The Media Archive for Central England is the public screen archive for the East and West Midlands. An independent charity and company based at the University of Lincoln, MACE acquires, catalogues, preserves and makes widely available moving image materials that inform our understanding of the diverse cultures and histories of communities between the Lincolnshire coast and the Welsh border.
This film is part of Free
BSA Closure Auction
After years of mismanagement and lack of investment the acronym 'BSA' came to stand for 'Bits Stuck Anywhere'.
Overview
From the collection of:
"You can close a company down but you can never close down its spirit." So speaks a former worker of BSA motorcycles on the day that their machine tools are auctioned off and the factory breathes its last. Once the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world this Birmingham brand is just another victim of Britain's industrial decline.
In 1972 the government attempted to save the entire British motorcycle industry by forming the Norton-Villiers-Triumph group, which also incorporated BSA's interests. When that group failed it marked the end of mass production British motorcycles.