[gtoric]

From various internet and print sources, I have put together the following charts chronicalling the North American GMAD plants for the years 1964 -1974.

I invite additions and corrections to any an all entries. Canadian members may have better info for the Oshawa and St. Therese plant's product mix content.

[guccieng]

i only know the first-gen f-bodies, but i'm positive that camaros of '67-'69 were not made at lordstown (U), only van nuys and norwood. the firebird was made at norwood, lordstown, and van nuys. the norwood (N) is not on the chart for those years.

[tripower]

Great info Eric, thanks for posting!

[fiedlerh]

Great info!

73-75 Grand Ams were made at the Pontiac plant (only). It's a separate model from the LeMans, so it should be listed separately.

Were 73 GTOs assembled at all the LeMans plants? It was a LeMans option, so I don't see why not.

[68addict]

Nice info.....Unfortunately, I ride by the empty lot which was once the pretty Tarrytown plant......every day. It was bad enough I saw them dismantle it in 1999.

[gtoric]

Originally Posted by guccieng

i only know the first-gen f-bodies, but i'm positive that camaros of '67-'69 were not made at lordstown (U), only van nuys and norwood. the firebird was made at norwood, lordstown, and van nuys. the norwood (N) is not on the chart for those years.

Thanks guccieng. I've updated my chart.

[2002Z4CSS]

This may come in handy!

[Keith Seymore]

Nice work, Eric.

I'm going to print those off and memorize them, at which point I will begin comparing them to the "non GMAD" plants that I am familiar with from when I started in 1979...

K

[gtoric]

Keith, any idea of which plants building Chevy trucks were also producing GMCs? All of them?

Also, were the truck lines typically a separate line from the passenger car line? Were any of them separate plants on the same campus?

Do you have a startup date for the recently shut down Pontiac truck plant?

Have you ever run across a good book covering the subject of the history of GM/Fisher Body assembly plants? I know that there is a decent book covering the subject of American car plants, but it doesn't devote too much attention to Pontiacs. May be a good subject for my next book.

[Keith Seymore]

Yes on all counts.

I've printed the charts off (hardcopy) - I'll pour over them and get back with you shortly.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Ok, here's what I see:

Originally Posted by gtoric

Keith, any idea of which plants building Chevy trucks were also producing GMCs? All of them?

Yes, IIRC. These days there's a little more to the mix, for example you might build "luxury" GMC (ie, Denali) in Janesville only and Cadillac SUVs in Arlington only, but in each case they build along side their Chevy/GMC brothers.

Originally Posted by gtoric

Also, were the truck lines typically a separate line from the passenger car line? Were any of them separate plants on the same campus?

Yes, truck lines were typically separate from car lines. In some cases it might be two separate lines within the same complex; in the case of my alma mater, Chevrolet Flint Assembly, there was a "wall" that separated the two plants (that is, under the same roof but separate).

Originally Posted by gtoric

Do you have a startup date for the recently shut down Pontiac truck plant?

Assuming we are talking about the same Truck plant (on Opdyke between Square Lake and South Blvd) I'm hearing either 1972 or 1986. Per the blurb below from GM Communications:

Pontiac Assembly Center was built in 1972 for the production of medium-duty trucks and became part of the Truck & Bus Group ten years later. In 1985, when medium-duty production was consolidated with heavy-duty production at our sister plant - Pontiac Central - we shut down to begin the major renovations necessary for a then-new full-size pickup program. Additional floor space of 712,000 square feet, including a second floor paint facility, was added. Production of the full size pickups began in December 1986.

I'm guessing the "then-new full-size pickup program" they are referring to would be early GMT400 models. Calendar year December of 1986 would correspond with the old C/K/R/V truck, as produced at the other locations (Flint, for example).

Originally Posted by gtoric

Have you ever run across a good book covering the subject of the history of GM/Fisher Body assembly plants? I know that there is a decent book covering the subject of American car plants, but it doesn't devote too much attention to Pontiacs. May be a good subject for my next book.

Missed this question initially; the answer is maybe. I do have this article, found in an annual publication, about the history of GMAD:

[I left this sideways on purpose so that the size would not be reduced]


Relative to Fisher body - I have to believe there is something documented. There were seven Fisher brothers, some of them somewhat eccentric, so their impact on the communities of Southeast Michigan is well known. I would suspect that some of those books touch on the actual car plants.

Sometime at your leisure I'd like to talk to you about this whole "book writing" process...

[Keith Seymore]

Ok - having said all that, here's how it would affect the charts:

For GMAD Plant Code F - Flint, MI:

If this entry is for Flint Assembly on Van Slyke (I believe it is, considering the 1970 model mix and then the transition to trucks) then the dates should be 1947 - Present. The plant was a Chevrolet/Fisher body combination until the time at which the "new" '73 C/K pickup was introduced. At that point it the two divisions were merged and it became wholly a Chevrolet plant (Chevrolet Flint Assembly). The wall inside the plant, separating the two halves, is still there. The plant is still in use, producing 30 series pickups and cab chassis (the Medium Duty portion was just shut down in July 2009).



Incidentally, it was on this same real estate that the first 300 Corvettes were produced. They were built in the "Research" building located on the northeast corner of the property (building is no longer there).







GMAD Plant Code P - Pontiac, MI:

If this is the plant on Opdyke, then the dates should be either 1972 to 2009, or 1986 to 2009, as discussed above (or we need a separate entry for this truck plant).

GMAD Plant Code R:

Arlington is still in use today, producing full size utilities (Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac), so the date should be 1953 to present

GMAD Plant code 1: Oshawa - dates should be 1953 to 2009.

Does this all make sense?

K

[Keith Seymore]

One final thought: I have a wisp of a memory that not all GM assembly plants adopted the "GMAD" name. If that is the case then it really wouldn't be totally proper to refer to "GMAD plants" or "GMAD plant codes" for those specific facilities.

I can't verify it with anything I see here, but if I come up with something more conclusive I will let you know.

K

[02Hawk]

My 70 Judge was built in Baltimore according to my PHS docs and the build sheet

[T A 70]

Boy that #1 Vette wouldn't be worth much now, would it?
They have John Wayne's Vette over at the Reno Auto Museum I think it's #6, but I'm getting too old to remember things like that!

[gtoric]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Ok - having said all that, here's how it would affect the charts:

For GMAD Plant Code F - Flint, MI:

If this entry is for Flint Assembly on Van Slyke (I believe it is, considering the 1970 model mix and then the transition to trucks) then the dates should be 1947 - Present. The plant was a Chevrolet/Fisher body combination until the time at which the "new" '73 C/K pickup was introduced. At that point it the two divisions were merged and it became wholly a Chevrolet plant (Chevrolet Flint Assembly). The wall inside the plant, separating the two halves, is still there. The plant is still in use, producing 30 series pickups and cab chassis (the Medium Duty portion was just shut down in July 2009).

Flint assembly plants identification is a little confusing to me since there were so many different facilities and upgrades in that city over the last 107 years.

GMAD Plant Code P - Pontiac, MI:

If this is the plant on Opdyke, then the dates should be either 1972 to 2009, or 1986 to 2009, as discussed above (or we need a separate entry for this truck plant).

Outside of the main PMD Joslyn Ave. facility, how many different ass'y plants (Chevrolet/GMC truck) have there been in Pontiac? I am most familiar with the Opdyke Rd. plant. I may have to add an additional entry for the CentrePoint plant if it overlapped into the '64-'74 time frame. Wasn't the plant I have listed the truck plant that was located south of Pontiac? I'm thinking near the old Amtrack station just off Woodward. It has been demo'ed for many years now??

GMAD Plant Code R:
Arlington is still in use today, producing full size utilities (Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac), so the date should be 1953 to present

Yes, I left the closing date blank. I will change that entry to a "present" date entry.

GMAD Plant code 1: Oshawa - dates should be 1953 to 2009.

I'll change this as well.

Does this all make sense?

Perfect...you're the man!!

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by T A 70

Boy that #1 Vette wouldn't be worth much now, would it?
They have John Wayne's Vette over at the Reno Auto Museum I think it's #6, but I'm getting too old to remember things like that!

I think the oldest recorded (production) vettes are #2 and #3 (or maybe just #3 - you're not the only one struggling with your memory...).

However - there is one older: the Motorama Corvette is still in existance and making public appearances. That one's worth some bucks!

K

[My442]

I worked at the GM assembly plant in Framingham from 1972 to 1974.

Interesting job.....

[johnta1]

What part of the plant?

We need more info on how the plant/lines ran.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by johnta1

What part of the plant?

We need more info on how the plant/lines ran.

John -

If you haven't already, I would encourage you to read my Chevy truck thread, linked in my signature.

It is primarily about the restoration of my new/old pickup, but there are about 16 pages of annecdotes from and about the inner workings of GM assembly plants.

K