And given the state of quality control in those dim and distant days, I bet
non of this stuff was caught until the car got to the dealership? :)
-----Original Message-----
From: John Macartney [mailto:jonmac@ndirect.co.uk]
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2001 3:14 PM
To: Triumph List; MG List; british-cars@autox.team.net
Subject: When computers got involved with car manufacture...
I spent a happy two hours yesterday with two former industry
colleagues discussing 'times past' and the advent of computerised
production control for vehicle manufacture. The 'howlers' that were
resurrected were not directly attributable to the computer (which
usually got the blame at the time) but input data coding errors.
Herewith a brief summary:
- An Austin 1300 saloon with two doors on the right and one on the
left with the tilting seat to give access to the rear fitted alongside
the door where it wasn't needed.
- An Midget with the steering wheel on the left and pedals on the
right
- A Spitfire with wire wheels at the front, disc wheels at the back
and one of each for a spare in the boot
- A Marina with limeflower front seats and autumn leaf rears - and
appropriate carpeting throughout in both colours fitted one on top of
the other (sort of)
- Hillman Imps (plenty of them) with one of each dip left and dip
right headlamp or with permutations of varying bulb power in white and
yellow and all on the same car
- There were a variety of wiring issues. Footbrake switch operating
wipers or washers, hornbutton operating the hazard warnings, and
headlamp flasher operating the horn.
Why don't they make 'em like that today?
Jonmac
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