The late Bob Currie took a bunch of us on a tour of the sites of the old British companies in Birmingham. Part one took a whole day, but there were never parts 2,3, etc as he went and quite inconveniently died.
The Triumph works at Meriden were built on, and there will now be residents living in Bonneville Close and Daytona Drive who have no idea why they're called that. I suppose they should think themselves lucky nobody thought to name a road as Oily Stinking Pschitt Heap.
The old BSA works at Armoury road were levelled and are partly an industrial estate now. Some of the old Norton works were still standing in Aston Brook Street until a few years ago.
Having known men who worked in those places, I can understand the frustration of many about the loss of British motorcycle companies, but it was inevitable given the nature of the country's social, financial politics of the time.
Management arrogant about knowing better than the customers and engineers about what was needed, investors wanting profits for no investment in plant or training, and a workforce determined not to be trodden on by either of the other two groups or caring, now they could afford cheap cars, about the quality of the goods they made.
Sad but inevitable.
It's being so cheerful as keeps me going
