Helen Street

Interesting facts and anecdotes about the company itself
Post Reply
wooster
Posts: 120
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 7:50 pm

Helen Street

Post by wooster » Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:31 pm

I've been looking for pictures of the New Meteor Works, Helen Street, during Rovers ownership. I've only found a couple. Anyone got more?
Cheers
Rich
_______
'39 P2 '14' six-light

lakesrally

Re: Helen Street

Post by lakesrally » Mon Jul 27, 2015 3:48 pm

Try asking Coventry Transport Museum, they have a lot of info and are very helpful.

wooster
Posts: 120
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 7:50 pm

Re: Helen Street

Post by wooster » Tue Jul 28, 2015 8:42 pm

Went there on Saturday. First time I've been since the revamp. Very impressed. Only a coupe of Rover cars though.

I know the museum has quite a large archive of info and yes one day I'll find time to have a look. Just seems to be a shortage of images online.
Cheers
Rich
_______
'39 P2 '14' six-light

Chris C
Posts: 106
Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2012 11:59 am
Location: Brackley, Northamptonshire. UK

Re: Helen Street

Post by Chris C » Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:57 am

Albeit the Coventry Motor Museum may only have 2 Rovers on display, they have many more in the Reserve Collection,
which they tend to rotate in the Museum. The RSR Annual General Meeting is being held there this year, so we will be
able to see the changes that they have made.
Chris Cartmell - DVLA Liaison Officer
Rover Sport Register

1939 - Rover 14 Saloon (P2)
1975 - Rover 2200 Saloon (P6)

stuartbell
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:49 pm
Location: Isle of Skye

Re: Helen Street

Post by stuartbell » Mon Jan 09, 2017 1:18 am

Has anyone got any information of the production line and assembly techniques from Helen Street?

During the restoration of my 1939 10, it is apparent that there are oddities under the vehicle that could be best explained by assembly aids.

One such oddity is the use of a colour paint on the LH chassis rail (midway along, the full circumference) which matches the same colour applied underneath the body of the car on the rear seatbox and floorpan. It would appear to be a mid- or dark-green paint, which has faded back to pale green after 70 years. I cannot think why this colour would appear on a black car, where it exists on bare metal (no black paint underneath), except as an assembly-aid to ensure a 10 body came down onto a 10 chassis. Unless anyone knows different?
He with the most toys wins....

GOY189
Posts: 557
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:08 pm

Re: Helen Street

Post by GOY189 » Mon Jan 09, 2017 4:06 pm

FOH 666 Chassis no. 0110073 is actually a 1939 built 1940 model. It is evident that 1940 model year cars were being built at Helen Street in June/July rather than August/September. We recovered a registration number for another 1940 model 10 on that basis.

By July 1939, the Company had been assigned an Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetah maintenance contract at Helen Street. My belief is (and Graham Robson - {The Rover Story} implies) that the Rover Company were starting war production at Helen Street in June/July 1939 (No 2 Shadow Factory at Lode Lane was being built then) and were most likely preparing jigs and fixtures for aircraft component production and dismantling car production equipment. If the most skilled workforce or substantial parts of it, were employed on that, it's not unreasonable to make the connection that assembly aids such as the paint you describe, would be required.

Mike

stuartbell
Posts: 29
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:49 pm
Location: Isle of Skye

Re: Helen Street

Post by stuartbell » Tue Jan 10, 2017 12:35 am

Thanks for that information Mike, it's fascinating to delve into these things. It might also explain why the gas-welding of the body components is so poor; unlike most of the constructional methods that Rover has used over the years, the assembly of the body panels is accurate (jigged) but the tacking together is lacking in true structural integrity. Hence in the specific case of this car, Lucy, the stressed joints from adjacent corrosion of the respective panels have cracked, or just peeled away from the panels, where gas welding has been employed. The contact welded joints are near-perfect, as you would expect form a process where the application is controlled better.
He with the most toys wins....

Post Reply