MONDAY MORNING HISTORY CLASS CLASS IS NOW IN SESSION! 9-7
Ok, I know it’s Labor Day and *nobody* is really going to attend class today, so I thought we’d do somethin’ a little different. Field Trip!!
Hop into our old GMC School bus and we’ll drive over the Chevrolet Willow Run assembly plant and take a tour!
Chevrolet has made a rather nice color, 4 page brouchure for us . I’ve included images of it on this post. Obviously, this brouchure was done for Corvair’s inaugural year; I am not aware of any done after that time. You’ll note the production path of the car, pointing out in what order things were installed into /onto the body; also note the separate engine line.
The text also notes the plant was built exclusively for Corvair production, but we all know now the Chevy II model would begin to share assembly there during late 1961. If the Corvair assembly was unusual, imagine how they managed to build *both* the Corvair and the Chevy II on *the same line* !
Eventually, with steep decline of Corvair production after 1966, and sales of the rebodied Chevy II/Novas for 1968 surging, production of the slow selling Corvairs became a significant production issue – On October 28th, 1968, 1969 Corvair production stopped, resuming on November 15th in a special area in the northeast corner of the plant. This Corvair only assembly line was 400 feet long, manned by 43 of Willow Run’s most experienced workers, supervisors and utility men. Each man was specially chosen because he showed a personal interest in the project and the Corvair.
We all know the last Corvair was built on May 14th in the special “Corvair room”; that momet is well documented and can be seen on You Tube.
.There’s a whole ‘nother story about those last couple of cars, but that’s a subject for another day.
The Willow Run plant went on to build the Chevrolet Nova (1962–1979), Pontiac Ventura, Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, Buick Apollo, and Buick Skylark, the front-wheel-drive X-cars Oldsmobile Omega, and Buick Skylark (1980–1985), the front-wheel-drive H body Oldsmobile 88 and Pontiac Bonneville, and the B-body Chevrolet Caprice sedan and wagon, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon, and the Buick Roadmaster Estate wagon cars up through July 1993. The former plant was then used as a giant warehouse for time, but I could not find any clear information of its current status. Perhaps one of our DACC readers could update us. I suspect it has met its fate with the wrecking ball…..
Enjoy the Holiday!
CLASS DISMISSED!
Leave a Reply