Many, many thanks to Reebs and Pete and all of you yesterday for a brilliant and very full day out!
It was great to say hello to friends old and new, admire the astonishing care lavished into so many of your 'pride and joys' . I realise there were several of you I failed to say hello to, unfortunately, including Trikey.
The presentations by former Rover Royalty were so interesting. They gave a fascinating insight into our cars' development and the passion and commitment they shared for the model's quality and style.
It was a revelation to learn at first hand something of the whys and wherefores of the fracture with BMW - it seems even they don't know the full story of the relationship between the Quandt family owners and their senior management.
We do know that Mini has been a huge success at Cowley - but were left with the huge sadness that if a similar effort had been put into building a full line-up of Rover cars, the sad demise and huge loss of jobs a few years later at Longbridge could have been avoided.
In addition, the museum itself is quite extraordinary - well worth a full day out in its own right - particular highlights for me as they touched on my own childhood memories, were the very first Mini - a white Austin Seven and a Mark 2 Ford Zodiac.
The 1907 Rover, resplendent with huge brass headlamps was a reminder of the extraordinary early history of our marque.
All the best,
Nicholas/Zircon
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