#21  
Old 03-26-2008, 08:42 AM
GT182's Avatar
GT182 GT182 is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: New Castle, Delaware - Member of POFC
Posts: 8,833
Default

I'd believe it seeing I drove for Anchor Mtr Frt up in NY and hauled out of St. Therese PQ. GM up there did some really strange things. Same goes for Framingham MA, Tarrytown, NY, Linden NJ, Baltimore MD, Lewiston NY, Oshawa ONT, Wilmington DE. The only plants remaining out of that list are Wilmington and Oshawa.

Wilmington's fate is yet to be determined. As of now they're building the Solistice and it's Saturn sister the Sky.

__________________


Gary
Get in, ShuT Up, Hang On!
Member of the Baltimore Built Brotherhood
MY GTO built 4th Week of March 1966
"Crusin' Is Not A Crime"
Keep yer stick on the ice.
  #22  
Old 03-26-2008, 09:30 AM
citydesk175's Avatar
citydesk175 citydesk175 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Macomb, MI
Posts: 167
Default right rear tail light lens

Quote:
Originally Posted by zbuickman
Its kinda funny this story surfaced from the Pontiac plant. Ive been digging up information on my car. which isnt quite right and have come across stories of "shananagans" going on within the Pontiac plant. and this is not an isolated incident. Thats my understanding any way
In the early 70's, Pontiac was flooded with fresh built but unshippable Grandvilles which were being built at line speed without the right rear tail light lens which were unavailable in the supply line. As always, any decision like this hangs on the Plant Manager who said build em and park em.

This kind of over supply might be another explanation for lost / hidden cars at plants.

regards

  #23  
Old 03-26-2008, 10:28 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre
Okay, so what exactly is a flat tire rig?
Tire and wheel validation is very rigorous, as you might expect (and hope). Newly designed tires and/or wheels go through quite a bit of bench testing before they are even allowed on a vehicle or on the Proving Ground road system.

The flat tire rig was used for those situations where a prototype tire style/brand passed the bench testing and was ready to progress to vehicle level testing. However, before it was put on a regular production or development vehicle, it would be put on the flat tire rig and checked for high speed behavior and durability as well as "limit" handling. The rig also had an apparatus that could let air out of the tire to simulate both a slow leak or an instantaneous loss of air (blowout), again to verify the tire's behavior.

After passing this series of tests the tire would be allowed on other vehicles to continue with its general development.

K

__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
  #24  
Old 03-26-2008, 11:19 AM
mike nixon mike nixon is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: PORTLAND,IN,47371
Posts: 12,322
Default

i've never been involved in the inner working of the gm system but have been on the dealer end. i know of several cars that were "lost" in the delivery cycle. the one that was gone the longest was a late 80's rosewood colored parisienne wagon. loaded car. it was "lost" for over 6 months. the factory said it was shipped, the shipping company never had a manifest. we ended up procuring one from another dealer for the customer who ordered it.

when the car finally showed up the rr tailight was inoperable, when it was pulled out for testing the car had heavy damage repaired on the right side.

things happen, cars / parts get lost, shipped to the wrong place, parked in the wrong areas, ect.

eventually they show up.

mike

__________________
so many pontiacs, so little time..................


moderator is a glorified word for an unappreciated prick..................


"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the
former." --Albert Einstein



"There is no such thing as a good tax."

"We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle."

- Winston Churchill
  #25  
Old 03-26-2008, 03:43 PM
Old Blue 66 Old Blue 66 is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 6,351
Default

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

  #26  
Old 03-26-2008, 04:48 PM
Region Warrior's Avatar
Region Warrior Region Warrior is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: NW Indiana
Posts: 6,544
Default

I know GM scraps perfectly good return parts.
Toured the Chicago(now Bolingbrook) warehouse a few times last 20 yrs.
Never can get the sight out of my head when i see the train car size dumpster full of new returned parts.
Broke my heart the last two 67-8 FB fenders i returned do to minor dents(customer refused) were scraped by GM.
It's just a # to them, nothing more.

__________________
If you cant drive from gas pump to gas pump across the map, its not a street car.


http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/b...hop/?start=100
  #27  
Old 03-27-2008, 06:38 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
Default

Quote:
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
I'll see what I can find (it did appear in HotRod/Car Craft, or maybe I have a pic in my files).

I hope I'm in better shape than it was after 35 years of service!


__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
  #28  
Old 03-27-2008, 07:29 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
Default

Speaking of DPG pictures, this one has always intrigued me.

Anybody notice anything interesting here?:


__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
  #29  
Old 03-27-2008, 08:54 AM
GT182's Avatar
GT182 GT182 is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: New Castle, Delaware - Member of POFC
Posts: 8,833
Default

Yeah, the UFO in the upper right corner of the picture. LOL Could be an F-14????

Only other thing is the 67? Camaro drag car up against the 68? street Vette..... on the highway of all things. And the mic to announce the loser. LOL

__________________


Gary
Get in, ShuT Up, Hang On!
Member of the Baltimore Built Brotherhood
MY GTO built 4th Week of March 1966
"Crusin' Is Not A Crime"
Keep yer stick on the ice.
  #30  
Old 03-27-2008, 09:13 AM
boltbuster's Avatar
boltbuster boltbuster is offline
Senior Chief
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Buffalo Grove, Illinois
Posts: 458
Talking

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Seymore
Speaking of DPG pictures, this one has always intrigued me.

Anybody notice anything interesting here?:

The guys in suits and skinny ties have a genuine Sixties look. Don't think you'd see a lot of that anymore at the drags.

  #31  
Old 03-27-2008, 09:25 AM
6704gto's Avatar
6704gto 6704gto is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: baltimore,md
Posts: 1,624
Default

ISNT THAT GRUMPYS CAMARO

  #32  
Old 03-27-2008, 10:36 AM
mzbk2l's Avatar
mzbk2l mzbk2l is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: AZ, at the foot of Superstition Mountain
Posts: 1,208
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GT182
Only other thing is the 67? Camaro drag car up against the 68? street Vette..... on the highway of all things. And the mic to announce the loser. LOL
They're not on the highway, they're on the 1-mile straightaway in the center of the 5-mile circle track (you can see the guard rail around the circle track in the background behind the Camaro). 30-some years later, my house would be about 4 miles into the background of that picture. Back then, it was nothing but desert.

__________________
Mike
  #33  
Old 03-27-2008, 10:46 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mzbk2l
They're not on the highway, they're on the 1-mile straightaway in the center of the 5-mile circle track (you can see the guard rail around the circle track in the background behind the Camaro). 30-some years later, my house would be about 4 miles into the background of that picture. Back then, it was nothing but desert.
Exactly (good eye, Mike - I figured you'd be the one to get it).

The photo was taken on the short straightway of the GM Desert Proving Ground, in late 1967 or early 1968.

Yes - that's Bill Jenkin's '67 SS Camaro (racecar!) putting the hurt on a production (I assume) '68 Corvette.

And yes - I dig the skinny neck ties!

K

Here's another pic of 'da Grump:


__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
  #34  
Old 03-27-2008, 10:54 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
Default

The way I came to get that picture: one day when I was working at the DPG I happened to cut through the Administration building and noticed a nice photo montage of historic/vintage pictures. That one caught my eye because I thought that Camaro looked awfully familiar!

I asked the lady in the photo lab if I could get a copy and she very graciously found the negative and made two new prints for me. I've kept it in my files since then.

K

__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
  #35  
Old 03-27-2008, 11:20 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GT182
Yeah, the UFO in the upper right corner of the picture. LOL Could be an F-14????
Ok, now you've got me thinking of DPG stories...

a) Speaking of F-14's, for years Williams Air Force Base (aka "Willie Field") was on the other side of Ellsworth Road from the Proving Ground. We had a very good neighborly relationship with them; ocassionally we would host a "Manager's Exchange Day" where our manager would spend the day at their facility, culminating in an airplane ride, and their manager would spend the day at our place, usually culminating in a "fast car" ride.

We would laugh when we would get the feedback from the day. It was reported the Air Force pilots would look over at us and say "...look at those clowns. All they do is 'drive around' all day...".

Naturally, we were thinking "...look at those clowns. All they do is 'fly around' all day".


b) Willie Field would host an annual "Willie Field Day", which would include displays and an air show. Often the headlining group would be either the "Blue Angels" or the "Thunderbirds". As you might expect, they would practice through the week prior to their weekend performance. We didn't get much done that week and, if you needed to find somebody, there was a good chance they would be on the roof of the building watching the "free" air show!

c) Speaking of standing around outside I remember the first time it rained after I moved there. Grown men, standing around outside (in the rain), with their mouths open...looking to the heavens. It was like they had never seen rain before! If they were turkeys they would have drowned....

d) One astute employee noticed that both Williams Field and the GM Proving Ground had barbed wire on the top of their respective fences - but - the wire on the top of Willie Field's fence pointed "out" and the wire on the top of our fence pointed "in". Our assement was either (1) there were prevailing westerly winds (not likely) or (2) the Air Force wanted to keep intruders "out" whereas GM wanted to keep the employees "in".


__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
  #36  
Old 03-27-2008, 03:26 PM
Region Warrior's Avatar
Region Warrior Region Warrior is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: NW Indiana
Posts: 6,544
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Seymore
Speaking of DPG pictures, this one has always intrigued me.

Anybody notice anything interesting here?:

Looks like a 68-9 Catalina or Bonneville parked behind them.

__________________
If you cant drive from gas pump to gas pump across the map, its not a street car.


http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/b...hop/?start=100
  #37  
Old 03-28-2008, 11:45 AM
citydesk175's Avatar
citydesk175 citydesk175 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Macomb, MI
Posts: 167
Default

I love the old GM pictures. There must have been hundreds of GM photographers all over the place... including me for a while.

But the good old days are gone. Every department seems to have a digital camera and the last time I saw a real photographer here, he was taking portraits for the online person identifier known as the "People Finder"

There is a photo session that I participated in that still gives me nightmares
The order said set up the camera in the DYNO lab, let the tech rev the engine till the exhaust system gets cherry red, click, repeat.

After the session ended, the tech discussed how the engines occasionaly blew up and the risks I had taken to take a picture or two

I think I have a pic, I will look for it.

Another bad old day example happened often before the creation of the GM Heritage Center. I was told to empty a cabinet and place the cabinet in the hall with a SCRAP sign on it. The cabinet was filled with 35 mm slides of current, future and past model cars. I dumped all the slides because there was no process to archive photographic material at the time.

sigh
Citydesk175

  #38  
Old 04-02-2008, 09:09 PM
citydesk175's Avatar
citydesk175 citydesk175 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Macomb, MI
Posts: 167
Default

Quote:
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

Just thinking tonite about how GM culture has changed. The Brands (pontiac, Chevrolet etc) are reduced to marketing groups. The buildings around GM that used to be associated with brands are now associated with technologies.....lots of Powertrain Palaces. Chevrolet Central Office (CCO) is in transition again and even the Cadillac (sp?)engineering is now Purchasing or something.

Many of the good old stories about exciting cars or peculiar/eccentric/highly skilled people no longer happen in a tighter ship that is structured differently.

Years ago a skilled tradesman painter was scraping a wall in my department getting ready to paint. He was using one of those combination scrapers that had the semi-circular cutout for cleaning paint rollers.......You could buy this for $2.79 back then but not this one. First, the handle looked like Micarta and second the blade appeared to be hardened tool steel. How about a guess of $279.00 from the company machine shop?

Then when Chrysler was testing chapt 11 many years ago, there were rumors in GM plants that some Chrysler workers were kept busy making logsplitters. I expect that there is a temptation to keep skilled workers busy making something valuable that someone can get for free.

Take care
More thoughts to come

  #39  
Old 04-03-2008, 07:17 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by citydesk175
Then when Chrysler was testing chapt 11 many years ago, there were rumors in GM plants that some Chrysler workers were kept busy making logsplitters. I expect that there is a temptation to keep skilled workers busy making something valuable that someone can get for free.

Take care
More thoughts to come
Uh oh - now you are going to get me going again...



Some of you know, my Dad started out as an apprentice in the die room (back about 1956) at Chevrolet Flint Manufacturing. The "leaders" in the die room (also hourly employees) are always looking for projects to help hone the skills of these young apprentices. They discovered a large supply of leftover stainless steel in the tool room and someone got the idea that this stainless would make a nice boat anchor.

Dad got the assignment; so he drew it up and crafted a pretty nice piece. However, before it got shipped one of the senior plant managers caught wind of it and decided that HE wanted a stainless anchor for his boat, too.

Pretty soon there was a whole line of managers that wanted one of these works of art.

Before all was said and done, I think Dad said he had made either eight or ten of these anchors (plus an extra or two for the security guards)....

__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
  #40  
Old 04-03-2008, 07:26 AM
Keith Seymore's Avatar
Keith Seymore Keith Seymore is offline
Ultimate Warrior
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Motor City
Posts: 8,182
Default

Another story that comes to mind is about a certain die that kept having breakdowns (again, back in the late 50s/early 60s).

Most of the "details" on a die (ie, the small parts that are attached to the main body) are attached using a hardened "cap screw" type bolt. The intent is to keep the bolt from breaking, but in this case the bolt kept pulling the threads out of the die. The die makers would have to go out there, drill the hole out larger, tap the larger hole and then install the next upsized bolt. Naturally, after a while, it wasn't practical to go any bigger and you would have to build a new tool and start the process over. That can get pretty expensive.

One night Dad was working and his supervisor came over and said "Van, there's someone here I'd like for you to meet. He has a new product I want you to try out". So dad took the guy back to one of the broken tools. This salesman had a little "kit" with him and he opened it up. There was a drill, and a tap, and some kind of funny little thread things.

Dad says "...what are those?".

The salesman said "These are called 'Heli-coils'.."

Dad was like "why didn't I think of that..."


__________________
'63 LeMans Convertible
'63 Grand Prix
'65 GTO - original, unrestored, Dad was original owner, 5000 original mile Royal Pontiac factory racer
'74 Chevelle - original owner, 9.85 @ 136 mph besthttp://www.superchevy.com/features/s...hevy-chevelle/
My Pontiac Story: http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=560524
"Intro from an old Assembly Plant Guy":http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=342926
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:42 PM.

 

About Us

The PY Online Forums is the largest online gathering of Pontiac enthusiasts anywhere in the world. Founded in 1991, it was also the first online forum for people to gather and talk about their Pontiacs. Since then, it has become the mecca of Pontiac technical data and knowledge that no other place can surpass.

 




Copyright © 2017