St Louis Corvette Assembly

[Terry M.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Not having been in Bowling Green in 1980 I can not tell you all the details. All I know is what I heard from some of the long-term local people in the 1990's when we came in. I can tell you that some of our challenges were because we were "outsiders" and there was an ingrained suspicion of anyone not local, and being from "the North" made it all the worse. That sentiment is not uncommon in this country however. It simply works in reverse where I live, and even big cities are no immune from it.

[Timothy B.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Mike,

That's a pretty neat picture, I don't think it's ever been posted before. I am floored at the paint on the exhaust pipes as I thought the mufflers were all that was blacked out.

[Paul J.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

The number of jobs that any new plant will bring into a community is provided by the company in the initial site search that they perform. The local economic developers use this to gain support from local leaders, and to generate interest in the facility. This number is the prime factor in setting the amount of incentives that the community will give to the company to locate there. Most projects are incentive driven, even when they say they're not. Today in particular, there are clawback clauses in the incentive agreements, mainly because of projects similar to the Bowling Green facility where everything that the company promised did not materialize. In this case, more workers relocated than expected, but in other cases it can be market conditions and slow sales, lack of financing, the company's financial health, or several other factors which the company did not foresee.

[Michael H.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Mike,

That's a pretty neat picture, I don't think it's ever been posted before. I am floored at the paint on the exhaust pipes as I thought the mufflers were all that was blacked out.

Timothy

Yes, there's a lot of good information in that picture. Decades ago, I tried to explain that much of the exhaust system was coated during final blackout but no one seemed to believe it. That and dozens of other things that no one wanted to hear. I finally just gave up.

[Rob M.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

here are the other three pictures of interest of the movie:

Knipsel.jpgKnipsel2.jpgSt_Louis.jpg

[Steven B.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

I wonder how much of the animosity the locals had was because the politician's sold the people a bill of goods about how many people that GM would hire to get the bonds passed. I don't think it so much a race thing as it was jobs, now you see it now you don't. Happens all the time. The same thing happened when they closed the Fort Wayne In. IH heavy truck plant & moved to Springfield Oh. FW workers took jobs people in Springfield were promised to get the bonds ETC approved.

Ken, as you know it was a great loss, among others, to FTW. I had a lot of friends who worked there. A long time ago a fellow named Lingenfelter. Connersville (IN) had a large Ford plant, A/C and radiators, that employed thousands now in Mexico. A friend who was an engineer in Connersville moved to El Paso as a consultant for the plant across the border. A group of "investors" sold the community the idea they were going to corner the police car market and bring jobs into Connersville. Carbon Motors got millions in concessions from the community that was really hurting and occupied the Ford plant among other things. They left town one night without delivering. They sold the powers to be a line. As a recent president of an economic development corp. I can attest to the fact folks come in with hands out promising great things with nothing behind the promise. All too often decision makers fall for the slight of hand. Steve

[Mark D.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

That assembly line pic that Mike Eby posted is great! I have to wonder how a restored 65, with that blackout process, would judge today? I know Elio Martin, the 65 NTL, is and will continue to be open to any and all factual information that is brought to him. That picture is certainly one excellent data point. It also lends further credence to what Michael Hanson has been saying all along.

[William L.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Here's a couple of pictures from my Ed Teske file.
June 23, 24, and 26 1961 the NCCC held their first annual convention in St Louis and was given a tour of the plant. From Mr Teske's notes: E.W. Rundell, Manager of Chevrolet's St Louis Assembly Plant, E.T. Teske, General Superintendent of the Corvette Plant and Richard Wolf, President NCCC. on the assembly line.
Teskey File.jpgTeskey File 001.jpg

[Loren L.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

That assembly line pic that Mike Eby posted is great! I have to wonder how a restored 65, with that blackout process, would judge today? I know Elio Martin, the 65 NTL, is and will continue to be open to any and all factual information that is brought to him. That picture is certainly one excellent data point. It also lends further credence to what Michael Hanson has been saying all along.

BUT.... I would wonder if something happened to, or under, the bellhousing after paint; I would certainly not expect masking the bell, or even giving a d___ about not getting orange color on it......

[Ken R.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Vicki and I toured the corvette plant in May of 65 after I got our 65 in March and graduated from college in Rolla. It was a tram pulled tour so was pretty quickly over with. No photos allowed so the memory gets fuzzy real quickly. Plant was not a nicely lite or clean looking working facility as I recall. Trucks were on line next to corvettes. Drove down to StL, parked across street, took tour, and drove back home. Who knew that I should have remembered more. Didn't even take a photo of the car in front of its birth place, darn!!

[Mark D.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

BUT.... I would wonder if something happened to, or under, the bellhousing after paint; I would certainly not expect masking the bell, or even giving a d___ about not getting orange color on it......

I agree and, I believe it is fair to say, based on what members have stated, these Corvettes went in for light and heavy repair on a fairly routine basis.

I'm not interested in starting a controversy here but, being open to learning new things about long held beliefs is what makes NCRS the leader of the pack in the old car hobby...or it should. Using the expertise of the membership and it's vast wealth of knowledge is the NCRS way...for the most part.

The pic Mike posted, I would hope, can be yet another excellent data point to gaining knowledge about how the cars were assembled. Give David Burroughs credit..."the way they were, not the way we wish they were."...(I hope I got that right)

[Michael H.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

BUT.... I would wonder if something happened to, or under, the bellhousing after paint; I would certainly not expect masking the bell, or even giving a d___ about not getting orange color on it......

Loren

If you look closely, you will see that there is orange paint on the clutch housing. The forward flange shows orange and there's a lot more over the top, especially on the right. Not anywhere near what we normally see but I have seen several this way.

If the gun is held closer than normal and tipped toward the head/block, it would result in a paint pattern such as this.

[Jeff P.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

I always thought it would have been pretty cool if the museum had been on the site of the original plant on Union Blvd. in St. Louis.

[Michael H.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

here are the other three pictures of interest of the movie:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]49471[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49472[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49473[/ATTACH]

Thanks Rob. Great pictures.

The building on the corner of Union & Natural Bridge wasn't the Corvette building. The Corvette building was maybe 1000 ft further north west on Natural Bridge. Everyone that worked there referred to it as the mill building.

[John D.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

I believe the UAW contract still gives workers the right to follow their jobs if production is shifted. Years ago I worked at the GM assembly plant in Tarrytown NY. When it closed many hourly workers I knew went to the Doraville Ga plant with the new product along with all their previous senority. This really pissed off the Georgia locals who got bumped off jobs and shifts many had for years.

I gave one guy I knew a t-shirt with a target on the back....

There were more than a few St. Louis workers at the Wentzville, Mo plant when I worked there too although I would suspect they're all retired by know....30 yrs and out you know.