Central Office Coming Down

[juliosz]

Demolition of Chevrolet Central Office began last month. Looks like two more weeks and it should be leveled. There was some beautiful areas in this building and stunning 50's era woodwork in the executive offices and conference rooms.


http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2432/3721699868_08d063a0e8_z.jpg



http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/pz2q3j/IMG_0440_zpsa25727a4.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/pz2q3j/IMG_0442_zpsd58c49f6.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m114/pz2q3j/IMG_0438_zpscbab379d.jpg

[RLS_Jr]

Sad to see that

[Salvatore]

Great pictures. Thanks for taking them.

[Dicky]

Hey Paul, is that structure in the Detroit metro area?

It is a great looking building and it's to bad the economy will not

support it's being sold to another entity that could use it with a

little updating. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/bs.gif

I just came back from a visit to Detroit and it is very sad to see some of the old Icons

left to rot, ie; the Packard plant and the old Henry Ford in Highland Park.

Sometimes it's better to dismantle I guess and let go of the past. Sad, Sad...

For some reason (economics) buildings seem to get razed and new structures put up in their

place as less expensive then retrofitting. <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/dunno.gif

Dicky <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif

[juliosz]

Dicky,

The Chevy Central Office building in metro Detroit at the GM Tech Center in Warren. I believe it was one of the first buildings built on the Tech Center property (built between 1953 and 55). Central Office became under-utilized when most of the folks who worked there were transferred to the Ren Cen in downtown Detroit.

[bergy]

Sad to see - my office was in that building when I worked for Chevrolet R&amp;D.

[TimG]

I loved it when GM took photos of the cars in front of their offices.

[68l30]

We just had a similar demolition here in Cleveland. They completely leveled the old Ford Cleveland Casting Foundry. What was once state of the art is now long gone. The engine plant remains but..... WOW, what a lot of open space left over. Just sad to see huge a industrial area vanish. Our area also lost Steel mills.....and on the old sites sit stores (Steelyard Commons) and all the Chinese crap you can buy. Depressing ... <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/thumbsdown.gif


BIG

[TDW]

Reminds me of the Buick Engineering, AC Engineering, and Fisher Body buildings they tore down around here. The Buick building was stunning. The woodwork alone must have cost millions. Marble interior walls. It all went in the trash.

[Keith Seymore]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: juliosz</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Demolition of Chevrolet Central Office began last month. Looks like two more weeks and it should be leveled. There was some beautiful areas in this building and stunning 50's era woodwork in the executive offices and conference rooms.

</div></div>

That is terrible news. I work about 500 yards from there and didn't realize this was going on. I agree about the beautiful paneling in the executive offices; We are building prototype bodies in the back of this building so it was funny (strange) to see the shop guys sitting with their greasy shoes up on Pete Etes' old desk.

I don't know what the deal is here in Southeast Michigan but GM is on a rampage to tear these buildings down. As we vacated Truck facilities on South Blvd in Pontiac they tore them down so fast that the city was not recognizable. I actually got lost going to Pontiac for a vehicle swap because the administration building was gone (GONE!) and I missed my turn (after having worked in Pontiac for ten years).

Buildings that have stood undisturbed at Montcalm and Joslyn (the old Pontiac/Fisher body complex) have started coming down within the last year at an alarming rate.

Well - in honor of today's thread here is a pic of Chevy Central Office that I took from the VEC tower, at the GM Employee car show a couple years back:

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/lmseymore/GM%20Employee%20show%202010/100_0802.jpg

[Keith Seymore]

Had to run over to CCO to keep my credentials current, so I thought I'd give a quick update on the demolition progress....

Basically - it's done. There's a big hole in the ground with some scrap metal piled up on the site.

Tried to duplicate the views from the original post but these are from the east (looking west) and slightly behind (from the north).

K

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/lmseymore/ccodemo1_zpsc76c2822.jpg

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/lmseymore/ccodemo4_zps8608c4af.jpg

[juliosz]

Keith, thanks for the updated pics.

[ZiggyL78]

Great pics.Sad times.

[PeteLeathersac]

Sad times indeed!
Here's a cool pic below taken @ Central Office.
Is this one of the original ZL1 9567 lost prototypes or a later clone pic?
<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif
~ Pete

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2014/01/full-2506-9155-copo9567prototype.jpg

[Keith Seymore]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: PeteLeathersac</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Sad times indeed!
Here's a cool pic below taken @ Central Office.
Is this one of the original ZL1 9567 lost prototypes or a later clone pic?
<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif
~ Pete

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2014/01/full-2506-9155-copo9567prototype.jpg

</div></div>

Judging by the &quot;Chevrolet&quot; font and the outlined style bowtie I'd say it's a modern pic.

K

[novadude]

What ever happended to that car (original prototype)? Also - I've never seen good close-up shots of the original car to determine what wheels they used. Anyone know?

[Kurt S]

That's Al Wallace's clone of a 9567 car, done about 15 years ago.

[PeteLeathersac]

Thought so, thanks Kurt!
<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/beers.gif
~ Pete

[Keith Seymore]

Bringing this back to the top -

I was back at the ranch the other day and thought I would shoot some photos of the new building occupying the site of the former Chevrolet Central Office.

We are using this as a pre-production body shop, so experimental body builds (for all divisions, not just Chevrolet) take place in the back of the building.

I see they did use the &quot;blue&quot; bricks, like was done on the original Engineering Buildings on the other side of the tracks, so it's got that going for it (which is nice).

K