[johnta1]

At the F-body plants, how did the 'bodies' get to the engine?
Were the engines on the subframe then mated to the body?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by johnta1

At the F-body plants, how did the 'bodies' get to the engine?
Were the engines on the subframe then mated to the body?

Yes. Engines were installed into the subframe and later "raised" into postion with the body (rather than a "body drop" as was done with a full frame vehicle).

It is described here: http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml

This is a little different product but should give you an idea:



K

[Keith Seymore]

A friend just sent me this link. Although it is for a competitor's product, in a different country, there are a lot of similarities between it and the assembly process of the early 1960s (it also is "public domain", so I don't have to worry about posting anything confidential).

Some of the similarities I noticed are:

a) Body shop welding - the manual welding operations would be very similar to how it was done back then (or even when I started in 1979).

b) Notice the bins of material sitting line side, and the little "jitney" trucks pulling material down the aisle

c) Notice the paper manifest copy hanging on the instrument panel. Those would be pulled off and discarded (perhaps 40 years from now someone will be excited to find one of these in their vehicle!).

d) The chassis carrier, which fixtures the front and rear suspensions in position. This is the same way the Tempests (or other unibody construction vehicles) were built.

e) Engine set - very similar to back then

f) Notice the inspection and repair persons (or supervisor) at their "stand up desks" lineside

g) Body drop (although our crane operators would drop the bodies in more of a "free fall")

h) Shipping lot - notice all those vehicles, lined up and ready to be shipped. The volume of vehicles stored was what I was trying to convey in one of my early posts. Also note that some of the vehicles have the windshield wipers pulled up off the windshield: I would be willing to bet that is a "signal" for those specific vehicles, ie, they are to be shipped by rail, or need to be moved to a repair area or something. I may have mentioned this before but we would flag certain vehicles in this way with the repair ticket. A ticket rolled up and stuck in the door handle would mean one thing, a ticket folded and smashed in the vent window would signal something else. FWIW -

K

http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=1189

[GT182]

THis is semi funy in a way Keith. You started to work for GNM in 79. I started working for Anchor Mtr Frt Champlain, NY in Feb 78. Was there until they closed the terminal in Nov. of 93.

Funny how you mention plant tours. We tried over and over to get a tour of the ST. Therese GM plant. They always put us off as if they didn't want those that hauled their product to see how it was made. Sad in a way that they thought like that. Made us feel like we weren't wanted inside. Most of us were proud of the cars we hauled, and proud we could deliver them damage free. I'd ask for a tour here in Wilmington, DE but they'd just laugh seeing I've been away from carhaul so long.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

A friend just sent me this link. Although it is for a competitor's product, in a different country, there are a lot of similarities between it and the assembly process of the early 1960s...

Heh, heh...

Was just noticing the irony of this post: Ford made the video to demonstrate how advanced their production process is; I was using that same video to show how similar the process is to the early 60's...

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by johnta1

At the F-body plants, how did the 'bodies' get to the engine?
Were the engines on the subframe then mated to the body?

John -

I'm sure by now you've seen this photo, but it absolutely answers your question.

K