Old Top Gear 2001 - Rolls Royce at Crewe

the revival of Mg is truly something to celebrate a great british mark which is once again on the up I wouldn't get too carried away though because you shouldn't leave reminding that our most prolific manufacturer is actually a taxi firm and the rest of our most treasured motoring legends all now lie in or enhance you've forgotten all the honey and you are quite happy you've forgotten all about it and now you're feeling all upset uncomfortable because I've decided to stir things up well don't blame me blame rolls-royce the world's most famous car manufacturer has just launched this the last of line series of the Silver Seraph this limited edition model signals the end of rolls-royce production in Crewe it's home for some 55 years before the company passes on to its new owners and makes a fresh start down in deepest Sussex quit this wrecked affection Crump assimil a fracture on whatever is rightly done however humble is Noble or you might say the things worth doing it's worth doing well the original laughing tag is carved over the fireplace of the old home of Sir Henry Royce at West Wittering and against a background of gold it confronts every visitor to the Rose Royce car factory at Crewe since the war every single rolls-royce car has been built in crew silver clouds shadows and serifs all started life here and while others bought in robots and computers rolls-royce saw no need to ditch the highly skilled craftsmen who hand build each of these world-famous machines today just as half a century ago it's the work force that separate these motorcars from the rest [Music] in 1998 the owners of rolls-royce Vickers PLC wanted out of the car business so they put the company up for sale and they sold it they sold it to well it's a bit complicated actually BMW and Volkswagen had both set their hearts and owning rolls-royce and each time one made an offer the other would make an even bigger offer eventually Volkswagen was announces the winner with a colossal bid of 479 million pounds BMW weren't about to go moping back to Munich at admit defeat on the country they were about to pull off the greatest of flanking maneuver of all time the end of you had signed a deal with rolls-royce agreeing to supply with engines well with all this kicked off BMW told VW it could look elsewhere there's something to power its cars which was neat but it was nothing compared to the knockout blow that BMW were about to deliver VW had got so excited about the deal they just struck they hadn't realized that it didn't include the rights to the rolls-royce name they weld by rolls-royce PLC the jet engine manufacturer BMW realized their old rivals mistake and snapped up those rights for 40 million quid so that led Volkswagen with the factories here at Crewe and Bentley that's why this 169 Grand Sarah will be the last rolls-royce to be built by the crew workforce I think it just means that when people asked you in the pub yeah roasted so yeah he's the change in D well of course yeah but Sir you know we used to change we'd like to change just the thing that we need to get in our minds really because although we're changing our name the actual skills are still there you know is going to make Bentley off the cars we still going to apply those same skills Royces from 2003 BMW will start building a new generation of Rolls Royces at Goodwood in Sussex VW will continue Bentley production at Crewe and you know what they may end up having the last laugh Rolls Royce has never quite shaken off his chintzy seventies image Bentley's on the other hand are in demand Crewe presently produce four Bentley's for every one rolls so Bentley's future looks assured while BMW must gamble on their roles being seen as more than a 9 series with a spirit of ecstasy on the bonnet coming up on top gear Jaguars concept car the R coupe a devil helped to keep death off the room master of mayhem rage [Applause]

Channel: Deano Johns

Views: 27,330

Rating: 4.8151259 out of 5

Keywords: Top Gear, Old Top Gear, Adrian Simpson, Rolls, Rolls Royce, 2001, Crewe

Id: Q0Y0nUrB5ls

Length: 4min 50sec (290 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 13 2019