St Louis Corvette Assembly

[Mike E.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Michael with that much blackout paint on the exhaust that close to the engine I would imagine when the car was first started it would have smelled quite bad as the paint would burn off.

I don't know if GM used blackout on other cars but I remember when we picked up our new '63 Impala wagon the odor for the first several miles was very apparent. I remember asking my Dad..."Dad what's that bad smell?" he said something like "It's just paint burning off certain parts of the car it will go away a while".

Mike

[Michael H.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Michael with that much blackout paint on the exhaust that close to the engine I would imagine when the car was first started it would have smelled quite bad as the paint would burn off.

I don't know if GM used blackout on other cars but I remember when we picked up our new '63 Impala wagon the odor for the first several miles was very apparent. I remember asking my Dad..."Dad what's that bad smell?" he said something like "It's just paint burning off certain parts of the car it will go away a while".

Mike

Mike

Somewhere here I have a pic of a 63 Chevy chassis coming down the assy line just before body drop and you can see that the front exhaust pipe and muffler are covered in blackout, just like the Corvette. If I can find it, I'll post it.

You are right about the new car smell. Actually, a variety of different odors. It wasn't just the new interior. I suppose there were a lot of things that were burning paint. I still remember the variety of odors from the brand new 64 coupe we bought. Mostly interior smell I suppose but along with it I vaguely remember the smell of burnt paint. New rubber components etc.

It's that "new car smell"

[Timothy B.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

It would be very interesting to see what the bottom of the frame and exhaust looked like, there had to be blackout overspray everywhere. Also looks like some black on the rubber front brake hose but non on the brake line, very interesting and certainly non near the brake rotor.

[John H.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

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.

Here's the St. Louis plant site in the 60's, with the Union Boulevard and Natural Bridge intersection at the lower left; most of what you see here is the main 4-story Chevrolet passenger car and truck plant and the supplying Fisher Body plant. The Corvette plant ("The Mill") is the rectangular 1-story building at the upper left, behind the water tower and the powerhouse and coal pile. At the time, the St. Louis complex was the largest assembly plant in North America.


PlantSite1024.jpg

[Carl N.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Mike, thanks for posting hi res link - it would appear that there is surface rust in the openings of the cross member next to the holes for the exhaust pipes and also might be some on top of the frame rail near the brake line clips. I seem to remember a black & white picture of railcars on the siding next to the plant in the winter with snow on the ground. Cool shot.

[Ray G.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Thank You for the high quality picture.
Looks Like Base Coat, Clear Coat to me.

[Tom R.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Here's the St. Louis plant site in the 60's, with the Union Boulevard and Natural Bridge intersection at the lower left; At the time, the St. Louis complex was the largest assembly plant in North America.

John

Interesting photo. One has to wonder why with economies of scale, GM would parcel out so many assembly operations. Where would have been what I heard one engineer describe as "final process?" I think I recall the Impala plant but not sure.

[Dino L.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

I like the photo and noticed the Delco logo on the installed battery and brown cable as well as the logo on the oil canister and what appears to be a build sheet reflecting on the dash off the windshield which must be tinted without a shadeband, I also see the backup harness wire laying over the engine

[William L.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

[QUOTE=Ken Robb (3882);687168]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 QUOTE]
Look something like this Robb?Teskey File 004.jpgTeskey File 003.jpg

[Mark D.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Were ties and mini-skirts required?

[Lawrence M.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

[QUOTE=William Lacy (14279);687351]

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 QUOTE]
Look something like this Robb?[ATTACH=CONFIG]49498[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]49499[/ATTACH]

Bill,
Were those pictures taken the day the 250,000 Corvette was built in November 1969 ? The 2 people in the first tram car look like the beauty queen and gentleman that were pictured in the famous publicity photo.

[William L.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

[QUOTE=Lawrence Merchantz (25805);687372]

Bill,
Were those pictures taken the day the 250,000 Corvette was built in November 1969 ? The 2 people in the first tram car look like the beauty queen and gentleman that were pictured in the famous publicity photo.

Yes it was. The story, that was told to me was, that the girl could not drive a stick shift very well and darn neer wrecked the car!!

Teskey File 005.jpg

[John H.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

John

Interesting photo. One has to wonder why with economies of scale, GM would parcel out so many assembly operations. Where would have been what I heard one engineer describe as "final process?" I think I recall the Impala plant but not sure.

Tom -

Final Process was at the West end of the building - all Corvette operations were within the Corvette assembly building, except wheel/tire mounting/balancing and black flow-coat priming of raw metal parts, which was done in the main passenger/truck plant. Photo below shows the Final Process area immediately after the 1964 expansion of that area.


FinalProcess64.jpg

[Tom P.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

Timothy

-------------------------------------- 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. -----------------------------------

And it continues today, as well as it did back then-----------------------just a couple of examples, 57 Airbox cars and more recently 56 SR1 cars.
Oh ya, then there was a wealth of FI information that was turned down-----------------which subsequently which was readily accepted by, and published in, Vette Vues! NCRS has definitely made many changes and improvements, but sometimes I wonder-----------------------

[Ray G.]

Re: St Louis Corvette Assembly

When images like this find their way into Judging Manuals, as in the newest '67, it is very valuable to all.
I personally like the previously mentioned possible build sheet reflecting on the windshield of the red convertible.
my .02