A car is born Amazing video
 

Thanks for sharing this.

Fantastic video!

I toured the Rouge plant when I was a kid, it was one of several standard field trips along with Greenfield Village and the Henry Ford Museum. If you look at a map of Dearborn, half of the land belongs to FMC. World HQ, Ford div. HQ, Mercury HQ (When they were around), plus Fairlane, Henry's private estate. The Rouge assembly line was where the Mustang was born, the Wixom plant was where the T-Bird and Lincoln came from.
Ford had a falling out with the city of Detroit, and never had a plant there.

Check this one out.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFYnA1kAntM

Very cool. There were a couple (GM) photos in there that I had not seen before (I especially loved the Corvette assembly photos)

A few comments:

a) The Pontiac assembly line photos were taken at the home plant in Pontiac Michigan (except for F car stuff).

b) The white Firebird convertible shown at 1:03 still exists; if memory serves the 'vert is '67 VIN 002 and the red coupe behind it is VIN 001. Both cars were "discovered" together a couple years ago in a barn near my hometown, auctioned and "restored" by Gas Monkey garage or one of those types of "reality" shows.

c) The AMX shown at :28 reminds me of a story: a black AMX was discovered a number of years ago behind a wall in the Kenosha plant. The car was disassembled and restored by re-running it down the modern assembly line amongst the more generic K cars and modern Chryslers. The completed vehicle was on display in the Chrysler museum in Auburn Hills (until the museum ultimately closed and the collection disbursed).

d) Seeing the "F O R D" letters going on the hood at 3:13 - I have a friend that worked on the assembly line at the Rouge plant as a young man. He mentioned that part of his job was to install the "F" and the "O" on the decklid of the cars; someone else installed the "R" and the "D". I told him it was a good thing he didn't work for STUDEBAKER or he would have been exhausted!

e) At 1:58 you can see the wood blocks that were used for flooring in the GM plants of the time. They provided a cushioning effect if you dropped a tool (or a car part) and also allowed for disassembly in the event of a assembly line update (rerouting), like during model changeover. I hated them because they made the area dark, and were coated with creosote which made them greasy, slippery and smelly. I used to remove my steel toed Redwing shop shoes and put them in the bed of my truck before driving home in an attempt to control the mess and the distinctive smell.

K

...and the 1928 Ford Model A.

Ford built 15 million model T's in the Highland Park plant (portions of which are still standing and can be viewed from Woodward and from I-75) less 3000 cars that were built in stalls at the Piquette Plant (also still standing and in use as the Model T historian headquarters).http://www.fordpiquetteavenueplant.org/

Ford shut down cold (ie completely) to design the Model A and the corresponding assembly plant, the Rouge, which generated quite a bit of excitement (and consternation). It has been in use continuously since that time.

Henry Ford was the master of "up integration", receiving raw iron ore from land he owned in Brazil, on ships he owned, into the docks that he owned, and popping a completed vehicle out the other end of the plant. The Rouge was the pinnacle of that vision.

The Henry Ford museum continues to offer tours of the Rouge and they are available in conjunction with a visit to the Museum or the adjacent Greenfield Village.

https://www.thehenryford.org/

K

I continue to digress, but one more thought: Edsel Ford had a slip for his boat at his Gaukler Point estate in St Clair Shores. He could "commute" to his office at the Rouge via speedboat down the St Clair river to his personal dock at the plant.

Sort of the "ultimate" in commuting comfort.

K

No masks on those painters. Wonder what their lungs looked like after a 30 year career.

Keith, I think you mean the Detroit River, which connects Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie.
Watch out for the freighters, they leave a nasty wake. Once you're under the Ambassador Bridge, you will be greeted by the wonderful aromas of downriver Detroit. Smelled like money to the Fords.