Cars vroom vroom, page-19

I have been through the factory 5 weeks ago and I can tell you that I was impressed by the low key
level of production versus the end product being produced.
The Morgan factory is certainly better than anything that Australia owns. We have relied on the Japs, Yanks and
Europeans to own and manage our car and truck manufacturing (the last Aussie owned vehicle manufacturer, Leader Trucks, closed down in Toowoomba in the early 80s following the death of Cyril Anderson, its founder) and we simply supplied labour and taxpayers' grants to keep them going and within 2 years the factories will be closed....end of story.

I worked most of my adult life for multinational auto manufacturers and I have experienced the evolution
in automotive manufacturing from the 50s to about 6 years ago when I retired and during that time I have visited
most of the western car and truck manufacturing plants for professional reasons and later as an enthusiast
and it was as an enthusiast that I visited the Morgan plant this year. The Morgan is a hand built enthusiasts
car and that where its merit lies and how it commands a premium price in this niche market. It's a true 1950's retro car produced by 1950's low volume methods with 1950's craftsmanship.

There is little point in criticising an iconic make like Morgan when we neither have the knowhow nor the guts nor the money to own, design and manufacture an Australian car but instead we nievely call Falcons, Commodores and locally assembled Toyotas as Australian. We dont own these plants.
We don't own the intellectual property. We dont own the Brands. In short we own nothing. We're just workers mate
and in two years time we'll not even be that after pumping billions of taxpayers' dollars into Toyota, Ford & GM's pockets . Just look at what happened to the new Monaro. We subsidised its design to almost a billion dollars, proved the product and than once it was a goer, the General spirited the lot away to Detroit and branded it there as a
GM sports model. Not bad eh?

So dont kid yourself, the Morgan Family own the lot, the real-estate, the factory, the intellectual property,
the brand......it is what it is but at least they own it.

Cheers
Moorookamick