GM Employees

[Keith Tedford]

Has anyone else here worked at General Motors. Some of the older guys would remember how things went together in the old days. What they think is unimportant makes a good read for those who have never been inside an assembly plant. Until 1976 I spent most of my career in the Oshawa stamping plant. The Musclecar era was over except for the Laguna Chevelle by the time I got into the assembly plant. They were still using the old gate line assembly method but the muscle cars were long gone. It would have been nice if I had been able to see the SS Chevelles going down the line but unfortunately I didn't. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[bertfam]

Keith,

Yes, there are several original employees that frequent this and other sites. John Hinckley (JohnZ) wrote an excellent article on the The First-Generation Camaro Assembly Process (http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml). A MUST READ for everyone.

Ed

[Keith Tedford]

It's interesting how the Camaros seemed to have a Fisher body plant and a Chevrolet assembly plant. In Oshawa Fisher didn't seem to exist except perhaps on blueprints. We had one big plant with an "A" body line and a "B" body line. The bodies in white went to the same paint shop and came back to the assembly plant for final assembly. We, as tool and die makers worked in any and all areas of the plant as needed. Perhaps Oshawa did things a little differently. I know that Canadian cars, especially Pontiacs, were quite different from their American counterparts.

[elcamino]

Here is some history on Fisher Body

Came from a old Late Great Chevys mag and written (inpart?) by Verne Frantz.


[ QUOTE ]
Fisher Body History-101:.

60% of Fisher was originally purchased by United Motors, a holding company owned by General Motors, from the Fisher Brothers in 1919, (also purchased earlier were controlling interests in Hyatt, Delco, Frigidaire and Dayton). By 1925 Fisher Body was fully owned by GM, and until 1968 was operated as a separate company under the same roofs as Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Cadillac, all owned by General Motors. Between 1958 and 1964 Fisher Body was operating at a total of 18 different assembly plants (producing full size Chevrolets) around the country, 15 of which also housed Chevrolet assembly lines. The other 3 Fisher Body plants, Cleveland, Flint #1, and Lansing had to ship partially assembled bodies to the Fisher Body lines at other assembly plants which also had Chevrolet final assembly lines.

Fisher's production was controlled by GM's need to fill dealer orders for certain models with a variety of equipment. In some cases the bodies had to be made differently to accommodate different options, some installed by Fisher, some later, on the Chevrolet assembly line after the body met up with it's appropriate chassis. The point is, although Fisher built bodies to accept a variety of Chevrolet options, their own body labelling method, the cowl tag, contained information that only related to the body itself. Fisher Body, through the use of the cowl tag, provided information on each body in 8 separate categories. The information on the cowl tag was not placed on the cars for the benefit of the assembly line workers who were building the car, (they used the Production Broadcast Notice, or "build sheet", as most people call it); it was meant to be a permanent record of the way each body was manufactured for purposes of later identification for dealer servicing, or warranty claims. It also protected the manufacturer against possible safety or legal claims, considering that over the life span of these cars equipment might be changed.


[/ QUOTE ]

[indyjps]

i work for GM now, if you have a truck theres a 33% chance i made your bedside.