64 Assembly Line - Saving the Best for Last

[Michael H.]

Re: Pic Of The Mill Windows

Exactly right on the shields. Everyone thinks the hood edges were masked with masking tape. Not so. It was a one piece "U" shaped affair that masked the hood and also held it in the open position while the blackout was being applied. The mask hung from above on two small chains as I remember. I have a pic of it somewhere.

I vaguely remember the shields that were laid on each fender. Had two handles on it??

What in the world was going on with the steering wheels?

I once heard that hundreds of first design frosted 63 hub caps went in the dumpster when the 2nd design caps came out.

That old building was SO interesting. So much character. So hot in the summer....

I have about 10 hours of audio from inside that plant on cassette. I listened to it again for the first time in about 25 years a few months ago. It's just like being there again.

[Anthony F.]

[Michael H.]

Re: Pic Of The Mill Windows

Sounds a lot like what happened to the 63 1st design hub caps. I suppose it was more cost effective to scrap them than it would have been to ship them back to the warehouse. Amazing some of the things that were scrapped. (I won't even bring up the 1st design Z06 brake drums that were "scrapped") I've seen a lot of new GM parts hit the dumpster over the years.

What area of the plant did you work at the longest? Which did you like most?

Found a pic of the west entrance. West end, just north of the cafeteria.

[Michael H.]

Pic Of A St Louis Body

Good shot of a St Louis built body with bare fiberglass in the areas where the lower panel tabs would have masked the upper panel.

[Anthony F.]

[Michael H.]

Re: Pic Of A St Louis Body

Thanks for sharing the memories Tony.

Where do you live now? Have you attended any NCRS events, especially the Florida meet in January?

[Anthony F.]

[John H.]

Re: 64 Assembly Line - Saving the Best for Last

Michael -

That's A.O. Smith - don't know for sure about '64 A.O. Smith bodies, but from '65-up the new formed door trim panels were installed on all cars (St. Louis and A.O. Smith) at St. Louis on the Final Trim Line with all the other soft trim below the belt line.

[Michael H.]

Re: 64 Assembly Line - Saving the Best for Last

Ok, thought so. Thanks John. I remembered that line wasn't anywhere near a wall or windows at the Mill so it had to be the Smith line. Just a wall of boxes and misc at the Mill as I remember? That line ended somewhere near the center of the plant.

I suppose some of the first 64 bodies came from Smith with door trim installed but I suspect that changed quickly. It would be much more logical to install these at the St Louis plant to avoid possible water damage during transit of the body from Smith. Some of these cars leaked like a sprinkling can from birth.

[John D.]

Re: 64 Assembly Line - Saving the Best for Last

Michael, " Leaked like a sprinkling can." I can remember as a kid hanging out at Grabiak Chev not to far from Clem and the body shop was constantly removing w/s trim and smearing caulking or crap around the windshields because the new cars leaked big time. Had a new 66 and took a nice blond out for dinner and she got soaked on way home in big rain storm because the rh window didn't fit for crap and the w/s dripped. Had to take her to my parents so my mother could put her clothes in the dryer. Then we used my Dad's car rest of the night. Never saw her again. hee. Now up at the Marlborough regional it rained big time on Thursday when the ops checks were being done. First time my little white car was out after fresh resto and it poured down rain. I was soaked and so was my buddy Dave. But guess what.Not one drop of rain in the car. I couldn't beleave it because when those 63 coupes were new they leaked big time. John

[Chuck S.]

Re: 64 Assembly Line - Saving the Best for Last

Sounds like over-restoration to me. So...do you fail "ops" when the weatherstrips work better than when new?

[John D.]

Re: 64 Assembly Line - Saving the Best for Last

Chuck, You could fail PV if weatherstrips don't do their thing and also Ops. If doors don't close cause weatherstrips old and dried out like us senior citizens you could fail. Seriously car owners don't take ops serious enough and don't do their homework. Say the horn doesn't blow-that's a major hit and you loose 25 big points. That's a lot of dings that are hard to make up. Today we are having a judging seminar and I will bring this subject up. Bringing my judging sheets from Marlborough to show everyone how tough the judging really is. Sorry I didn't give a funny answer to your funny question though. Too early in AM. John

[Clem Z.]

mrs clem and i are taking the corvette for a

"leaf peeker" ride today and you are going to spend it indoors looking at judging sheets,one of us needs to find out what you should do with a corvette on a nice sunny fall day.

[Chuck S.]

Re: 64 Assembly Line - Saving the Best for Last

Don't worry, John...Now that you're "Top Poster", we're going to work on your sense of humor. You'll be able to recognize a rhetorical question for the sake of irony before you know it.

[John D.]

Re: 64 Assembly Line - Saving the Best for Last

Chuck and Clem, Nice replies. Clem there were a ton of Corvettes today at our chapter judging show for paint. Our judging chairmen Bill Gilbert with the help of Bill Bryan did a wonderful presentation of samples of different finishes and how to judge them using the std deducts pages. Clem you should have been there. Safer than traveling the Pitts roads today looking at dead leaves. Pretty though. What happened to out fall Clem? Summer to winter no fun. John