Andres....
You wrote...." Do the names "Canley" and "Hillcrest" have any =
significance in Triumph history?"
Canley is the Coventry suburb where the main Triumph Assembly Plant used =
to be located. A number of Triumphs were assembled there, such as TR7 =
production which moved there after the closure of Speke (in Liverpool).
Once assembly operations ceased it was used by Unipart as an office and =
storage location and BL Cars as the Sales & Marketing HQ. The site also =
housed the Styling Studios for Rover Group, at one stage.
As it was the Sales & Marketing HQ one of the joys was to grab a car off =
the test fleet of competitors models and take the cars for a quick blat =
around Canley. The two roundabouts in quick succession on the road back =
to the City centre were a great test (my favourite car on that test was =
the original Peugeot 205Gti, although the Ford Sierra Cosworth wasn't =
too bad, just less chuckable). The A45 was also the scene of various =
unofficial straight-line tests.
The interior of part of the plant was converted to provide office =
accommodation for us in International Systems, plus Commercial Systems, =
plus Internal Audit. I had the misfortune to be assigned an interior =
office with no windows and natural light - in order to attempt to =
brighten up my cell I covered the walls and ceilings with all the =
Leyland Motorsport posters that I could find, but found it easier on my =
brain to spend my time travelling to our overseas operations to look =
after IT in my role as Manager, International Systems (which is why I =
spent a lot of time in Miami when we set up Austin Rover Cars of North =
America) back in the 80s.
Hope that is of some use/interest and not too irrelevant for this list.
....regards...Andrew "Axeman" Pursey....1955 Morris Oxford (racing in =
Group Na pre'58 Classic Saloons), 1956 Morris Isis (almost a daily =
driver) and 1996 Saab 900S Coupe (quality worse than most LBCs and Saab =
attitude to customers worse than BL ever was back in the 70s - don't buy =
a Saab)....alternate email saabsux@hotmail.com
|