Evening Gentlemen, well a good day, the sun shines, my grass is growing, the flowers die on the ■■■■, the Swifts are feeding, and my loads of compost are being delivered. Now watching the antics of some of these lads in the “Euro spotlighted” 8wheelers, and their sheer size in relation to their payload, for surely they are not designed on the drawing boards, (sorry computers), of distant lands , to navigating across the fields of “Gods Country”, to tip, I was struck by just how good Fallings Parks Big J 8wheeler really were.
And as I sat beneath a spreading Chesnut, (counting the loads coming in), I mused about Guy, and just what a terrific lorry and bus manufacturer they really were! Remembering the Invincible 150LX ex LCP that the family ran, and how I yearned to drive her…(untill I had done several hundred “crashing” miles…and wondered if those wheels were square!! But Ron Thomas`s design was iconic…(from the outside), the top of the cab…a 1958 Chrysler Plymouth, and the bottom, a 57 Ford Thunderbird…but why could not Trevor Dudley have designed a chassis to match, no wonder he went to Girling…and “Skid Check”.
Then came William Lyons, and Jaguar, making fools of Harold Wilsons Governments ideas of "taking the factories to the workers", with the unsustainably long supply chain routes. William wanted everything within reach of Brown
s Lane, 1960 acquired Daimler from BSA for a bargain 3.4million. Recruited Cliff Elliott from Dodge, to design a Daimler lorry range, then Guy were on the market, in Administration, and snapped up for £800,000…what a gem! So Elliott goes to Fallings Park…and by 1964 out comes the rationalised Big J(jaguar) Range!
But not before the blood letting at Board level…you got Guy into this mess…you get it out, (if you stay…on reduced salaries…and no pension…“Tabula Rasa”, its a new start)!!! I love that managerial style…get off your bums and do it, if only it applied today!!!
Then there was the proposed ■■■■■■■■ Guy joint engine venture, which arguably was the driver for the creation of the AEC V8, the Mk3 Invincible, then quickly the rationalised Big J range. And over 5000 of them were built. Then at the age of 64, (so young), Sir William, (as he now was), sought the protection of a larger group for his “baby”. Seeking autonomy, within Group protection, he made a grave miscalculation, and the creation of British Motor Holdings in alliance with the "wheezing , and directionless BMC, was the result). But that gave Jaguar the funding for the XJ6, and attracted “Anoraks” pet hate Lord Stokes to buy the lot!
The rest is a tragedy…no investment, yet the plant made real money…along with Land Rover it was the only part of the Leyland Group that actually made “real” measurable, financial profit…even on the day of its closure in 1982, and it had a forward order book of 18months production!!! Business logic?
But what are your personal memories of Guy, its lorries, (and buses), did you drive them, run them, buy them, break them, sell them, or just like, or loath them■■? Personally I rate them, and the people who worked for them, for they were the ones badly served by Leyland.
Guy, the real gem of Leyland`s “Empire”,…or was it??
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