For anyone who has an interest in cars and industrial history the latest news from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders makes depressing reading.
Car making in the UK in the first half of this year was at its lowest level since 1953 and they predict that total annual output is unlikely to exceed 1 million cars by the end of the decade.
Of course, this is all part of the result of an ever more globalised economy and the dominance of products made in the far East.
All the companies making cars in any volume in the UK are owned by foreign entities, meaning that although the UK may benefit in terms of employment , any profits made and taxes paid will unlikely to be of much value to the British exchequer.
This is a far cry from the situation in the decades after the Second World War when Austin, Morris and the Rootes Group were making cars and healthy profits . Of course this rosy view needs to be balanced by the rapid decline of the industry in the 80s and 90s when the government pumped hundreds of millions of pounds into British Leyland and Rootes Group was sold to Chrysler.
We relive those halcyon days of post-war prosperity and the darker days of decline every day at Great British Car Journey : Successes and failures and memories of cars we both loved and derided are the content of our journey.
It is interesting to note that the two greatest British brands of the last Century have survived and are in rude health under the ownership of BMW. Rolls-Royce are still producing aspirational and remarkable cars in Sussex and the amazing Mini is being built in huge numbers at the former Morris factory in Oxford.
Great British Car Journey salutes this success and the visionary English entrepreneurs, engineers and owners behind these two great brands.