Northern Distributor's Fine War Job
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Liverpool Firm Puts Through a Grand Total of 32,000 Service Vehicles in Five-Year Effort nAY by chly stories are being Llreleased dealing with the splendid. work which has been carried out by various sections of the motor industry; here is one which deals with the activities, during the war period, of a. northern distributor—Messrs. Pearson's Garage, Shaw Street, Liverpool, 6.
It starts with the acquisition in December, 1940, of a much-bombed and derelict factory building in Smithdown Lane, the total area being approximately 100,000 sq. ft. The first assembly line and lifting gear for the erection of imported vehicles was installed at the Shaw Street premises of the firm, but the demand became so heavy that assembly work had to be extended to the newly acquired roofless factory in Smith down Lane. This was late in February, 1941, at a time when roofing operations were actually going on, but enthusiasm on the part of all concerned overcame all difficulties, including the worst possible climatic conditions.
The lifting of cases weighing anything between 44 and 124 tons• was carried out with manually operated tackle installed to meet the emergency.
In May, 1941, enemy action caused further considerable damage to the premises and reconstruction work, but assembly did not stop, and by July in the same year the firm were turning out on the Smithdown Lane assembly line one 3-4-ton lorry every 20 minutes, the work including the carrying out of from 30 to 40 modifications. , By August, considerable extensions had been carried out to meet the requirements of the Canadian Forces, and by May, 1942, there came the demands of the American Armies. At this period, more than 100,000 sq. ft. of floor space was occupied in assembly work, the overflow, in the form of parking places; extending around the whole area of the plant.
All the time progress was being made in the. way of improvements in equipment, high-speed electric and pneu..matic tools being introduced to quicken assembly work; electric cranes and hoists were provided at points where required , and, in other ways, the build-up was such as to make the premises into a first-class vehicle assembly depot.
To meet the requirements of supply to the assembly lines, and to accommodate the packing cases containing " broken-down " vehicles, Is acres of storage space were operated a few miles from Liverpool. At the Peak period the value of the vehicles contained in this storage area exceeded £4,000,000.
Many types of load carrier and other vehicles have been dealt with, from the ubiquitous jeep to 40-ton tractors and Tank-transporter trailers. Prior to D-day, an average of 30 to 40 different types of machine were being dealt with, together with large-numbers of amphibious load carriers, armoured scout cars and half-track vehicles. The peak output per week averaged about 426. machines, with a grand total of no fewer than 32,000.
This, we feel, is a splendid effort, for it -must be remembered that the labour employed L was, for the most part, unskilled -and had to be trained on the job.