[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by MikeCio1

Is that a, what I would describe as a very rare 67 Grand Prix Convertible in the back ground?
One of my favorite all time Pontiacs!

Stick or auto?

(lol)

Sorry - it's an "inside joke" referring to this thread:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=586995

[Keith Seymore]

GM Suggestion Program

Seeing the reference to the GM "Suggestion Program" made me think of a story dad told on more than one occasion:

Naturally, as he and the other skilled tradesmen in the shop went about their work they found better, cheaper and/or faster ways to do things. They decided to form a team of three or four individuals who would specifically be on the look out for good ideas and then they would go back, as a group, and corporately submit their Suggestion ideas into the proper channels. These days the maximum suggestion award is $20,000; I don't know what it was back then but I will say Dad earned enough money from suggestions on the '65/'66 Chevy pickup truck grill that he was able to buy our first truck, a '69 GMC, for cash.

This arrangement worked pretty well until one of the guys decided he wanted all the Suggestion reward money for himself. He started taking the ideas from the group and then he would hurry back and write them up by himself and submit them under his name only. As you might guess, after he did this a couple times the rest of the group caught on and they were none too happy about it.

They decided to write a series of bogus suggestions and assign this guy's name to them. They started out innocently enough, but since the "fake" suggestions continued to be accepted and implemented the suggestions got more wild and more outlandish as time went on. The coup de tat (...whatever that means...) was when they wrote a suggestion to remove all the stall doors in the restrooms out on the floor (to combat the skilled tradesman from reading while sitting on the pot) as a cost savings idea.

When this was followed up with a Suggestion to install "clear polycarbonate" doors on the stalls (presumably for security purposes), also submitted under his name, the gentleman was called into the office and it was "suggested" that he not submit any more ideas...

[Keith Seymore]

Do you grind your teeth?

May as well do one more, while I'm thinking of it....

Dad was raised in the poor rural south in the 30's and 40's. He came Michigan in the mid 50's, along with scores of others moving north to seek employment in the great automotive factories of that era.

Somewhere as a youth he had contracted "trenchmouth" (or "hoof and mouth disease"), probably from drinking at a public well. As such, his teeth were really bad. One of the first things he did when he joined GM and got some good health care benefits was have all of his teeth pulled and a set of false teeth made. Keep in mind he did this even though he was a relatively young man (early twenties at that point).

He had that same set of teeth for the rest of his life. Part of the reason for this, probably, is that "mechanically inclined guy" that he was he could perform a lot of "false teeth maintenance" for himself. For example, if he had a spot that was causing a sore place on his gum he would just take out his die grinder or some sandpaper and polish the offending area until it didn't cause pain anymore.

Unfortunately, discretion was not one of his strong points. He liked to tell about a time when he was working on a die...

(...Picture this: him up inside one of those big "press like" machines, wearing his blue/grey coveralls, covered with sweat and grinding dust inside this dimly lit, oily, loud, manufacturing plant...)

...when he realized he had his teeth were hurting his gums. So, right there inside this die, he pulls his teeth out and grinds on the bad spot, polishing it off with some sandpaper he had nearby. Once he was satisfied with the fix he popped his teeth back in his mouth, rolled them around to his satisfaction and --- looked up to see the Plant Manager standing in the aisleway looking at him in disbelief.

After an awkward moment of recognition, the Plant Manager shook his head, as if to say "...tell me I didn't just see what I think I saw..." and walked away.

Dad meekly went back to work and finished his shift.

I should add that his teeth fit so well (plus he had immediately dropped the uppers in the sink and chipped one of the front teeth, making them not so perfect) that most people did not even know. We kids thought it was cool that he could take them out and brush them and always suggested he could wash them in the dishwasher. It didn't hurt, either, that he would entertain us by rolling them around in his mouth (but only when he thought Mom wasn't looking).

On the other hand, there was the time he sneezed while making a left turn and blew his uppers out into the intersection of Woodward and 14 Mile...and had to dodge traffic to retrieve them....

[MikeCio1]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Stick or auto?

(lol)

Sorry - it's an "inside joke" referring to this thread:

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=586995

OK I get it...

I will use my CSI connections to have the photo enhanced. I am sure between the reflections in the chrome and mirrors we will be able to get a very enhanced view of the interior and answer the question...

[Keith Seymore]

Whenever I see pictures like that I always think of the "drivers" out back (in the context of "losing" cars):

"Hey Joe, see that wagon over there? Yeah, the one way back in the corner....yeah, I need you to run it over to paint repair. Got it? Ok, then there's a Bonne over there I need you to bring back. Thanks..."



I may have mentioned this before, but the way the cars are parked is significant. A car pulled into the parking spot might mean one thing, whereas a car backed into a parking spot might mean something else. "Hood up" might mean "send this one to heavy repair". Where the "work ticket" (ie, the "repair ticket") was placed was also significant. It might be rolled up and placed in the door handle, or smashed in the vent window, stuck under the windshield wiper or closed in the door, each meaning that the car was to be sent to some other location ("light" repair, paint repair, shipping, etc).

God forbid that you pull the ticket out to look at it and then stick it back in the wrong spot...

K

[mike nixon]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Whenever I see pictures like that I always think of the "drivers" out back (in the context of "losing" cars):

"Hey Joe, see that wagon over there? Yeah, the one way back in the corner....yeah, I need you to run it over to paint repair. Got it? Ok, then there's a Bonne over there I need you to bring back. Thanks..."



I may have mentioned this before, but the way the cars are parked is significant. A car pulled into the parking spot might mean one thing, whereas a car backed into a parking spot might mean something else. "Hood up" might mean "send this one to heavy repair". Where the "work ticket" (ie, the "repair ticket") was placed was also significant. It might be rolled up and placed in the door handle, or smashed in the vent window, stuck under the windshield wiper or closed in the door, each meaning that the car was to be sent to some other location ("light" repair, paint repair, shipping, etc).

God forbid that you pull the ticket out to look at it and then stick it back in the wrong spot...

K

Did you notice the traps on the verts in that pic?

RE the lost car issue. That happened a couple times at the dealer I worked at. The worst case was a Pariesienne wagon. Loaded car, Rosewood out and Dk Burgundy in Rally 2's no roof rack or woodgrain. Special ordered car [of course]. It was gone long enough the customer raised all sorts of hell and the boss dealer traded for a similar car 5 states away to keep them happy. The car showed up 6 MONTHS Later out of the blue. No explaination of where it was at since they couldn't find it in the first place. It sat on the lot for close to 6 months until a travelling salesman came in with a blown trannie and the lust for a wagon. While test driving he got pulled over as a courtesy to tell him the rr brake light was out. While repairing that I found out why the car had been "lost". It had a 1/4 hung over top of the damaged original one, both doors replaced and a partial rocker panel replaced.

Lost my ass, someone totalled that car while driving it to the storage area or dropped it off a truck.

I thought about buying that car as I really liked the look, It turned out I'm glad I didn't!

Mike
Mike