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21 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Intro |
1895 wolseley factory became involved in machine tools for cotton mills n components for bicycles. Following year Herbert obtained agreement from companies director to invest £2000 in production of car after various experiments= 3 wheel wolseley autocar no. 1 After favourable reviews directors of wolseley company agreed to fund 4 wheeler launched in 1899 but cash restraints production was limited so Herbert went looking for injection of cash outside the business With Herbert encouragement 1901 Vickers bought wolseley car business n invest £40,000 to increase production. H made general manager Under H leadership wolseley tool n motor company car grew quickly by 1903 sales reached £171,136 n manufacturing range of vehicles including racing car |
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Austin set up own company |
Asked to resign from Vickers due to disagreement over engine design Set up in longbridge Birmingham joined by large section of workforce. Linked to road n railway station n plenty of open space Used own money but also loan from frank kaiser n later Harvey du cross jr of swift cycle company First car= 25 horsepower endcliffe phaeton costing £650 120 manufactured n sold 1906 Used traditional method of batch production- required little capital investment to begin manufacturing n easy to introduce modifications, ideal for short runs + adjust to meet fluctuations in demand. However productivity could be low n heavily reliant on skilled workers Relied on extended overdraft from midlands bank to maintain cash flow Often short of cash due to time between producing cars n being paid for it not much money to buy materials Partly solved by long term investment when mortgage n debenture loan capital rose to £103,000 but increased company debt p |
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Pre war motor industry |
Hundreds of small manufacturers but concentrated in certain geographical areas = Manchester n Liverpool which became important to ford as a point of importation. Coventry Birmingham n Black Country has largest number of car companies as many already involved in metal trades Only some firms attempted mid price commercial vehicles 1909-13 threefold increase in production- 34,000 cars being made by WW1 Roy Church agues cars just plaything for upper class whereas SB Saul suggests growing middle class which manufacturers failed to exploit n some argue Britain too slow to adopt American style assembly line system |
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Success of Austin in pre war years- production n productivity |
Focused on luxury cars with range of chassis n bodies up to 60 horsepower Production n employment expanded from 270 1907 to 2,300 in 1914 but still smaller than former employer wolseley which had 4000. Range of cars increased. 6th top British car producer output in 1913 being 1,500 but ford was 6,139 Batch system SB Saul critical of Austin performance in technical n business matters calling them uninspiring due to maintaining common practice of not laying chassis until order recieved n deposited payed Roy Church disputes this saying in line with other manufacturers Austin’s workforce were more productive than most n consistent in turning a profit |
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Success of Austin in pre war years- Sales n finance |
£37,000 from his own savings but received loans from frank kaiser n Harvey du cross jr Delay between manufacturing cars n being paid for them caused cash problems but solved by midland bank debenture loan of £103,000 Sales rose from £14,727 to £603,196 in space of 8 years but still only 6th in car production Profits rose reaching high of £50,533 dropping to £30,302 14% to 4% due to lack of investment investment in factory n bottleneck in production |
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Success of prewar years- innovation n reputation |
Austin 20 introduced 1912 £580 most popular was evidence cars bought for prestige Least popular Austin 10 which was half the price of the 20 seen to be underpowered as it was 10 horsepower only 295 sold before war Austin did experiment with cars for larger market but didn’t appear to be market for smaller cars. Introduced closed line style to cars. SB Saul argues didn’t give opening middle class a change but church good idea to limit production as market wasn’t there Jack Johnstone bought sports car 100 horsepower 3 showrooms 1911 Manchester 1912 London n Austin club |
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Impact of WW1- workforce |
252 wooden bungalow Austin village became home to 22,000 workers with fleet of 35 buses to bring everyone to work Skilled labour remained integral part n Austin was keen to maintain quality of workforce Unskilled women made up large proportion of workforce = provided job based training n attempted to simplify method of production- set up Austin technical society 1917 to promote study of engineering among growing workforce + no apprentice premium charge but 3 months wages withheld |
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Impact of WW1 process of production |
By 1919 concept of breaking down activities into number of basic tasks to be repeated= traditional methods more refined than replaced Expansion in production funded by gov- necessitated innovation in methods of production. Batch system replaced by stream lined methods that utilised less skilled workers to create constant flow |
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Impact of WW1 nature n scale of production |
Improving asset but did not boost earnings Expansion of business + production funded by gov which provided the capital investment needed to increase output- by the end of the war 8 mill shells 650 guns 2000 aircrafts 500 armoured cars for Russia but after Russian revolution market was lost until later models sold to British army By 1918 value of yearly production risen to £9 mill from £600,000 in 1914 value of tangible assets = £1.9 mill by 1918 £289,605 before the war While turnover assert base grew profits were modest high of 10.3% of turnover in 1916 but 3.7 in 1918 |
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Struggled after the war |
Gov contracts suddenly cancelled leaving huge plant with no orders Revenue needed for machines alone was £289,624 1919-20 + UK economy went into recession in 1921 so orders dropped sharply forcing Austin Co into bankruptcy but midlands bank offered new capital with an issue of new shares to investors rather than a new loan n Ernest Payton appointed by bank as finance director Direct competition with ford offered similar products for less- Austin 20 sold only 3000 by July 1920= market beginning to cool Road finance act 1921 placed tax on horsepower Workforce decreased from 10,000 in 1919 to 2600 1922 |
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1921 road finance tax |
Cars taxed £1 per horsepower according to RAC formula that favoured small bore long stroke British engines so large bore short stroke engines American imports used were hit Made high powered cars more expensive to own Mid range us cars like model T powerful not luxurious were disadvantaged as now as much to tax as rolls Royce Damaged sales of Austin 20 |
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Austin 7 |
High numbers of large expensive cars being made Stanley edge = craftsman who worked with Austin on design of new car convinced Austin to use different engine - small 4 cylinder 7.2 horsepower. Small car high power to weight ratio with lively road performance. But had to pressure the board into financing production Wasn’t to compete with model t ford but to break growing market for bikes n sidecars. But found market in the middle class as only £25 more than 1000 cc motorcycle sidecar. Prices fell from £225 to £128 by 1928 Reputation of reliable car. Cleared company debts n added to cash flow. By 1928 24,247 produced= 18% of all uk car production. 375,000 built by 1939. Austin Accounted for 25% of car production in uk by 1929 |
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Yes- mass market for cars in 1920-30s |
Those who could afford motorcycles could now afford Austin 7 More could now afford cars compared to prewar era Production rose considerably so prices dropped More practical use instead of leisure Austin 7 wasn’t only cheap car produced Developing 2nd hand market 1925 USA produced 3.2 mill cars but UK only 132,000. 1928 3.8 mill to 169,600 |
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Roads n that |
City councils required to maintain class 1+2 roads but not unclassified Improvements to road networks initially gov funding as it was directed to helping employment but long term it was ministry of transport- trunk roads act 1936 4500 m of road transferred from council responsibility to MoT Mckenna duties protected British industry 33.3% tariffs on luxury goods Horsepower tax favoured British carmakers as model t from £6.6s a year to £23 Roadside filling station in 1919 (shed n petrol pump) built by automobile association in Berkshire 1929 54,000 filling stations most built independently Objections to filling stations= campaign for rural England as ruined traditional nature of rural villages RAC 7500 calls in 1926 rose to 11,000 in 1929
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Reasons motor industry developed toward towards mass market 1920-30s |
Hire purchase- estimated 50-60% new car Sales by end of 1920s were HP but dealers wary to promote HP as less follow up purchases ‘nobody wants to keep down with the Jones’. Rising middle class income allowed HP but shame in status denied this Growth of car market- shame over HP n status anxiety n tax fuel repairs remained expensive. By 1930s 60% of car ownership still for leisure= hard market to buy into n reluctance of car dealers to cater to new market as preferred ‘solidly upper middle class market’ + called for HP schemes not beyond 18 months n 1930s vast majority of traders argued against further price reductions End of 1930s= 1939 private cars 2 million (20% of families had a car) n 50-60% of cars were on HP. more efficient manufacturing methods due to increased sales |
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Social n economic effects of car ownership- seaside towns + touring holidays |
Heading to the coast - originally in age of steam. Mainstay in interwar period as cars provided access to remote areas Joyriding - 1932 nearly 1000 incidents in Blackpool alone Changing architecture- shell campaign 1925 ‘see Britain first’. Posters upper class tourists to promote areas. Bournemouth etc adopted new Art Deco style for beachfront facilities open air pools became a staple Problems for hoteliers- used to clients staying a week not just couple of nights - took time to adjust many farmers began to offer bed n breakfast as passing trade Employment - chance to generate income to generally depressed rural economy= rise in service sector Roadside dining- increasing demand for ‘somewhere to stop’ encouraged no. of large brewers to build pubs providing food n beds- black horse pub in Birmingham Criticism- Yarmouth local press attacked day trippers for spending little money n littering. Motoring public expressed problems in parking in seaside towns due to increased charges levied by local councils |
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Social and economic effects of increased car ownership- growth of leisure |
Day trips- from 1920s growth of trips to beauty spots increased no. of historic houses open Guides n maps- companies like Dunlop published guides n maps to help motorists find their way n places of interest+ active in developing facilities for motorists- caravan club 1907. Motorist s guide printed 1920 |
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Social n economic effects of car ownership - problems of open road |
Motor organisations - royal automobile club 1897. Automobile association 1905. Both offered facilities n platform to agitate on issues like tax n maintenance of roads. Both offered network of call boxes to provide support in case of breakdown- mobile mechanics = RAC n AA Traffic n bad driving- holiday traffic in 1925 to Brighton ‘appalling three hours’ Middle class unease |
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Women- restrict |
Austin bemoaned what he saw as women’s faddish influence on car design Advert ‘all British standard’ cars portrayed the wife as having the task of driving the husbands to the station before spending the rest of the day socialising Women drivers were constantly stereotyped n patronised in the press - extent of prejudice indicates threat women posed to male world of motoring. 1938 columnist in autocar referenced article from the psychologist ‘gender does affect driving ability, Common myth in 1920s women were unable to use reverse gear n had to have cars manually lifted Non driving middle class women found mobility restricted by the car especially if living out of town- often separate from friends and family support network. O Connell agues many women experienced confinement to their home if didn’t drive Car identified as piece of masculine technology thus alienating women Became associated with frivolous side of car- held responsible for developments of comfort Majority of female drivers did not have money to purchase their own car- female owned cars small minority
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Women- restrict |
Austin bemoaned what he saw as women’s faddish influence on car design Advert ‘all British standard’ cars portrayed the wife as having the task of driving the husbands to the station before spending the rest of the day socialising Women drivers were constantly stereotyped n patronised in the press - extent of prejudice indicates threat women posed to male world of motoring. 1938 columnist in autocar referenced article from the psychologist ‘gender does affect driving ability, Common myth in 1920s women were unable to use reverse gear n had to have cars manually lifted Non driving middle class women found mobility restricted by the car especially if living out of town- often separate from friends and family support network. O Connell agues many women experienced confinement to their home if didn’t drive Car identified as piece of masculine technology thus alienating women Became associated with frivolous side of car- held responsible for developments of comfort Majority of female drivers did not have money to purchase their own car- female owned cars small minority
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Women - liberate |
Became prominent in the interwar years Ministry of transport survey 1933 revealed 12% of drivers licenses held by women of 2 million drivers Scottish motor manufacturer arrol Johnston took out adverts in women’s magazines thus women appeared to play important role regarding which car to purchase Wife in middle class families increasingly used car to carry out household duties Gained measure of independence - day trips took women beyond confines of family n home becoming at times utility vehicle for taking children to activities n clubs 10% of driving instructors who took up their posts in 1935 were female |
