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MG TD TF 1500 - Visit to British Motor Heritage

Hi folks

Not quite on topic but I thought some might be interested.

I got invited through the MGCC midget Register to a visit to British Motor Heritage Ltd yesterday - they of MGB and Midget Heritage shells. They were making a run of Midget shells and I hugely enjoyed it.

I made a video of the visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wTDyybaeSs

What I didn't realise was that their primary work was in making panels which were shipped through the recognised retail/trade outlets.

Many thanks to David Storer of the Midget Register and for the hospitality and kindness of the folks at BMH for whom nothing was too much trouble. I particular liked the unhurried way we were allowed to go round and I'd recommend the visit to anybody!

Regards

David
David Wardell

An absolutely fascinating video.

Is it just me, or did anyone else note that the fellows doing the body panel assembly were all "graybeards"? (or like me, bald!).

Well done! Thanks for posting that link!

JB
Jeff Brown

First thing I noticed Jeff. Thanks David. I'd be like a kid in the candy store trying to pack fenders (sorry wings) and such under my coat. Probably a good thing I don't live in the UK as I'd pitch all further repair work in favor of a new shell every time.

LaVerne
LED DOWNEY

david ; what a wonderful evening you have HAVE PROVIDED FOR me! thanks so much. i suspect you have no idea how much we in the U.S. enjoy viewing MG activities from the mother land of MG's. thank you for being so thoughtful. garry irwin
ps: you've shown ous things we've only read about
gei irwin 1

David,

Excellent video, and a real treat to watch! Thank you for your efforts and kindness in posting it.

warmly,
dave
Dave Braun

I'm sure my amateur efforts don't warrant the kind comments above.

The age of the workforce: I commented on it to the MD at BMH. There are 9 guys on the shop floor, all had 28-40 years service at either Longbridge and Cowley. The shop floor manager was a mine of accumulated information and wisdom - for example he knew every variation of Midget wings in the minutest detail without reference to documentation (in fact I asked what they were going to do when he retired).

They did take on three apprentices - only one is still there - it seems that no-one wants to learn that unique combination of mechanical skill and craftsmanship any more but that's what is required at the factory.

The Midget guys I went round with were all commenting on the parts they would like to take home - the joke is that you have to pass through a metal detector when you leave!

They positively welcome visits from clubs etc. I suppose it's what is now termed viral marketing ...

Regards

David
David Wardell

Does anyone know if British Motor Heritage Ltd is affiliated with the trust of the same name, or a totally separate company ?

It sure would be nice if they got into making Austin Healey 3000 body shells. There are a lot of junker cars out there that aren't really worth restoring, but the value of restored cars is ridiculously high.

Larry
L Ayres

Larry

No it's not affiliated at all although it was in BMW-owned Rover days.

It was a separate entity set up by BL to make classic BMC and Triumph parts back in 1975. It went on to make MGB heritage shells in the 1980s and then made the MG RV8 body from this experience.

Apparently it was sort of 'forgotten' when BMW sold Rover to the Phoenix four and was sold separately in 2001 - to the people who were in charge of building the RV8!

So although it was in the same family as the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon in the 1990s it is no longer so.

I don't think they have the facilities for producing AH3000 parts, and I bet hunting down the tooling would be quite a task, although they are acquiring classic Jaguar tooling from Browns Lane in Coventry ...

Their claim is that others make panels from patterns, they make them from the original tooling - and they fit.

BMH website -

HTTP://www.bmh-ltd.com/index.html

Regards

David
David Wardell

This thread was discussed between 21/03/2008 and 26/03/2008

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