OK - cars then. I've only owned 2 British ones, both MG Midgets. Rusted like crazy, carbs forever went out of balance and the build quality was appalling....they leaked like sieves. Then had an Italian one - that rusted as well but I actually made £50 over 12 months when I sold it. Then had a Manta, 2 Sciroccos, another 2 Mantas, 2 Preludes and now a Merc. Sorry, British engineering, but when a salesman once asked me (as I filled up my Scirrocco) "Had you considered the MG Maestro" I burst into fits of laughter. That was around the time that British Leyland came out with a square steering wheel for the awful Allegro...
Hifi &Electricals? Bush or Bang & Olufsen? No contest really - my B&O is still going strong about 25 years since I bought it.
Cameras? Canon, Olympus or.......what?
What actually is made in Britain these days rather than assembled from imported components? OK - self destructing cars like TVRs, I suppose......
Aston Martin? Not really. Now Jaguar is going to leave Browns Lane? Why - because its designs have insufficient appeal. Probably well made, but neither the X nor the S has much charisma. Even the XK-R has now been made ugly!
Our greatest designers have often been frustrated by poor marketing and managemnt, as Art Field commented. And as for so-called salesmen with poor product knowledge......
And why are all the current generation of Made-for-Britain DVB radio receivers so $odding ugly?
I've just been looking around my house and garage for anything Made In Britain. Have come up with 3 items:
1. Flymo lawnmower. Some clever engineering features - well done!
2. Real flame gas fire. Made by a company which then went bust......
3. The garage door. Hopefully not made by a helicopter builder from Somerset!
..and frankly that's it.
AL1. Bugger - have just discovered that the garage door was indeed built in the land of scrumpy. So it'll probably stop working in a year or so's time!
Last edited by BEagle; 23rd Sep 2004 at 09:00.