Not sure were to exactly post this, so if it's in the wrong area please move it. Second if this has already been posted please delete. Thought this was pretty interesting and worth sharing to everyone. http://www.dump.com/2011/07/15/fascinating-1936-footage-of-car-assembly-line-video/
I worked in the Ford plant in Louisville in the early 60s.Was paid $3.68 an hour !!!!!! I thought I did back braking work until I saw this tape !!!! OSHA would have had a field day in 1936 in that plant.
I think this is part of a full length movie. I have seen other parts of it where they are making the Knee Action front end, a part where they are forging crankshafts. Nothing is ever identified in the films but everything is 1936 Chevrolet. I have never seen the complete film which I think exists. Thanks for posting this part.
This action appears to be taking place in the old Chevrolet complex "in the hole" in Flint, MI. The fenders were being stamped in the old Plt #8; the body roofs were being stamped in what was then Fisher Body #2 . (In my era [1955-1973] that was Chevy Plt #2A). The bodies were finished in that building then carried via a bridge over Chevrolet Ave.to Plt #2 where the final assembly line was. I spent considerable time in that area during my tme there. It was never used as assembly after WW II-it was converted into a die shop which was why I was there. I have to guess about the frame operation-it was probably in Plant #2 as well. Alas all you'll see there now is crushed stone and chain link fence.
Fantastic. Thanks for sharing! That's our Grandfathers building our cars and country. Much automated but still hard work. My lower back hurts watching the two guys continuously lifting frames over to a conveyor.
Great Vid-back in the day when there was a lot of jobs for humans in the manufacturing process. Thanks for posting.
I was wondering if it was Chevy or Pontiac they were building, now I know. Its a shame that all that history is now crushed stone and chain link fencing.
At $3.68 in the early 60s, that smae amount today is about $26 a hour. I love my U.S.A but it makes me sad to see what it has become. Those damn Politicians.
such a cool video.. always wonder why they used rivets instead of welding the frames.. now i see why they had machines to do it.. yeah, iv drilled my share of rivets out of damn frames. LOL cool stuff.. aww i bet a guy on here could use a roof panel.. maybe thre is a barn full of them. out there some where the old dies saved? chris.
Great, great video. It's taken from the "Master Hands"* film by GM and shows the 36 Chevy production line, including the big presses for punching out the big roof panels in one piece - an industry first for GM in '36 (don't quote me on this). I saw it in four sections on archive.org (I think) and the original soundtrack was by the Detroit Philaharmonic orchestra. It won an award in later years for something (I'm dredging my memory here) I thought the industrial trance music soundtrack they have put over it worked quite well, emphasising the hypnotic motion of the machines. Thanks for the link, I enjoyed watching it in the new version. * Master Hands - notice the close ups of the operator's hands as a recurring theme. Mart.
You are right! I thought it was another Mopar first, but GM did it. http://history.gmheritagecenter.com/wiki/index.php/1934,_The_First_One-Piece_All-Steel_Roof
Great video, thanks for sharing! I have to believe that those guys working that assembly line thought that it was the highest tech ever to be seen in automobile manufacturing...how things have changed.