A CAR IS BORN

Series

Series Name

Mining Review 18th Year

Issue

Issue No.

2

Date Released

Oct 1964

Stories in this Issue:

1. 1THE FRUITS OF STOKE ORCHARD
2. 2EGG MAN
3. 3GOLDEN HORSES
4. 4A CAR IS BORN

Story

Story No. within this Issue

4 / 4

Summary

BFI synopsis: the use of coal in the car manufacturing industry.
NCB Commentary - Journeys end ...
... Over 200,000-tons of coal a year flow into the works of one of Britain’s key industries.
Coal for power. Coal behind the lives of 82,000 people who are geared to make a million motor vehicles a year.
Coal behind the man who designs motor cars; the engineer who develops engines.
Coal for steam to drive, for example, the mighty hammers which shape rectangular billets of steel into crankshafts.
Into the motor car which you’ll see built in the next two minutes go 12,000 separate parts. Each is costed to a fraction of a penny.
The components of an engine are marshalled before assembly.
The crankshaft we saw being forged is now finished and offered to the engine block.
This machine for tightening nuts is a lightning extension of the human hand.
Within the space of 150-yards and twenty minutes in time an engine is ready to be tested - and the rocker arms pulsate into life.
The gearbox unit must be married to the engine - they’ll be together for a long time and many thousands of miles.
And lifted high and clear ride the finished motors in search of a car body to give them point and purpose.
Different coloured bodies - different body styles, are lowered onto the frame. Five wheels in all; four for the road and one for the boot.
It takes over 1,800-gallons of water to make a motor car - and here’s where some of it goes. A simulated tropical downpour; 40-miles an hour and windscreen wipers going full pelt. When the rains have abated any leak will show up.
And after testing it’s the end of the line.
Come with Paddy Hopkirk, 1964 winner of the Monte Carlo Rally, driving the car he rode to victory.
Paddy (while driving speaks) - "This sort of driving is not to be recommended on the open road, but cars, like all machinery, have to be tested to the limit - for progress and in the interests of your safety."
Into Paddy Hopkirk’s car, and into each of the million other cars that this firm makes each year went £1-3-11 worth of coal. We almost forgot to mention it!

Keywords

Industry and manufacture; Mining; Motor vehicles; Fuels

Written sources

British Film Institute Databases   Used for synopsis
The National Archives COAL 32   /13 Scripts for Mining Review, 1960-1963

Credits:

Sponsor

National Coal Board

Production Co.

National Coal Board Film Unit