[wmhjr]

Keith, this is incredible stuff. Makes for great reading and keeps me wanting more.

[citydesk175]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Speaking of auspicious occasions, it was 29 years ago today that I walked through the doors at Chevrolet Flint Assembly and started my illustrious career with General Motors...

Congratulations Keith
Are you starting on your second 29 years with GM? Hope they are as good as the previous 29

By the way: the GM stock savings program had a list of its investors recently sorted by amount held in the program accompanied by the average age of the people in each range of holdings so it might have listed: 40,000.00 - 50,000.00, 47 employees, 37.6 average age. (for you quoters out there, this is a made up number)

There was a listing for 8 million, count was 1, average age was 80

This meant that one GM employee was still working at 80, and had assets of 8 million.
I wonder if it is worth it to work at GM till I am 80.

40 years here is almost enough

KTF
CD175

[citydesk175]

Another flashback went through my mind:

When I hired in at Pontiac in 67, they were in no hurry issue a Blue Cross Card. They said: "If you need hospital car, just show your GM ID cause there is no way that a GM employe (1 "e" like we were told to spell it) cannot have Blue Cross.

Nowadays, there are several options available to BC including the Medicare or nothing option at age 65 option! There was a masterpiece of timing published in the NY Times recently: Just when GM tells 65 and up retirees to get used to Medicare, the article lays out the necessity for Means Testing as the savior of Medicare. Means Testing might mean spend all your life savings first in a catastropic medical situation or you might be taxed at a ridiculously higher rate, or pay premium rates for insurance or whatever.... So much for thrift!

Moving along, years ago, two GM supervisors went to the GM Building in Detroit for a meeting. They wore standard business attire: Dark suits, LS white Shirts, Dark tie and Wing Tips. On the way home, they stopped at a bar to have some lunch (Maybe two glasses of lunch) This bar was loaded with hookers, but the girls kept their distance much to the confusion of the GM Supervisors.

Finally, one girl grew brave enough to approach them and ask: "Are you guys cops?"
GM Supervisors said "NO"

"Alright, Let's see your Blue Cross Cards" She inspected the cards and announced them to be Original because no Detroit Policemen would ever be issued a GM BC card because of the value of the benefits listed there on. All the girls gathered around their table and started up a fairly nice party.

And that's my story about ID cards in the old days

KTF
CD175

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Old Blue 66

This whole thread cracks me up. I always wondered if any of these stories were true. I would very much like to seea pic of the retired GTO after 35 years of use. Im not keeping my hopes up though becuase of where the car was used

Finally! Photo courtesy of Shook1 (Luke).

K

[mzbk2l]

A few years after that article, a connecting rod ventilated the crankcase of the 1976 455 that was in the car, and they put an LT1 in it. Not long after that, it finally disappeared for good.

The flat tires took their toll on the sheetmetal, too - the wheelwell cutouts were a bit bigger by the time I was around it.

That thing sure sounded nice going around the 5-mile track at 100+ mph with the 3" straight pipes on it, though. Put a grin on your face every time you heard it....

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Finally! Photo courtesy of Shook1 (Luke).

K

Now thats what I wanted to see.!!!!!!!!!!!

[MescaBug]

CDN2PLS2, any way I can get copies of them leveling the plant in St. Therese?

Back to this topic. Thanks to Keith for these awesome stories. I've been reading the whole day! I live 20 minutes from the old St-Therese plant. I remember the site before, during and after they took it down. Quite impressive, and sad. I'll go back there this weekend, and snaps some pics of the site.

My uncle worked in the St-Therese plant his whole life, until they shut it down. He was on the Camaro lines. I remember some short stories he told at Christmas parties and familiy gatherings. I wasn't really into cars back then, I never talk with him about his work. I'm sure he's got a lot of pictures, inside and outside the plant. So next time I see him, I will definitely ask him.


Plant being torn down

[Keith Seymore]

The discussion on a couple other threads about show cars and brochures got me thinking about a couple modern day examples...

Hopefully these two stories will demonstrate how spontaneous (or at least unstructured) some of these photo shoots can be.

About this time last year I was driving my 2008 Hummer H2 "Captured Test Fleet" vehicle (these are preproduction saleable builds that we keep in the Engineering fleet for evaluation). It was a special edition in "Inferno Orange", which is kind of a copper metallic, so it really garnered a lot of attention.

At any rate the Vehicle Line Executive's secretary (note: not a PR person) was putting together a photo shoot of Full Size Truck products for our calendar and when she heard about my truck asked to borrow it. Arrangements were made for me to drop the keys (and vehicle location) at her desk around lunch time on a Tuesday for the shoot and then she would return the truck when finished.

The shoot went without a hitch, I went without a lunch (because I couldn't go anywhere!) and my truck is now a star.

See if you can find it in this picture:



By the way I am impressed they could do that photo with the fountain going. Every time I try to park there the wind blows from the other direction and I get soaked.

[Keith Seymore]

The other story concerns the Long Lead Press show for the GMT820D (the 800 version of the Denali) introduction.

The show was held in Santa Barbara California (we stayed at the hotel where JFK and Jackie Kennedy honeymooned) and there was a media ride as part of the show. We (Engineering) were supposed to ride along with these media folks and give some commentary about the trucks and answer any questions they might have.

Well, there is one thing you should know about me: In one of life's little ironies, I (...the consummate car guy...) get car sick. Cars, airplanes, boats - you name it - I've actually made myself queasy wheeling around in my desk chair. It's just one of those things you learn to live with.

This trip was no different. After about two hours of riding with this guy I got really bad. Not "...hey, I think I need a little break..." sick, but "...pulling over to the side of the road to throw up NOW..." sick (I'll bet he was impressed). It was pretty bad.

When we got to our next stop, which was the lunch stop (...yay...) I talked to the trip captain. I told him of my plight and said "...I really don't think I can go on. I'd like to go back to the hotel."

He said "well, that would be fine. These two (a guy photographer and a lady, who was to be his driver) are heading back and you can ride with them - but - they have to stop and shoot some photos on the way. Is that ok?".

I thought that would be ok and waited for them to finish their lunch (I didn't care for any). When they were done we headed over to this green Denali and I asked, delicately, "...do you suppose I could drive? I usually feel better driving than riding". Neither had any problem with that so I hopped up into the seat and off we went.

We drove for a little while, through the southern California countryside, when we came to this little "two lane" road. I say "two lane", but really it was so narrow it didn't have a centerline stripe or any markings. There was a kind of a sweeping lefthand turn, over a little rise, and then a switch back the other way. The photographer explained what he wanted his lady driver to do - but - she balked, saying she didn't feel comfortable doing that. In desperation he turned to me and said "...can you drive?". By then I was feeling pretty normal and, excited at the proposition, I said "sure!".

So, the deal was that I was supposed to get a run at the hill, beep the horn just before entering the rise (so he would know I was coming) and then he'd snap the pictures as I went rolling by. We did our first pass, and I thought it went pretty well, and he said "...think you can go faster?". I said sure and picked up the pace a bit for the next round. He said "...think you can go faster yet?". I said sure (heh heh) and tried again. By the end of the session I was wide open throttle over this little hill and through the turns. It felt gooooood and, after about twenty shots he thought he had some satisfactory material captured.

We left that location and headed to the next spot, which was a straight section of roadway up a slight grade. There was a truck lane and we wanted me to drive steadily up the hill, about 50 mph in the right lane, and he would shoot from across the road. We did a couple and then he asked "how fast were you going on that last one?" I replied it was probably about 55. He sternly said "I said 50! (I was surprised he could tell). We did this one about twenty times as well, and then headed back to the hotel.

As we parted company he thanked me and commented that these would be used for display around the buildings and in the conference rooms. He said that if any turned out such that you could tell it was me driving that he would send me one.

Well - they did and he did. A couple weeks later I was delighted to find these two photos in my mailbox. I never did see them on display anywhere except for where they are proudly displayed in my barn.

[Keith Seymore]

Oh - I almost forgot the best part: his ONLY instruction to me as his driver was: "...hands at ten and two. And don't stick your tongue out. I shot a whole roll one time and the guy had his tongue sticking out. Had to throw out the whole thing".

[patox]

Hi Keith, nice to see those cool stories keep coming on....

One question.... how old are you supposed to be??
Dont know why (it may be your huge lot of stories!) thought you were older!

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by patox

One question.... how old are you supposed to be??
Dont know why (it may be your huge lot of stories!) thought you were older!

I'm supposed to be "old enough to know better"...but I don't intend to let that happen!

Actually, I think there are a couple factors at work here: one is that I am a second generation racer and GM employee, so you get two lifetimes of stories for the price of one. Secondly, because of that, I got a very early start on both of these activities.

The down side is that I am going to have to keep working for quite a while yet. I'll have the years of service towards retirement but not the age...

[Old Blue 66]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I'm supposed to be "old enough to know better"...but I don't intend to let that happen!

Actually, I think there are a couple factors at work here: one is that I am a second generation racer and GM employee, so you get two lifetimes of stories for the price of one. Secondly, because of that, I got a very early start on both of these activities.

The down side is that I am going to have to keep working for quite a while yet. I'll have the years of service towards retirement but not the age...

Doesnt matter Keith. I realy enjoy your posts.

[MikeCio1]

Thank you for the Old Goat Story... Very interesting.

[Keith Seymore]

I want to pause for a moment and recognize citydesk175, who is retiring after 40 years of service with General Motors. Today is his last day.

Ralph: thank you for your years of service, both with GM and in the military overseas. I wish you the best in your future endeavors and trust that you will stay in touch with both your GM and "Pontiac history" friends.

Congratulations -

K

[Lloyd-TX]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I want to pause for a moment and recognize citydesk175, who is retiring after 40 years of service with General Motors. Today is his last day.

Ralph: thank you for your years of service, both with GM and in the military overseas. I wish you the best in your future endeavors and trust that you will stay in touch with both your GM and "Pontiac history" friends.

Congratulations -

K

Ditto - and just because you're retiring - don't be a stranger!

[Keith Seymore]

Ok, enough with the sentimental stuff... back to the history!

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I think for the most part you have highly motivated and intelligent people who are saddled with the stupidity and inefficiencies of working for a major corporation....

...that, and the volume of product produced. At Flint Assembly we had two assembly lines producing 60 vehicles an hour, two shifts. If you multiply that out (60 per hour x 8 hours per day x 2 shifts x 2 lines x 280 days per year) you get 537600 vehicles per year. That's at one plant, minimum (ie, no overtime). A half a million vehicles...

Now I want you to image a huge parking lot, probably 10 acres, filled with vehicles that still require repair. These vehicles are constantly being shuttled back and forth, out back and then into the building, over to the railyard, through the shipping building, to the trucking yard, etc. The opportunities for error are tremendous...and that's before the vehicle even leaves the property.

Since posting this, I have found some pictures of the shipping lot of an assembly plant (Pontiac, in this case). I think this will better demonstrate what I was trying to convey way back in the beginning of this thread:

[Region Warrior]

Now thats where i would have liked to shop!

[MikeCio1]

Cool pic.
1967 I assume...

[gto65lvr]

Ok so I just spent the last hour and a half solid reading this entire thread glued to my seat the wire went to bed and here I sit wanting more of this stuff I remember reading some minor stories about the black 65 and it was intrieging but reading all this and more is great stuff. Kind of like my run on sentence


Eric