WORKERS at the Cowley car factories grew attached to the models they were making. Whenever one came to the end of its run, a brief celebration was often held to mark its passing.

We recalled (Memory Lane, September 1) how workers at Pressed Steel Fisher gathered when the last MG body came off the production line on October 17, 1980.

A similar event took place in the early 1970s when production of the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow ended at the factory (Memory Lane, December 2, 2013).

The picture above was taken on July 4, 1980 when the final Rolls-Royce body was produced in the plant’s V Building. Although it was heralded as the ‘Last One’, it wasn’t truly the end of the line – production was simply being switched to R Building a short distance away. Nevertheless, workers who had made the bodies, felt sufficiently moved to mark the occasion.

Among those at the ceremony was shop steward Jim Tanner, of Littlemore Road, Cowley, who sent in the photograph. He is the man in the dark overalls, third from the left.

Others he recognises include Albert Pollard, Alec Millwright, Charlie Taylor, John Mallory, Ernie Loveridge and Bob Goodall.

V Building had been used for the production of shells for the military during the Second World War.

Before turning to Rolls-Royce bodies, it had been used in the manufacture of another of the factory’s products – refrigerators.

Pressed Steel had become involved with Rolls-Royce production in 1949, making the first one-piece steel bodied Rolls. Co-operation between the firms continued, largely unheralded and unsung, for more than 30 years.

Body shells were produced for models including the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, Silver Cloud and Silver Spirit. By the late 1970s, workers were producing them at the rate of 65 a week. They were among thousands of bodies produced at Pressed Steel for the neighbouring Morris Motors’ factory and other motor manufacturers after the factory opened in 1926.

Memory Lane this week

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