Tywyn and District History Society Forum

At the society's meeting on 20th May 2024 two members gave complementary talks on the history of the car industry in Wales and England, both drawing upon experience of their career within it as well as further research. Looking at cars produced solely in Wales and with the aid of excellent circulated illustrations, Richard Stoner concentrated on Gilberns, first made above a butchers shop in Pontypridd, building to production of a thousand cars in the 1960's, and eventually sold on to Mecca in 1972. Gilbern 'Invaders' had a similar price tag to a Jaguar. He then took the story half a century onwards to 2016, reviewing the Aston Martin luxury electric SUV made at Pontypridd. Bringing it up to the present, he considered the most recent car made in Wales, River Simple's 'Rasa', powered by hydrogen. Richard balanced the exciting possibilities against realistic costings for producing hydrogen. Nigel Adams followed with a presentation on the English car industry, explaining how British production fared in the face of ever stronger foreign car producers, with mergers and eventual nationalisation as British Leyland in 1975, which served only to temporarily stall the decline in mainstream car production by British firms and brought with it problems of its own. Many questions followed to both speakers, who were warmly thanked for their talks.