English vs Japanese car quality in 1968

[Homer]

My favorite car porn site recently featured a used 1968 Datsun 2000. The following comment is from a regular contributor, someone who is well known and respected for his car knowledge in the offline world:

The disc brakes on these cars were made under license from Dunlop. They are identically the same as the brakes fitted to the front of Jaguars, except for lack of the Dunlop name on the caliper. An odd thing, in my experience, I never saw a Japanese made brake fail or leak, while leaks were common and very dangerous on the single master cylinder Jaguars. Why? You had to have the Dunlops bored and brass lined, at great expense, before they were dependable. Once we discovered the Japanese brakes we never bothered with that again for the Jag front brakes.

In the day you could buy the Japanese made caliper with wheel cylinders for $13.50. The same from Jaguar was over $100.00! From about 1970 on, we never installed Dunlop calipers on the front of any customers cars.

Why could the Nissan build the part better? My guess is Jaguar was strapped for cash and using ancient technology. Thus they may have known how to build it better but couldn't justify the cost. I understand why Jaguar charged more for the same part. It's the same reason why a part used by VW, Audi and Porsche has 3 different prices.

[Terry]

This one is also an old chestnut of mine - same parts - different prices.
An example
I once owned (Stupidly) a Triumph TR7, back in the early 1980's

It needed new brake pads / shoes all round.
The front were disc breaks and when I went to my friendly Triumph "Unipart" dealer, I was told that they had no break pads in stock - not an uncommon story. I asked how much for the set anyway and was told GBP21.50.
So - I trudged off to 'Halfords' a well known high street chain of motorist supplies. I asked for a set of Triumph TR7 disc brake pads. "Sorry sir - not in stock", I was told. OK says I - how much?
Assistant says - well it's a common part made by 'Girling' - part No XYZ.... and they use them on a Vauxhall Viva!!!!!!!! and they are GBP 12.99

I then went to another motorists corner shop and got the same item for GBP 9.99

I sold the bloody car soon after...............

[johnnyk]

Don't even mention Lucas, the Prince of Darkness!

[H2ODunc]

Ahh the halcyon days of British motoring. I remember the TR7 well. My friend bought one brand new when the came out. Black and gold. looked lovely but it was a lemon. It was forever in the garage. first with gearbox problems then electrical problems then overheating problems. triumph refused to take the car back so one day he had had his fill. his girlfriend at the time was away in college in Leeds. He used to go down to visit here every other weekend. This weekend he took a can of petrol with him. He pulled into a lay by on the old A1 and checked for traffic. not a car in sight. A generous sprinkling of the fuel and again a check for any traffic. All clear.
he said he had just tossed the match in and been greeted with a lovely whoosh when he heard the screech of tyres. He looked up and a guy in a MK 3 Cortina leapt out and ran round to the boot. He then proceeded to pull out the biggest fire extinguisher my friend has ever seen. He then bravely tackled the fire leaving a very badly charred TR7. My mate just stood there in disbelief. What were the odds of a travelling fire extinguisher salesman passing at that precise moment. The insurance refused to write the car off and simply fixed it but the smell of burnt plastic was always there and in the end he practically gave it away.
He never did buy another British car ever again.

[STEVE G]

Ironically, whilst the British car industry died the death through lack of funds after the Second World War, a British Army officer resurrected Volkswagon:

The British Major Who Saved Volkswagen

http://www.worldcarfans.com/10603067603 ... volkswagen

[kendo]

Terry i would love to know the history behind that pink Austin 1300 next to your place a big surprise seeing one of those in Thailand .

I had one my first car but not pink, British racing Green and it was a GT.

Kendo.

[J.J.B.]

An interesting article on VW, I had no idea of its history from that respect, thanks for sharing. Certainly post-war Britain went in a very different direction from post-war Germany and it's often been said that although Germany lost the war, they ultimately won the peace. The German prowess in engineering was something they followed with their usual obsession after the war, while the British became strangled by Union relations and although designed beautiful and amazing vehicles (The E-Type Jag and Range Rover to name just two), you could never find two examples built the same! To be an Engineer in Germany is something to be proud of, whereas in Britain it conjures up the image of a slightly grubby man in overalls and cloth cap with an oil can in his hand. If you're a fan of the British 'Top Gear' TV show, they present a number of interesting views on this in episode five from series 10 and episode six from series 15.

Whilst studying marketing a few years back, Datsun was presented to us as a case study concerning cultural sensitivity in branding (yes, such a thing exists) that explains why the Vauxhall/Opel 'Nova' (now called the Corsa) never sold well in Spain: the word translates as "no go", which is not ideal for a car. In any case, Datsun was apparently chosen by the Japanese company, Nissan Motors, to launch their brand in Europe and the US in the late 1950s because it was perceived as not associated with the same war time manufacturing image that Nissan had. Some Japanese executives even believed the word 'Datsun' sounded more German than Japanese, although I'm not sure I agree.

In any case, what is very true of the 60s and 70s is that the Japanese were experts at pattern manufacturing and effectively taking the ideas of others and making them much better than the original. Also, their focus on process engineering meant that their production lines were able to churn out the same, high quality components each and every time, which led to favourable marginal costing. This is something that the Chinese have recently tried to emulate although rather than using their skills in engineering and technology, as the Japanese did, they simply threw their massive population at the problem. This, of course, means that Chinese manufacture is very cheap but it also means that there is huge variability in the quality and much of what is produced is useless. As in Germany and Britain making cars in the 60s, people are the variable factor.

With a view to the future, apparently car plants will soon be so highly automated that it will be possible to run an entire factory with just a man and a dog. The dog is there to make sure the man doesn't touch any of the machinery and the man is there to feed the dog.

[midlandmike]

To Steve G

Thank you for that story about the Major.