1965 NHRA Nationals - Indianapolis. Big Daddy Don Garlits tests the fuel mixture between races. Pikes Peak Diane Porter 1940 Ford Big Wheel
Betty Skelton readies to set the land speed record for women n Art Arfons Cyclops beforei her record run at Bonneville on September 27, 1965
View of concept cars (among them a 'Corsair' with a bubbletop) at an unspecified automotive show, 1950 Ray "Kansas Cyclone" Weishaar back in 1914.
Fremont GM assembly plant 1965. Continued from above. Funny process, the A arms and other parts still bare metal they are painted later AFTER the frame is altogether???
I worked at an Oldsmobile Pontiac plant in the same time period and that is the way they did it there too. Not very efficient and pretty messy. Seems like there was something on the back end of the chassis they also painted. The gun was low pressure and narrow fan. The paint dried almost instantly.
GM pumped out 1072 vehicles per day out of the Fremont plant. It was eventually closed in the early 1980's. Of course, I have no facts to back this up, but when a company like GM closes a plant and dumps all the employees on the street, I would not be surprised if those people stop having very much loyalty to that company, and when it comes time to purchase a new car, they don't purchase a GM product. I know that I wouldn't...
I’ve tried to make sense of that too. I thought that different plants handled that detail in different ways. But these are all Fremont. I assumed that once the engine was dropped, then no more painting on the frame or suspension. I noticed that sometimes they’d install the suspension and exhaust, then paint everything black. Then in other instances, they’d leave the rear axle housing and all the brake drums bare. Sometimes they shot only enough to black out certain things, like the muffler and part of the exhaust that were in the line of sight on the completed car (X-frames, in particular).
To further the comment about plant shutdowns by @George Klass think of the effect on the surrounding community. Restaurants, gas stations, taverns, even the dry cleaner felt the pain. I worked at the Electro-Motive Division of GMC and there was a time when they employed 10,000+ at the main plant and probably another 2500 or so at satellite facilities around the country. As the plant downsized the impact on the local economy was significant and today that plant is owned by Caterpillar with a much smaller workforce and only limited locomotive components produced there. While I am not getting rich on the pension my benefit package is great for both my wife and I and it was a good living. I have always and will continue to buy GM.
When I see pics like this yard, I always wonder why these cars were sent here to begin with! So many look good enough to fix except now they have been crushed by the others! I know, different mentality back then but.......
As sad as these pictures are, you have to appreciate just how strong the metal was back then, to have them stacked like that, and them still being relatively intact, sad to see so many good usable parts left on them, that at the time, nobody considered to be valuable.
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