Buy British ?
Em,—I endorse, with regret, P. R. Gresham's criticism of modern British products. The present apparent policy of manufacturers to sacrifice traditional British quality to quantity in their export-drive is short- sighted, and likely to prejudice our interests in overseas markets very seriously in the long run. Their " couldn't care less " attitude to com- plaints only adds annoyance to disappointment. On the Continent British firms have already earned a reputation for delayed deliveries, products not up to specification, deficiencies in spares and in service, and slackness and indifference in regard to correspondence and com- plaints. They have incurred for themselves unfortunate comparisons even with German products and business methods.
When I myself, a little over two years ago, took delivery of a new car of a type exported in large numbers, and not the cheapest, it arrived with three defects and deficiencies. This showed that, apart from faulty design, manufacture and assembly, anything in the way of final inspection had been dispensed with. It took about three months to get these remedied. During my first six months of running it the car developed, among a number of faults, a major one in the form of a seized fan-bearing—supposed to be automatically lubricated- whiCh necessitated a new part. In the total period of ownership it has developed eighteen faults (some of them repetitions), nearly all Involving garage attention, including a most inconvenient and expen- sive replacement of a broken water-pump for which there was no apparent explanation. In fact the occurrence of defects has, for the past year, become chronic, and each day brings, the expectation of something going wrong, perhaps for the first or possibly for the second or third time. Nor, I may say, am I unique among owners of the same model out here, both as to initial faults and deficiencies and to ensuing trouble.
I am an owner-driver of twenty-five years' standing, with, also,' extensive Service experience in mechanical units, so that my car has not suffered from lack of proper care and maintenance; yet there has been no tinkering, and no damage through accident. There have been times when I have been disgusted with my quite expensive purchase—, a feeling very foreign to the motorist mentality—and I have sighed for its four cheap, second-hand, trouble-free predecessors of the old days, and for our discarded standards of the past.—Yours faithfully, G. E. HOWARD, Major (Retd.), Customs Control, 8 Command Postal Depot, B.A.O.R. 40.
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