JowettTalk

Greetings, gentle readers.

SUB TITLE: . . . we don't know how lucky we are" (sing the song that uses those words as you watch this . . . )

Yes, I've deviated from Jowetts . . AGAIN! . . . but this film is a real "eye-opener" regarding the working conditions that prevailed back then.

For me it's a pity that I have no knowledge of the French language, but I do that know some members have, so they're bound to get even more out of this film than the rest of us.

Take a look at this 1934 tour around the Renault Works, where around 30,000 people "slaved", many of whom were required to take enormous risks to life and limb!

http://www.louisrenault.com/index.php/films

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No eye or ear protection in the forges and presses! The wire catchers were incredible. Imagine doing that for 8 hours?

The seat making was particularly interesting and has not changed that much.

Look out for the poor door trim as they were putting the seat in the car!

I was amazed at how much testing was done. The engine run separately, before being installed. The chassis, steering, brakes and suspension tested before putting the body on. The notorious French roads obviously influencing the suspension test programme.

I came away thinking how complete Renault were making everything from raw materials including old rags. No wonder the fragmented British car industry could not compete until BMC arrived. Ford went close to a making everything in the UK but did they in 1930?

As an engineering student I went on a tour of the Ford Dagenham plant in about 1955. It wasn't much different then. The big steam hammers are interesting to me as my mother's father was a Master Blacksmith at that time and I believe that he had a 75 ton steam hammer to work with.

Thanks Leo, I really enjoyed that.

Tony