Recently I went on a factory tour of the Longbridge assembly plant, it organised essentially for members of x-power forums, http://www.xpower-mg.com/

We met up at a McDonalds's just a couple of minutes away from the Longbridge plant. After a brief chat outside in the car park we went inside for a burger and a coffee.Our tour was due to start a 1.00pm, so at about 12.30pm we set off, from MCDonalds, in convoy to the main gate, of the Longbridge plant. Upon arrival a less than helpful security guard at 'Q' gate greeted us!

'You can't park inside, there's no room mate, you'll have to park outside!
Nobody told me there was a tour today!' (Add you own brummie accent!!)
With a little negotiation he agreed to let us in, sure that we would have to turn around and leave again. We did in fact find enough parking spaces for the dozen or so cars. His attitude was to be the only bad part of the day. Once inside the factory we were to forget all about him. So if anyone from MG Rover should read this, as the first point of contact, the man at the gate needs to be a bit more helpful with visitors.

As we stood in the car park, ticking the names off a list of people who were on the tour, we all heard this throaty rumble in the distance, coming from opposite the Visitor Centre! What could in be, a ZT V8?
It was a dark green (almost black!) It was not a ZT V8, but an SV V8 (minus rear wing) It burbled past us, just a few feet away, before making an exit out of Q Gate & onto the public highway, where we heard it rumble off into the distance...

Then some 10-15 minutes later as we stood in the Visitor Centre it came back, burbling and rumbling as it disappeared into the distance on the Longbridge site. After a brief intro on safety, by our lovely guide Michelle, it was time to hop onto our tourbus (2 of them in fact) which transported us across the Longbridge site to where the bodyshell production is handled.

As we entered the building, we were required to wear a pair of safety glasses. This was the body plant for the R75/ZT. Inside we witnessed a troop of choreographed dancing robots, with sparks flying like fireworks on Guy Fakwes night. It is amazing to see all the parts assembled with some 350 welds holding all the panels together to form the R75 bodyshell. After about 20 minutes we ventured back onto the tour bus to see the final assembly area.

In the final assembly area we saw engine and suspension fitting, glass and interior and trim. One of the amazing things is that the cars arrive in this part of the factory painted and fitted with doors. The doors are removed and disappear to a satellite area, where the door trim is added and then doors are returned back to the assembly area where the doors are married back up to the same car. It all works so well, so I don't think it can be a Microsoft computer programme that controls it!! They were producing 32 cars per hour when we were there, but I think Michelle said they can make up to 45 cars per hour on this particular line.

After seeing the finished cars come off the line it was back to the Visitor Centre for a welcome cup of coffee. We all had a superb factory visit, my thanks to Jerry Flint for organising the trip, and to Michelle, at MG Rover, for a most informative tour.


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