If you wander round Rover’s Longbridge plant now you’ll see the lines stopped. Lights are switched off, but the conveyors still move. There’s beeps from computers waiting for input and shiny cars looking as if they’re waiting to go to the showroom.
The truth is that Rover stopped production forever in April 2005. Some say production will re-start one day, others say that it’ll never happen. There are rumours that the MG TF is due for relaunch in April 2007, but two years after the plant closed its doors for the last time I can’t really see that happening.
During the end of February 2007 Michael Scott of Photo Addiction visited the Longbridge plant to get an idea of the current state of the place. It must be stressed that although official entry was not used, he, and many others that visit the site just want to look and will take nothing, leave nothing and damage nothing. The result of Michael’s visits are some absolutely stunning photographs of the state of the plant now.
This is the last generation Rover 25 on the line. You can see that the line has just stopped mid production. It’s as if the new owners are intending for the production line to start soon. This car has been sat here for two years.
Many many Rover 45 shells just stacked waiting for the final build. This is an absolute sin.
While he was there Michael also managed to get into the huge tunnel complex for a wander round and more photos.
Both brick and metal clad tunnels run right the way under the Longbridge plant. I have (at the moment!) no idea what they were used for.
I wonder how long this has been in the tunnels:
For those that don’t know, this is the remains of an original Mini Clubman built at the Longbridge plant. Bit of polish and I’m sure it will be fine!
This is just another example of what “Great” Britain is coming to. We couldn’t even rescue the last major UK manufacturer. Rover has a long and varied history, ups and downs, mergers, name changes, buyouts and hundreds of models of car. All of which ended in Arpil 2005.
You can see more of Michael’s photography (mostly Urban Exploration photos) at his website. All images in this post are copyright Michael Scott and should not be misused without permission. WHich I have by the way. Just ask! ;)
There are a few more forum threads with more photos of the Longbridge plant over at 28 Days Later.
For quick reference, here are a few threads:
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=9749
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=9321
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=7892
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=7975
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5723
http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5600
Still not enough? This link will take you to the search page for the 28 Days Later forum, showing 30 different threads of reports from Longbridge.
RIP Longbridge. RIP Rover.
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