Dominic Sandbrook never establishes his credibility to be presenting this diatribe on the British Auto industry. I don't know the guy's work and all I can say is that he comes across as a bit of a knob and not at all a 'car guy'. He speaks of a time when I was a consumer of the product and I have to agree with his assessment of the poor design and poor quality of the cars being produced in the UK, especially the British Leyland efforts (which are regularly lampooned in such shows as 'Top Gear') What he misses through his rose tinted 20/20 hindsight spectacles is that the German efforts of the time were NOT a hell of a lot better! He fizzes away about the Golf like it was some sort of revelation, it wasn't! Whilst it was fundamentally superior to say, the Vauxhall Chevette in several areas like it's power-plant, it was otherwise a very dull, very ordinary, very UNoriginal car. The labour situation at the time in Britain is well known around the world BUT it is only known from the perspective of the Tory run media! I work with guys who grew up and worked in the era and they tell a very different story about Thatcherism and it's effects to this slightly fuzz filtered version being promulgated here. Regardless, I enjoyed the show as it was a nostalgic trip back to the horrendous days of my Morris Oxford/Ford Cortina/Vauxhall Chevette in New Zealand and many happy days working on their unreliable, rusty, poor performing, gas guzzling carcasses. Cheers.
