Car Assembly In Ireland, 1967

Arthur Daley · 12-04-2022 10:35pm #1

Interesting find posted to You tube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXjFiGDFoWc&t=10s

Thinkingaboutit · 03-05-2022 4:22pm

My reply showed as two posts, and I edited one, and lost both. Anyhow, my Dad's best pal worked in Lincoln and Nolan, formerly Lwr Baggot St (Austin assemblers if the back of '57 Capuchin Annual is any guide), and the above from Booth Poole, Islandbridge, seems to have a Wolseley 16/60 (uncle had one, and I've had one for 14 yrs albeit an import) or two in shot.

MrCostington · 04-05-2022 2:22pm

I saw that a few weeks ago on my youtube travels. I had no idea so much work was involved, thought it was basically bolting on a few bits. Why did this happen in the first place, I'm not well up on it. Was it to create jobs, or increase tax? Was it killed off when we joined the EEC?

Mr Booth had a very cavalier attitude to quality!

L1011 · 04-05-2022 2:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119014762#Comment_119014762

Create (and later protect) jobs, tax income from high end cars that would never be assembled here was a nice bonus.

One of the oft used arguments against EEC membership was that it would eliminate these jobs - it did, but it took a decade or so before it fully happened. (it was also claimed that our shoe and clothes industries would go - they have but rarely to other EEC area plants!) Some restrictions existed until the start of 1985 and lot of stuff wound up in 84 - Ford, Renault did.

I think some of the Japanese brands continued in extremely low volume for a while longer. I've some idea that MDL kept making Mazdas for a bit longer, and possibly Harris or Smiths doing something small and Japanese. Will check the newspaper archives

MrCostington · 05-05-2022 2:47pm

Thanks for the info. So, if I understand, there must have been a punitive import duty on fully assembled cars, that was got around by doing the final assembly here (like Japanese car plants in the US). But, some high end brands chose not to go that route and pass the duty onto the end user - is that it?

cml387 · 06-05-2022 12:54pm

There was an assumption that with a very high end car (Rolls Royce for example) money was no object for the prospective customer.

rock22 · 19-05-2022 10:27am

Interesting that Booth Poole and Brittains split the BMC makes between them. Any reason for this?

Were VW assembled on the Long Mile Road?

Any idea where Vauxhall cars were assembled?

cml387 · 19-05-2022 11:14am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119084249#Comment_119084249

Discussed previously:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2056361147/cars-made-in-ireland/p3

L1011 · 19-05-2022 11:19am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119084249#Comment_119084249

Contracts predating the formation of BMC I'd imagine. Austin and Morris sides of BMC and later BL were practically independent until extremely late!

w124man · 19-05-2022 6:51pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119084249#Comment_119084249

VW in Ballsbridge

Vauxhall in Santry

rock22 · 24-05-2022 5:43am

Thanks for replies

steinbock123 · 25-05-2022 6:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119086553#Comment_119086553

VW assembly started in Ballsbridge but later moved to Naas Road.

Thinkingaboutit · 27-05-2022 11:01am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119084460#Comment_119084460

One major player was Lincoln & Nolan of 57-58 Lwr Baggot St with some activities like engine over-haulage on East Wall Rd. They long had the Austin franchise (among many others like Heinkel bubble cars) hence continued assembly even when in Farina era (c '59-71) other assemblers were putting together nearly identical cars. Booth Poole (earlier Booth Bros.) of Islandbridge had the Wolseley franchise from an extraordinarily early stage, for instance Edwin Booth was at a Wolseley Motors Ltd. 20th anniversary banquet in the Savoy on 3rd Nov 1922. Even when Morris Motors took over the bankrupt Wolseley (Savoy banquets might been a little part of that) later that decade (1926), the franchisees didn't change. Nearly all of these firms were eventually assembling BMC / BLMC / BL badge engineered products, but nearly to this day different dealer networks with franchises for different car manufacturers sell badge engineered products, like the Ford Galaxy of a few years ago. CKD operations mostly weren't that vast, so consolidation mightn't have worked and it went against the spirit of the CKD trade which Seán Lemass largely created after 1934 when Minister for Industry and Commerce.

ds20prefecture · 27-06-2022 11:52pm

Ashenhurst williams in Ballsbridge used to assemble the Citroen DS from CKD kits in the early sixties. There's a few irish original cars still knocking about and i think the archbishop of Dublin had one at the time. The car was outrageously expensive then.

Heinkel were briefly the republic's only indiginous manufacturer, when the Irish Government bought the rights & plant to the bubble car and produced it in Dundalk. Very few were made here before the plant was sold to the unfortunately named Trojan Cars in Slough, who did a much better job at making it.