[Greg Reid]

On the HPP website.

http://www.highperformancepontiac.co...ine/index.html

[tripower]

Never seen some of these before. Thanks for the info Greg!

[JLHarper]

I am surprised there are not more factory pictures in circulation.
I rarely see any.

Did GM keep that tight of control over their pictures?
You hear stories of items being thrown away so looks like there would be more to view that is in cirulation.

Also, I was wondering if Pontiac had uniforms the workers had to wear while on the line?
Some show what looks like uniforms, some in dress white ss shirts, with and without tie, and some in regular street clothes.

I meant to ask a few guys we talked with (who retired) for a project, but didnt.

Along that line, you can see one guy leaning all over the side of a 68 GTO in what looks like street clothes.
I would have thought they would have stricter control over this as damage could have been rather siginificant, imo.

Anyone know?

Bty, the photos in the OCT 09 HPP mag are really nice, full color, large photos.
Super article!

It would nice if they could do a special edition on Pontiac, and sell it.
If it had pictures like these factory shots inside, I bet people would buy at about any price.
Make it a series.

Or...make a hard bound book with historic pictures.

[Brandi Kay]

beautiful!!!

[Keith Seymore]

So many questions, JL!

I'll try to answer one at a time:

First of all, the Design Studio photos in that same issue were provided by PY member Jeff Denison; Jeff could very well be the only remaining GM employee that still has access to those vaults.

Yes - GM kept tight control over their photos. Only GM photographers were allowed to take pictures (not regular assembly line employees). You are correct, though: there have been reports of photos and documents being unceremoneously dumped and some of these documents do turn up after the fact.

Uniforms: for hourly employees there were sometimes work uniforms (like the guys at the gas station would wear - reference the guys in the Firebird body drop picture) or you could just wear street clothes. Skilled tradesmen (pipefitters, electricians, etc) often would wear those grey pinstriped coveralls. For Salary: no "official" uniform but the unofficial accepted attire was white shirt, dark dress pants and skinny dark tie. This uniform got more relaxed in later years, such that you could wear pastel colored (company provided) dress shirts, no tie and your favorite cardigan sweater (complete with a hole in the elbow).

Things were pretty relaxed about scratching the vehicles back then (what is now called "mutilation protection"). In fact, our GTO is quite the quality vehicle, complete with scratches, poor paint adhesion and hairs in the paint. As you might expect, GM today is much more particular, installing protective tape over critical areas and requiring workers to remove (or cover) rings and other jewlery and to wear protectors over belt buckles.

I agree that a book of photos would be a good seller but I'm not sure there are enough pictures to fill a book...

K

[Andretti]

Great photos, thanks for sharing this!

[Tennesseestorm]

Neato!

I see a "new" 73 Catalina rolling off the line as the 16 millionth Pontiac... would have loved to have seen my 73 Grand Ville rolling off of the line in one of those pics!

[JLHarper]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

So many questions, JL!

I'll try to answer one at a time:

...........I agree that a book of photos would be a good seller but I'm not sure there are enough pictures to fill a book...

K

Keith, I knew you would, because you know the answers (and why I asked).... BTY...it was Two questions...

BOOKS: you are kidding me, right? GM didnt take that many pictures?

Thats a crying shame and I find that hard to beleive...I am sure you know and dont doubt what you say is true, just that they didnt photo document their heritage?

Thanks,
Jeff

[Greg Reid]

Notice the paint on these cars. They look nothing like what we demand on our restored cars today...and I'm not even talking about upper end show cars.

[JLHarper]

Greg, your are right.... thats wild.

Good catch.

I went back to magazine I have and looked at the color pics to see if better, and they are about the same as online.

How would you like to work in that factory? Cold in the winter? I bet they had dozens of doors always opening and closing so draft was constant.

Ive been inside some big mfg areas in my rep days, but those pics look like the line goes on further than you can see.
Jeff

[MikeNoun]

Took me a month or two, but I finally completed my "Pontiac Assembly Line Tribute" to go along with my "Pontiac Tribute" from a couple months ago. I was honored that my Pontiac Tribute was shown repeatedly at the POCI/GTOAA show up on the big screen. I love doing these videos, but sometimes it just takes a long time to scan in dozens and dozens of photos, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bU4A0ydXLIE

[chuckmnv]

Great, Mike!
cm

[JLHarper]

That is very well done, Mike.

Makes you sad to watch it.

Jeff

[Hitman]

Whenever I look at a car, restored or in the junkyard I always try to picture it a brand new car and someone excited about taking it home. It is real cool to look at those kind of pictures.

[JLHarper]

Wonder if the Moderators would consider putting this in YOUR BEST PONTIAC STORIES as a sticky so it can be added to when pictures/videos come up?

Great content.

[Greg Reid]

Thanks for the video Mike. That's another winner!

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by JLHarper

Wonder if the Moderators would consider putting this in YOUR BEST PONTIAC STORIES as a sticky so it can be added to when pictures/videos come up?

Great content.

I think that's a great idea.

[The Boss]

Great video Mike, thank you!

[Rugratman]

Here is one

[gtoric]

You POCI members will already be aware of the fact that I have a multi-part series of articles that have begun appearing in the Smoke Signals magazine. This series is an interview of an ex-employee of the Pontiac assembly complex in Pontiac. I was able to get ahold of around 40 factory photos taken during startup for the 1964 model year. This series in Smoke Signals will eventually feature around 30 of those photos. There are some really great shots of the assembly line, although they are all in b&W.