Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

Love seeing all tnese foto(s) and technical detail(s) . . .

A lost age of mechanical assembly due to electronic(s) . . .

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

They are still built that way.

After all, the electrical guys have to have someplace to put all those electronics.

K

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

Question to Keith, how where the tailgate letters painted? Thinking of a stepside in particular. Assuming a large stencil with all the letters at one time. Was it a large piece that locked into position at all four corners of the tailgate? Was it made out of wood? Would think a stencil made out of steel would nick the contrasting paint.

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

More GMC's with chrome.

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

Heavy GMC chassis. Notice how area behind grill is blacked out pre '64, similar to Chevy. GMC should have kept the area blacked '64-'66. What were they thinking:sumo: Dream job would have been working for GMC from 1950-1980, such a unique and interesting era, can't say that post 1980, the start of the decline.

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

I wonder if that was a big truck thing. Both my 60 and 61 GMC original paint trucks are full body color behind the grill

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

To be more specific, all models, was a Pontiac assembly thing pre '64 ( like the black rear fender tubs on widesides).

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

Makes sense. Both mine, I think are Fremont trucks, neither have black rear inner fenders. Trying to remember where this was discussed before ? I’m forgetting these details! Would be nice if we could assemble a bunch of GMCs from various plants with specific differences.

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

West Coast assembly GMC's, the white pickup to top does not have black paint behind grill, assuming others as well. Top front truck appears to have white rear fender tubs as well. The tubs are no big deal, but, IMO, GMC should have standardized on the inner black paint treatment behind the grill for a better contrast at all assembly plants '60-'66, as did Chevy.

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

That is called a “Factory Drive-a-way”.

If you were a customer with a large fleet order you could make arrangements to travel to the assembly plant to pick the vehicles up and drive them home.

This photo was taken in front of the Medium Duty plant in Pontiac, Michigan on South Boulevard (no longer there).

K

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

Sorry I missed this earlier:

They used a stencil. Back then made out of steel sheet, these days we use a mylar film.

The stencil is laid over the tailgate and then the color sprayed.

Over a period of time the stencil will accumulate some build up of overspray which must be cleaned or the stencil disposed of.

K

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

This is Flint Assembly in Flint Michigan.

You can see body drop is taking place at column number "X-22".

In this photo of Flint body drop during the square body era (1979) you can see the column marked "X-22". Line 2 Blazer/Suburban.

Most factory photos are taken in Flint or Pontiac, due to their proximity to "headquarters" (either the engineering staff in Pontiac or the GM Tech Center in Warren).

They wouldn't be taken at a satellite location unless there was some specific and compelling reason to travel (eg, plant opening in Fremont, or new model that's not built in the home plant area, etc).

K

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

Thanks, kind of figured. Must have been a large stencil to prevent overspray on the rest of the tailgate

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

Very true from my findings. Brand new truck photos on the west coast are usually on haulaway trailers or at dealerships.

Re: factory 65 chevy assembly picture
 

Pretty impressive pocket protector action going on there -

I don’t think I have any of mine, but I do have this one of dad’s on display.

Part of our daily arsenal, including these VIN cards we carried everywhere (for some reason; I guess in case we had to de-code a nasty VIN while we were in the bathroom or something) and a folded piece of paper with our notes for the day. Our nerd uniform would not be complete without it.

Also – the shirts for the foremen were provided by GM. Available in the lovely pastels of the time (coral, blue, green, yellow) and, of course, white, they were emblazoned with the person’s name and the Chevrolet bowtie.

I used to wear dad’s to high school. I thought I was so cool.

The little "building inside the building" would be the production office or inspection office. There would be dozens scattered throughout the plant in the various build areas. In the production office the line foreman, general foreman and superintendent would have a desk and a place to hang his coat and put his lunch down. There was also usually a conference room for brief meetings before the shift started. The inspection office would be similar and additionally would be where the assembly manuals would be kept.

Those little offices had their own heating and cooling, and so could be a brief respite from the cold or stifling heat of the plant floor, but were usually full of smoke (cigars, cigarettes and pipes). Everybody smoked; there was no escape from it.

K