bungeejumper wrote:
What a shame that the XJS was such a lemon. There was a flash young guy in our road who had one, about 1977, I think, and he certainly got his money's worth out of his AA membership. (Curse those electrics.)
BJ
Not just the XJS unfortunately. As I mentioned on another thread, 'A Drive Down Memory Lane', I've recently enjoyed reading:
https://www.aronline.co.uk/The sections entitled 'Development History' about each model make sad reading, specifically about Jaguar:
In a review of production since 1 January 1972, he said there were a number of lay-offs in January caused by a two week- strike of engine assemblers at the company’s Radford (Daimler) works. In February there was serious interference for three weeks because of the miners’ strike and power cuts. In March and April there were no lay-offs. In May some time was lost because of a strike by a section of men who also took part in the recent strike. There was a further stoppage in June for about a day, again because of a strike by some assembly workers.
The American Road and Track magazine in a 1972 test of a not so new XJ6, commented on the ill-fitting doors and the walnut dashboard already showing signs of wear.
Despite the raft of improvements the XJ received, Jaguar’s reputation as a quality car manufacturer began to deteriorate rapidly. This can be attributed to low workforce morale, poor quality control within Browns Lane, as well as from outside suppliers. XJ Series 2 bodies suffered from being ill-prepared; the paint and chrome quality was abysmal; and the fit of body panels was bad even by BLMC’s standards. Even the door locks caused grief, and electrical problems, as epitomised by ‘Lucas, Prince of Darkness’ jibes, were at their worst in the Series 2.
The challenge was enormous. Brown’s Lane was a sweatshop of old buildings for low-paid, occasionally hard-working people slowly shedding the benign philosophy of William Lyons, the former owner: ‘If a bucket has a hole, I’ll repair it. I won’t buy a new one.’ Old-fashioned machines and production methods had not been discarded. Improvisation was the gospel. The Jaguar’s metal panels were stitched together rather than pre-assembled on big frames; the electrical parts supplied by Smith’s and Lucas were faulty; the chassis, manufactured in Castle Bromwich, had rusted by the time the bare metal was delivered on open trucks to Brown’s Lane; and customers regularly found their new car’s paintwork on their fingertips.
Sadly, this is only a small selection of the industrial and production problems. Not just Jaguar, the whole British motor industry was coming apart. I remember my father telling me at the time that one of the problems was lack of post-war capital investment in production facilities.
RC