Chinese kits in a corner of the old plant. This ended in 2016 and the area is being redeveloped into residential housing. That fits, Britain has been doing better lately on it’s houses than trying to manufacture anything. Now if it could only figure out how to send the foreign invaders back where they came from. I know, John mind your own business.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Herbert Austin. The Longbridge facility was huge and he was able to acquire it in his first year, this really let him think big by going small. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.