Phil Barnes wrote:
OK, as long as we're on the subject of commission numbers, here's a
question that's been on my mind for a while. (JonMac, you there?)
Yes
The TR6
was produced in two guises; PI and carb. The comm number prefix is
different for the two types. Were the cars produced in batches and the line
switched back and forth or were they produced "nose to tail," as it were? I
could see how trim and such could be applied regardless of mechanical
specification.
It was nose to tail. The supply of fittings and associated equipment was
entirely computer
driven. The various supply lines of components worked very much like the
automated high
speed sorting of letters - except slower and most of them arrived at the right
place at
the right time. The line setting ticket on the cars screen also specified very
clearly
what the car should have appropriate to its destination market. The whole
system was very
clearly thought out and the margin for error was incredibly small. The various
permutations of specification for different markets was mind-boggling and to
expect any
human being to know what item went on which car left the gate wide open to very
expensive
human error.
All that said, I was once confronted by an irate Spitfire owner who actually
hit me to the
floor when he brought in his car to complain. I think the computer must have
"sneezed" at
some point because the car was fitted with knock-on wires at the front, bolt on
steels at
the back and one of each in the boot. That magnitude of cock-up shouldn't have
got through
inspection but to have undertaken the changeover in the "hospital" at the end
of the line
was unworkable. Leave it for the dealer to sort out - but the dealer didn't and
I had a
black eye for over a month to prove it.
Jonmac
Current Book: IN THE SHADOW OF MY FATHER
http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/triumphbook
New Book: THE CROCUS AND A CORNFLOWER http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/crocus
The SLOW progress with 'Canley Girl': http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/
Triumph Charity Run in 2000 (in UK): http://www.toolbox.ndirect.co.uk/stories/
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