Intro from an old Assembly Plant guy

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Skirkpat

Lots of great stories, if people knew how we built them, the big three would be brok..........never mind...

You just reminded me of a story...

Maybe you guys didn't do this, but up at Flint we would "fit" hoods and fenders with a big hammer and a big stick.

If the fenders were "inboard" relative to the doors, rather than undoing the lower bolts and adding additional shims at the anchor locations the fitters would open the door and stick a big 2x4 in behind the fender and "ERRKKK" reef on that baby to bend the fenders out.

Similarly, if the hood-to-fender gap was tight at the front, they'd pop the hood and whack the nose of the fender (out) with a big rubber mallet. At that point, I know we'd been using the same technique since at least 1960, since I knew the guy that used to fit the 1960 pickup hoods....

But, you're right. We probably shouldn't mention it.

K

[Skirkpat]

Stick a large padded stick, and "SLAM" the hood, or door, or whatever was "out" , yes, we built them like they were for someone else The first time I saw a guy "fit" a door, I cringed, and thought Sh*# , that guy's going to get fired for that!! Little did I know, that was Standard Operating Procedure. They are artists in there, it takes a while to appreciate the scope of their talent, but it amazed me every day to see that animal fire up and spit new cars out the end. Controled Madness. After working on the Engineering side it really boggles my mind. Truly amazing.

I still laugh when people say they do not EARN their money. The Supervision side wass the tough side. Toughest SOB's in the plant were line Supervisors, I am sure GM was no different.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Skirkpat

I still laugh when people say they do not EARN their money. The Supervision side wass the tough side. Toughest SOB's in the plant were line Supervisors, I am sure GM was no different.

Man, I was just a kid. I used to cry before I'd go to work...

Didn't take them long to toughen me up!

K

[Jonboy]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

You just reminded me of a story...

Maybe you guys didn't do this, but up at Flint we would "fit" hoods and fenders with a big hammer and a big stick.

If the fenders were "inboard" relative to the doors, rather than undoing the lower bolts and adding additional shims at the anchor locations the fitters would open the door and stick a big 2x4 in behind the fender and "ERRKKK" reef on that baby to bend the fenders out.

Similarly, if the hood-to-fender gap was tight at the front, they'd pop the hood and whack the nose of the fender (out) with a big rubber mallet. At that point, I know we'd been using the same technique since at least 1960, since I knew the guy that used to fit the 1960 pickup hoods....

But, you're right. We probably shouldn't mention it.

K

That's similar to how they get fixed in the field, too. nice to know where that factory training comes from.

[Keith Seymore]

Back to 'lil Red: here's what the tire/wheel assemblies will look like when done. One down, four to go:





I realize those are not the exactly correct trim rings but I picked them up for cheap at a local swap meet. I figured they were good enough for a daily driver.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

You just reminded me of a story...

Maybe you guys didn't do this, but up at Flint we would "fit" hoods and fenders with a big hammer and a big stick.

If the fenders were "inboard" relative to the doors, rather than undoing the lower bolts and adding additional shims at the anchor locations the fitters would open the door and stick a big 2x4 in behind the fender and "ERRKKK" reef on that baby to bend the fenders out.

Similarly, if the hood-to-fender gap was tight at the front, they'd pop the hood and whack the nose of the fender (out) with a big rubber mallet. At that point, I know we'd been using the same technique since at least 1960, since I knew the guy that used to fit the 1960 pickup hoods....

But, you're right. We probably shouldn't mention it.

K

I thought of another one we shouldn't mention:

The wheel opening moldings are designated by RPO (regular production option) B96.

Sometimes, when installing the moldings, the screws would hit torque but not be fully seated. Rather than grabbing a screwdriver and torquing the screws home my line side repairmen would grab a big hammer and WHAM 'em once so they appeared seated.

This led to us calling the fasteners themselves "B96 nails"...

K