Confessions from quality control - The Frontera factory

Confessions from quality control - The Frontera factory

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Discussion

rxe

6,700 posts

103 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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The Crack Fox said:
Thanks. The devil is in the detail. I had stuck a crisp inside to make it open the manual. Best pic I ever took smile
Yeah, but was the picture taken on the Longbridge production line, or somewhere on the road trip?

Teocali

235 posts

187 months

Thursday 17th November 2016
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The Crack Fox said:
Well, Mr Hidetheelephants, I was inspired by your suggestion and am just back from a few days in sunny Spain in this;
What are the odds.... I was just reading about that here :

http://www.motorpunk.co.uk/articles/toyota-ch-r-ja...

Great book by the way!

krallicious

4,312 posts

205 months

Friday 18th November 2016
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The Crack Fox said:
The sequel won't be out until the new year because I'm too busy posting cack on the internet to get it finished.
Chop chop. The first one only last a couple of evenings but was very amusing.

krallicious

4,312 posts

205 months

Wednesday 30th November 2016
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The Crack Fox said:
Chapter 20 done. Contains the line "Maclennan then shot MacMhurchaidh in the arse with an arrow". It is about cars, honest.
Looking forward to it smile

ez64

233 posts

162 months

Thursday 1st December 2016
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Well worth the money, quite a few pages had me bursting out in laughter biggrin

CharlesdeGaulle

26,265 posts

180 months

Tuesday 20th December 2016
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The Crack Fox said:
Chapter 40 done...

Not sure how to follow that...
Chapter 41 would be the conventional approach...

Looking forward to it.

hidetheelephants

24,338 posts

193 months

Tuesday 20th December 2016
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The Crack Fox said:
trespassing somewhere in Italy with a knackered out Fiat 500
Unless it's somewhere special like the roof of the the old FIAT factory in Turin or the piazza outside the Pope's gaff, I are disappoint. hehe

krallicious

4,312 posts

205 months

Tuesday 20th December 2016
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The Crack Fox said:
Chapter 40 done. Starts off nicely enough with trespassing somewhere in Italy with a knackered out Fiat 500, then a lap of Targa Florio, then it moves swiftly to some public school type dying from drinking cat's blood, before ending with a night on the floor at Gatwick airport.

Not sure how to follow that...
Excellent. Do you have a release date in mind? Before the end of 2017?

Otispunkmeyer

12,593 posts

155 months

Tuesday 20th December 2016
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Bought your first one on my Kindle, read it in an evening. Very enjoyable! Bit disappointed the images didn't show up though, they just had those missing image icons with an x in.

Abbott

2,390 posts

203 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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Got it for Christmas, really enjoyable read and after 33 years in automotive world it was easy to recognise some of the attitudes and incidents. Any clues as to the identity of the tractor factory? Did you know the guy stood next to Noel Edmonds is now the CEO and Chairman of Rolls Royce?

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

54 months

Tuesday 27th December 2016
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Abbott said:
Got it for Christmas, really enjoyable read and after 33 years in automotive world it was easy to recognise some of the attitudes and incidents. Any clues as to the identity of the tractor factory? Did you know the guy stood next to Noel Edmonds is now the CEO and Chairman of Rolls Royce?
Me too, very enjoyable well done!

750turbo

6,164 posts

224 months

Monday 2nd January 2017
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I have succumbed - First book I have bought in yonks (Bought Richard Porters as well).

Abbott

2,390 posts

203 months

Wednesday 4th January 2017
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The Crack Fox said:
Abbott said:
Got it for Christmas, really enjoyable read and after 33 years in automotive world it was easy to recognise some of the attitudes and incidents. Any clues as to the identity of the tractor factory? Did you know the guy stood next to Noel Edmonds is now the CEO and Chairman of Rolls Royce?
Thank you! I would really rather not identify that particular factory due to the death involved. It's a million to one chance but I would hate for his widow to ever know the actual circumstances of his death.
Ok understood
At the beginning of my working life I experienced a tractor factory being built in Poland. The story of an efficiently laid out machine shop with everything neatly laid out except for the roof not yet fitted was a hoot.

Icehanger

394 posts

222 months

Wednesday 4th January 2017
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Had it for Christmas, really enjoyable read...just too short! books normallt take me a few weeks, I read your in 2 evenings, couldn't put it down.
I've been in the automotive, business in the midlands since I left school at 16(25 years), and those stories are all very familiar hahaha.

I can recall and will mention as good old Rover don't exist, I interviewed a chap who was an ex shop Steward from there, the strike part in the book about the canteen soup was so true, he admitted they went of strike over mince pie filling, safe to say he didn't get the job and my boss and I struggled to hold it together in the interview, he was dead serious over it as well which made it even funnier.
unfortunately some companies that have historic routes back to when they were 100% British still have a few die hard lead swinger characters and I work with a few now

Looking forward to the next one :-)

havoc

30,064 posts

235 months

Monday 9th January 2017
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750turbo said:
I have succumbed - First book I have bought in yonks (Bought Richard Porters as well).
Likewise - waiting for the postie to deliver them now...

eltax91

9,874 posts

206 months

Monday 9th January 2017
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So, which bit of dream metal is going on drive with the proceeds then TCF?

stevethegreek

533 posts

193 months

Monday 9th January 2017
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Got my copy delivered on Saturday and finished it yesterday evening. Great read, very enjoyable and very funny in parts. Nice one!

CharlesdeGaulle

26,265 posts

180 months

Tuesday 10th January 2017
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stevethegreek said:
... very funny in parts...
Ouch!

havoc

30,064 posts

235 months

Tuesday 10th January 2017
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The Crack Fox said:
I see you're a Honda fan. There's a chapter comparing the Rover 600 to the Honda Accord. Same car (just about) but the factories were poles apart despite a lot of engineering collaboration. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

smile
I can believe that - I've worked in the industry a bit, including some time at Solihull as staff and as a supplier...if Longbridge was cut from the same cloth as Solihull, then I'm not at all surprised it collapsed*...



* Phoenix 4 malfeasance notwithstanding.

cj2013

1,366 posts

126 months

Tuesday 10th January 2017
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CharlesdeGaulle said:
stevethegreek said:
... very funny in parts...
Ouch!
I didn't read that as a veiled criticism.

TCF's book is a combination of revealing and funny - a nice balance of curiosity and comedy makes for a great read, and there's very little of his book that misses the target in that way.