The photo that's made me smile the most is, this

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Excellent event Tony, thanks

Good to meet old and new faces

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Pegleg wrote:

toeknee wrote:

As much as it pains me to admit it, if i were in the position to go for one of those Evoque's i would go for the Grey or Silver colour, there I've said it

Toeknee attacks his car with a Grey aerosol...........

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Dave

just looking at your picture and realised we had 4 Black Fl2's at the meet

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On all the pictures, the black ones are together, like sheep......

even CG had disguised his RRS under a thick layer of mud and car polish but didn't get away with it

Black is history, all these re-tuned nose jobs etc, now is the time for paint, you know it makes sense

if you thought it was dirty yesterday, you should see the the state of it today after the 'pub run' last night  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Thats why it has air suspension, you can counteract the weight of all the Sh te that black tends to attract

toeknee wrote:

Dave

just looking at your picture and realised we had 4 Black Fl2's at the meet

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I think ad123456789101112131415 was parked next to me 4th one in from the left

specsavers.co.uk

Quote:

ad210358 wrote

specsavers.co.uk

Andy you could be right looking at Taz's photo below i missed the one on the far right hand side

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So it now looks like there were five Black Freelanders

taztastic wrote:

Thats why it has air suspension, you can counteract the weight of all the Sh te that black tends to attract

no my Lancastrian friend, its fitted purely because air suspension is better


but I find its important to lower the car from off road height to access height before stepping out. I nearly fell out and broke my head last night, alcohol and air suspension, not a good mix no wonder they outlawed drink driving on the roads when people like me cant even safely get out of a car whilst somewhat tipsy.


one more thing I tried to fill the new motor with fuel today, took a while and then the meter stopped ticking over, filling the tank had emptied morrisons storage tank  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

We did try and make CG as comfortable as possible, but you know what it's like, we said ' off over in the corner of the field but he got a cob on, I hate to see a grown man

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Why has the front door got two handles

Since I've arrived back home, I've 'back tracked' our day at Halewood with the following thoughts;
Halewood is a bit behind the times in some ways. i.e. the large number of fork lifts used for moving parts which is both hazardous and could cause unnecessary damage to parts. There were 'cells' and 'workstations' that appeared to be isolated. I'd have thought more integration needed. Here, I would have expected a fully automated PLC line or something similar. The huge 1962 Vickers press, although obviously still serviceable, makes me think that some of the old Ford still exists there in more ways than one. It's good that they are making their own panels and not outsourcing, but in a World of never ending competition, I'm sure the bean counters will take another look sometime. Would have been interesting to see powertrain/subfame assy line and maybe fascia assy. BIW robotics, although fascinating to watch and final assy line was more or less what I expected.
Looks as if they have got the basics right, but in terms of efficiency I believe there is some way to go otherwise customers will still have to pay a premium for the final product.
I hope that some time in the very near future, Tata will give Halewood the investment it needs much as VW have done at Bentley Pyms Lane Crewe and Nissan Sunderland in order to keep the plant ahead of the competition. We're talking big millions.
Having said all that, I'm dammed sure Evoque will sell like hot cakes and hope that some of the revenue it generates is reinvested within the plant. It's clear to me that the lads at Gaydon have come up with a winner whether you like the car or not.

I hope you don't think I'm been critical in any way, these are my observations as I was in a World that I'm very much used to.
And it's good to see such a large manufacturing plant in the UK doing well, industry is the backbone of our Country.

The driving demo afterwards was excellent, our driver never stopped talking about the cars ability and his enthusiasm was infectious. If he'd have pushed that little bit harder he could have sold me a D4! No bullshit salesman required. So thanks to the Experience Centre for looking after us.

On a more personnel level, thanks to Toeknee for a most intuitive day, I was probably absorbed more than most.

The only thing I would ask is, can we go back again in a couple years to see if there are any changes?

Not to mention Toeknee turning up in his Silver Evoque! Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Pegleg, the guide was very enthusiastic about the product, even though we were in a D4, he was still very enthusiastic about the Freelander 2 and what it could do, only one bit of the experience course he said the Freelander 2 would be unable to negotiate and that was the exit off the very top of the ski jump due to ground clearance. The comments about the Freelanders capabilities on the ski jump regarding the restart, this would be a hefty challenge and only capable in an Auto as the clutch would not take it in the manual.

That's pretty much spot on Pegleg, the driving was excellent, I was in the other car to you, one member had his fingers in his ears, someone thought he was humming.
On reflection I think it was "damn, bought the wrong model" he was mumbling

We need a photogenic location with a river and spend some time getting some cracking pics without the distraction of BCS (black car syndrome),

It will be interesting to see how many vehicles change over the coming months, look at poor pinkies car, bit like early upvc frames that yellow with age

As for the plant, it started with the Ford Anglia, can't make a silk purse etc, things will move to Pune if they can get it right, Halewood will then be

A). Sold
B). Modernised (unlikely as Pune will be cheaper)
C). Production of a TaTa supermini for Europe to overcome the cheap car from India factor.

Interesting times ahead.