Hi:
Some time ago I recall reading an article that was a Shelby interview. The
writer asked Shelby what he was most proud of in his automotive career and he
answered the TIGER. The writer, after trying to recall what a TIGER was, said:
"Why is that?" Shelby replied: "Because it got the most horse power into the
hands of the most people at the lowest cost possible and that's what it is all
about."
Like Greg my memory is not the best but the quoits are as close as I can recall.
Can any of you remember the article? I would love to read it again if anyone can
give me the reference.
Also -
I knew a ex Rootes engineer a few years back. He worked at Rootes from the mid
50s to the mid 60s. He did not specifically recall the TIGER but had done some
work on the Alpine. He said that most engineering in those days was what he
called cost engineering. Did they really have to weld that tab on the body and
if they did how was the cheapest way to do it? They used the 100,000 rule. "If
you save one pound in cost per car that is 100,000 pounds more profit in the
expected production run." He said: "The Yanks use the same rule but it is based
on a million."
He did tell me of his working on testing for radiator size. They put the biggest
radiator they could into a pre-production model and then ran it in "heat
conditions". (Where they found heat conditions in England I have no idea.) They
simply pinched off rad. rows until the car boiled at idle and then added one or
two rows back in and that was what got produced. "Less rows, less cost, more
profit." True or not I have no idea but it made a good conversation over coffee.
There was also a chap working here who had been with Triumph and one with MG. I
suggested to the Rootes guy that they all get together and have a pint and
discuss the old days while I video tape the gathering. His reply? "I didn't like
those blokes back then and I don't see why I should like them now well enough to
share a pint with them." Old rivalries die hard I guess but it is a shame I
never got it arranged.
Godspeed
Jc
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