I am a 4th generation autoworker im 24 years in at chrysler im a repairman now but it was some hard work being on some of those assembly line jobs you earn every penny and those good benefits i see some new hires that come in they have the look of a boxer who just got a first jab of an opponent that they underestimated some leave at the first break but most have heart and get that assembly line dance and do fine its a good living and makes ya proud to be a part of a tradition in motown
Hard working folk's and they took pride in their work. They definitely earned that paycheck back then.. I love watching these old production videos it gives us a look into how things where made back then. Thanks for sharing this with us.🙏
I worked for Chrysler Fenton, MO from 65 to late 69. First night (Cassius Clay fought Floyd Patterson on the radio, 22 Nov, 1965) I was put on the bumper buildup line placing heavy chrome bumpers onto a rubber jig and installing 4 frame brackets with an air ratchet. Holding that ratchet wrong could get you a smack in the jaw when the nut went to torque. I was wearing my street pants (light black cotton) and the unfinished sheared edge of the bumper would cut into the fabric and cut my upper thighs as I lugged them from the shipping pallet to the build jig. I was bloodied and beat up worse that Patterson was when I went home that night. The next night I got transferred to the line I was hired in for, Body in White spot welding. I couldn't do the first job they gave me (it was really a simple job) so after about an hour of screwing that up they moved me up the line to a three gun line. This was done in order to give me the final knockout punch. The idea (and the game) was to keep pushing the newbie until he gave up and walked off the job. I WAS NOT GOING TO WALK OFF THIS JOB. Not after all that I had been through to get it. The fellow showing me the ropes asked me to sit and watch for a few minutes-get to know the ebb and flow of the machines, the car movement, and the rhythm of the welding sequence. My first attempt at this new and more complicated job was the same as the first position, a disaster, but by lunch time I had it down enough that the foreman took the guy away and it was all mine. I was TERRIFIED. But, no use in getting scared, them Dodges and Plymouths kept coming down the line and each one had to be welded up. I later moved to the lead grinding booth where the lead seams on the connecting body parts was ground to profile. All them slick bodies were the result of a lot of finished grinding. We (8 of us) were in a sealed booth with a suite of industrial overalls and a plastic half bodied hood and a fresh air hose attached. Fine ground lead particles filled the air in all directions as each worker attended to his own piece of craft. 60 cars an hour came by and my job required about 20-25 seconds of work. The rest of the time I read the newspaper. Getting a break was a very refreshing thing as you got to breath in all that good factory production air for about 15 minutes…then it was back to the mine. But damn, the money was good for a 19 year old. One other thing, we were required to report to the shop floor nurse every 60 days for a mandatory blood test to insure we were not getting any toxicity to the lead.
+DubleDeuce Thanks for the story! If anyone else likes reading about life in the old assembly plants, google "A Savage Factory" written by an old Ford worker. I couldn't believe some of the stuff that went on there. Stuff that never got shown in movies like this one.
It's amazing that the assembly of the cars was well organized and perfectly timed. The operation was complex for the 1950s but the workers got the job.
Excellent! My `57 DeSoto also had to "build from the scratch", it was rotten in the forest about 25 years after some serious crash... It took about 1000 hours to get it back on it`s wheels and it still needs some fixing but it has been a daily summertime driver for 10 years :)
People developed alot of repetitive motion injuries due to all that lifting and twisting motion from different positions.Not too many smoke breaks.I love that 55 Plymouth Belvedere sedan the V Eight small 354 Hemi If I recall correctly.I did not see their flathead six though.Chrysler was an equal opportunity employer who hired African American and female workers.Thanks for the upload.
In those days, cars were made to order, dealers didn't have a large inventory of new cars on hand but they had demos. All new cars were built to order based on what the buyer wanted e.g, color, trim, power steering, radio, seat patterns-color, etc. Radios didn't come with the car you had to order it. The cars on the assembly line and at the end of this film were all custom ordered.
Its a better system, with better cars. Nobody knows how to do anything anymore- all this digital tech being the only thing they have ruined their brains. You can set yourself free from that but it takes work!!
Exner was THE guy who influenced styling of the whole American car industry during the 50s , early 60s. His designs still invoke beauty today!!. Chrysler 300, Plymouth Fury, The Imperial! Exner was the MAN!!!
Exner for sure designed some of the most beautiful cars ever built (55-56 Imperial and DeSoto's for e.gs.) and arguably some of the ugliest (60 & 61 Plymouths & the 61 Dodge). The eccentric outer-space designs of the 62 Ply's and Dodge's wasn't his fault... bad spying information, combined with mis-management resulting in multiple management turnover! He called them "plucked chickens"!
We can have this back. The perpetual growth of digital and cheap plastic disposability isn't sustainable, but this is with what we know about recycling and renewal now.
My grandpa worked for Chrysler from before the war to some time in the 80s I think. He started as an apprentice lathe operator and was a full on engineer when he retired. Engineering schools today would do well to look at that model, every mechanical engineer should be able to machine.
fascinating...from the springs to the crank..most of us take for granted the thought and skill involved..i would like to see a modern film to compare how things have changed...thanks for posting this film
I miss the old days... They always had the greatest voices and Chrysler always the most beautiful cars. Even their dashboards were beautiful and unique.
I have my doubts. Everybody was moving, crouching and trying to attach something to the cars all at the same time. I‘m sure you could sweep a bucket of bolts off of the factory floor at the end of a shift. Today‘s highly mechanized production lines produce a better product and workers‘ backs aren‘t ruined.
I've seen tons of automobile production line videos from the 20's - 50's and I have to say that THIS was the most DIVERSE ones I've ever seen, ESPECIALLY for those days!!! Made my heart smile. The sad part is that most of those jobs were lost due to "robotics". We've shot ourselves in the foot with that. Grrr.
Something to consider: This base model car sold for about $3,200. The average family income in 1955 was $5,000. The average house cost $11,000, and the average rent was $88.00. Having an automobile like this in your driveway back then meant you were doing pretty well. Oddly enough, most of the people working in this film couldn't afford the very car they were building.
This presentation aired on WXYZ T.V channel 7 Detroit on Wed. May 25, 1955. Dave Kilgour the narrator worked for the Plymouth division. It aired in other markets as well and was shown at the University of Pittsburgh. David Kilgour died March 4, 1963, he was born in Glasgow, Scotland. There are some newspaper articles on him and the credits at the end list some info.
My first car was a 55 Plymouth Belvedere, a generous gift from an elderly neighbor & WW1 vet who'd had a stroke. It was 17 years old & I was 20. Loved it!
The big three are no more. Rip.. This is the best film on assembly Ive seen. For post war cars these seem to make sense like you might want to own one! These cars are are as different from today's as the brass era cars were from these..
Totally fantastic! The only way this could be better would be if it had 1957 Imperials in it. Thank you so much for sharing this rare assembly line footage!
The insane segments of the industrialized assembly line shown here is mind boggling, this plant must of been huge!! Crank shaft forging to tires, to bell housing hone. Many a worker made a living making the BEST Chrysler vehicles ever made!! Modern Fiat/Chrysler cars ain't nothing compared to a Belvedere or Fury
Image, those Plymouth's were probably around $2300.00 if that and the company still made a good profit!! In 1955 I was 9 years old and my parents bought a new Buick Century. That year alone Buick sold more than 750,000 cars, a record breaker! The orders were coming in so fast the production of the motors were moved to hand trucks on the floors. They could just about keep up. That was a time in America when we had it all! Somehow we pissed it all away!
These are 1955 Plymouths. My dad had a '55 Plymouth Plaza 4 door 6cyl and I had a '56 Plymouth Savoy 2 door V8, both were stick shifts.The 56's were slightly facelifted versions of these cars.
I've seen a lot of assembly line videos, but this plant has a level of family and camaraderie that doesn't show in the Ford and GM films. Even the voices here beat those boilerplate narrations we hear in most all 1950s education reels.
I worked @ Chrysler Fenton,Mo. Plant #1 South hired in with the Chrysler LeBarons & Dodge Diplomats! We were building 80 units an hour. We had the fastest assembly line in the world! April 1977 Trim Dept.
World's biggest car factory is VW in Wolfsburg Germany, in 2019 they produced and sold 704,000 vehicles....one factory, has about 5 lines going. Biggest in North america is VW, in Puebla Mexico, been there since teh 1960's. If you look at current GM Ford Chrysler factorys, they still look like this crap, look at modern German factories, , we are 3rd world car makers. No one buys stuff made here for cars. VW 1 in the world
I love these documentaries' music. I wonder how the director motivated an orchestra to perform this..."Ok people. we are going to record a happy industrious tune...for a segment in which coil springs are manufacturated..." Musicians: "BOOOOORIIING!"
Wow awesome Video, it took me over an hour of pausing and examining to watch it. really wish you had some 1957 Dodge Forward Look Truck Videos. Almost none exist and that would be so cool to see.
What a fascinating video. It's amazing how many techniques shown here are still used today. Though much of the welding and painting is now robotic.. And everyone now uses unibody construction...I see many familiar production techniques still used today...
IF I could ever have one wish, it would be for a fully loaded 1983 Chrysler Cordoba just like I sat in when I was 15 years old accompanying my Dad to a Chrysler Dealer for an oil change!!! I really dreamed about that car!!!!
and they did it so poorly Chrysler is a speck in the auto world, and owned by Renault Puegot, Stalantis....and yet VW and TOYota are the dominant global brands, along with stalantis, obviously chrysler and any U.S. leftover brand, are not doing it right, wake up
Impressive number of people employed manufacturing and assembling each car. Why are cars today more expensive now , with all the robots and limited colors and interior colors, compared to cars back then? Who is pocketing the difference?
SquillyMom: They don't care if they mismanage. Once they did their damage they just look around to see where else to "jump" to. Ahhh….Politics and Government.
+MrShobar Many of them look easy, but when you figure the worker spends 8 hours each day doing the same thing, over and over again, can't move from your spot...Sorry. If I did that I would go insane. My job is probably tougher than most of theirs, but I get nothing but variety from the beginning of my shift till the end. It takes a real special person to do the work they do.
One little detail that some people may not know is that hubcaps were installed at the dealer and not on the line. However, in these videos that are meant for public consumption they put them on to show the car as a finished look. The last scene you can see a few cars in parking lot where they were not installed.
Wheel (basic steel rims here) were painted to match exterior color. The wheel showed around a hubcap, these weren't full wheel covers, the wheel underneath was visible.
General motors had Delco ,Ford had philco. And Chrysler made some of their own Radios? @ Huntsville Alabama but they also bought them from Motorola & Bendix if memory serves and Phillips as a subcontractor we repaired them all in the field . there were regional independent repair shops across the country..
What a great video...although I'm still hoping to find a video showing a 1957 / 1958 Plymouth assembly line. Only a few photos have surfaced on the internet.
AudioMobil. look up that horror movie about Christina you see that fat ass assembly worker with that fat cigar in his mouth pissing off Christina he paid for it
58fins Mopar isn't the car it's Chrysler Mopar is MOtor PARts division.. And if Chrysler cars were so great what happened to all of them. Oh that's right they're rare because 98% of them rusted away or recycled because they all broke
Quality? cars where JUNK back then, stuff wore out rusted rotted, unsafe, inefficient, nice metal dashboards, horrible brakes, lousy tires, junk, stuff need so much maintenance, leaks, junk squared, things have imporved big time, even the factory looks like a death trap, hell hole
I owned one of these cars when I was a teenager. What a rust bucket! The problem with these cars is they never painted the unexposed metal such as inside the rocker panels etc. I worked for Ford ( Mahwah, N.J.) and Pontiac in Pontiac Michigan in the sixties, same problem. The idea was planed obsolescence, so you would buy a car every couple of years. If the manufacturers did the proper rust proofing these would have been great cars.
Chryslers of this era were notorious rust buckets. Especially the 1957s. Lots of thin metal from poorly (newly) designed stamping regimens, and lots of nooks and crannies that didn't get paint. Fords of this era were rust buckets too, but mostly because a bad batch of carbon steel, not lack of rustproofing.
Chrysler skipped a developmental generation between the '56 and '57 model year. And while the '57's were far more advanced in design than Ford or GM, they were rushed to market and suffered squeaks, rattles, premature rust and snapping torsion bars. The boxy Keller era cars were more rugged that the exotic Forward Look cars.
@@JasonFlorida Where I learned to drive was what is called the Ramapo Mountains, on the New York/New Jersey boarder. There are places that certainly get more snow but we got a lot of freezing rain. the weather was always changing it could be 65 degrees, the next week it could be in the 20's to even below zero. The sanding trucks were out at least every other week if not more frequent. I even ice skated on the road once when I was in grammar school. I had a 54 Plymouth that rotted where it attached to the frame. My brother had a Bronco where the driver's door was falling off. Ford actually had a law suit because a persons foot was broken when the door fell off on his foot. We called it body cancer.
I love how in the beginning, the lady said she wants a car with a heater. My first Dodge had a heater a.m radio and cigarette lighter were the only options $1,700.
Great video! I did get a chuckle out of the time spent on the making of coil springs - you know, the ones that were so inferior to the "Torsion Aire Ride" that was just around the corner. Of course let's face it, a coil spring is a torsion spring coiled up and a torsion spring is a coil spring that, well, didn't get coiled!
that is the worst analogy ive ever heard. i can show you how. take a pair or vice grips and nick a coil spring, and then use it. it wont break. do it to a torsion bar, and you now have a pipe bomb.
Yes simple technology, but cars today usually hit 200,000 miles with no major issues on regular maintenance.. the cars of the 50s, 100,000 miles was overhaul time.
Yes, Sir...I wish for the old simple times, before computers and cell phones, there was respect for the fellow man, paid just a few bills and got groceries, and was proud of doing a hard day's work.
Can't tell but this could be the big Plymouth plant across Mt Elliot from my grandparent's house. I remember sitting on the porch swing listening to the banging and clanging and smelling the paint. We had a red '56 Savoy. First big fin car. It was a honey but rusted through by '61 and was 85% Bondo by weight after '64.
jim dandy Yes the Do . i worked Skilled Trades on Production for the GM 400 transmission. That Lune does NOT Stop for Anything. if you havent worked Production you have Never HUMPED ... Lol. i miss it
Still a hard job today not as hard as back then but still a lot of manpower needed for the press shop and the line I worked for Chrysler for 6 years until injury ! Miss that kind of work I loved my job
My Dad worked at the engine block plant in Indianapolis both him and the plant are long gone the plant was raised and and the new modern plant was built in Mexico right after NAFTA was approved
NUNCA HABÍA VISTO UN VÍDEO DE CÓMO ARMAR UN CARRO, QUE IMPRESIONANTE, COMO ME HUBIERA GUSTADO NACER EN ÉSA BELLA ÉPOCA PARA TRABAJAR ALLÍ...SE VÉ TAN VIVO, QUE PARECE QUE FUÉ FILMADO LA SEMANA PASADA..LO LO MÁS TRISTE ES QUE YÁ TODO ÉSO NO EXISTE, TODO ES HISTORIA.. LA FABRICA, LOS SONRIENTES EMPLEADOS, NADAAA... TODO QUEDÓ EN UN SUSPIRO...TODO.., ABSOLUTAMENTE NO QUEDA NADA ....😔😔😔
I work at Jefferson North and it's ALOT more efficient these days. Fanuc robots are used instead of people in the body shop and there's less people on the assembly line. If a whole row of bolts go in something they put the bolts in a fixture, they don't put them in by hand one at a time. The torque is checked on anything that's screwed in. Robots paint the vehicles too.
Thats why my Caravans go over 250,000 miles and my old favorite AMC hardly made 90,000 without your foot going through the floor pan. Had one that had no top on the gas tank - rusted out. That accounted for the bad mileage.
Oh, I'd love to be able to buy one of those straight off the assembly line! I wish we could buy cars that has some style, but today, they all look like big jellybeans.
Incredible. That tool that that lady had to put on the brake line was, indeed “trippy“, I’ve never seen anything like that. All of you wrench addicts here, notice, how they don’t start the bolt with their fingers before they apply the impact, they just let the Tool drive them in, I was wincing watching this, but it obviously worked. It makes you wonder what happened to all of the equipment and all the trouble and the beautiful cars that they made an engines. I have an old Mopar and I can appreciate that. It’s still runs and drives fantastic. Oh, and it even can outrun most of the new Camaros and Mustangs still.
Made in early fall of 1954 for the all new 1955 Plymouth Forward Look cars designed by Virgil M. Exner Sr. This film shows the brand new Chrysler Body Assembly plant built in early 1954.
![Ford: Technique for Tomorrow, Cleveland, Brook Park [1954]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PdIVK3R7JDI/mqdefault.jpg)
I worked for Chrysler for over 35 years and not once did I ever hear happy music while the cars went down the line 😃
Just the death march.
not even on the hemi dyno line?
Thats saaad😢
Not even, Buddy Holly "not fade away" ? Christine must have liked that one anyway
Love that green color at 21:00 ❤️
I am a 4th generation autoworker im 24 years in at chrysler im a repairman now but it was some hard work being on some of those assembly line jobs you earn every penny and those good benefits i see some new hires that come in they have the look of a boxer who just got a first jab of an opponent that they underestimated some leave at the first break but most have heart and get that assembly line dance and do fine its a good living and makes ya proud to be a part of a tradition in motown
Hard working folk's and they took pride in their work. They definitely earned that paycheck back then.. I love watching these old production videos it gives us a look into how things where made back then. Thanks for sharing this with us.🙏
It was real CRUDE...unsafe, breathing hazards, imprecise fit and finish...
It takes patience and lot of stress to be doing that day after day on an assembly line. These guys deserve all the pay they get.
And more!
I worked for Chrysler Fenton, MO from 65 to late 69. First night (Cassius Clay fought Floyd Patterson on the radio, 22 Nov, 1965) I was put on the bumper buildup line placing heavy chrome bumpers onto a rubber jig and installing 4 frame brackets with an air ratchet. Holding that ratchet wrong could get you a smack in the jaw when the nut went to torque. I was wearing my street pants (light black cotton) and the unfinished sheared edge of the bumper would cut into the fabric and cut my upper thighs as I lugged them from the shipping pallet to the build jig. I was bloodied and beat up worse that Patterson was when I went home that night. The next night I got transferred to the line I was hired in for, Body in White spot welding. I couldn't do the first job they gave me (it was really a simple job) so after about an hour of screwing that up they moved me up the line to a three gun line. This was done in order to give me the final knockout punch. The idea (and the game) was to keep pushing the newbie until he gave up and walked off the job. I WAS NOT GOING TO WALK OFF THIS JOB. Not after all that I had been through to get it. The fellow showing me the ropes asked me to sit and watch for a few minutes-get to know the ebb and flow of the machines, the car movement, and the rhythm of the welding sequence. My first attempt at this new and more complicated job was the same as the first position, a disaster, but by lunch time I had it down enough that the foreman took the guy away and it was all mine. I was TERRIFIED. But, no use in getting scared, them Dodges and Plymouths kept coming down the line and each one had to be welded up. I later moved to the lead grinding booth where the lead seams on the connecting body parts was ground to profile. All them slick bodies were the result of a lot of finished grinding. We (8 of us) were in a sealed booth with a suite of industrial overalls and a plastic half bodied hood and a fresh air hose attached. Fine ground lead particles filled the air in all directions as each worker attended to his own piece of craft. 60 cars an hour came by and my job required about 20-25 seconds of work. The rest of the time I read the newspaper. Getting a break was a very refreshing thing as you got to breath in all that good factory production air for about 15 minutes…then it was back to the mine. But damn, the money was good for a 19 year old. One other thing, we were required to report to the shop floor nurse every 60 days for a mandatory blood test to insure we were not getting any toxicity to the lead.
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed reading it.
Ok
+DubleDeuce Thanks for the story! If anyone else likes reading about life in the old assembly plants, google "A Savage Factory" written by an old Ford worker. I couldn't believe some of the stuff that went on there. Stuff that never got shown in movies like this one.
Great story! From St. Louis MO. I thank you!
And to think I was born on November 22 2002 just 37 years later to the date
It's amazing that the assembly of the cars was well organized and perfectly timed. The operation was complex for the 1950s but the workers got the job.
Excellent! My `57 DeSoto also had to "build from the scratch", it was rotten in the forest about 25 years after some serious crash... It took about 1000 hours to get it back on it`s wheels and it still needs some fixing but it has been a daily summertime driver for 10 years :)
Go man, GO !!
Great year my uncle bought a 59
People developed alot of repetitive motion injuries due to all that lifting and twisting motion from different positions.Not too many smoke breaks.I love that 55 Plymouth Belvedere sedan the V Eight small 354 Hemi If I recall correctly.I did not see their flathead six though.Chrysler was an equal opportunity employer who hired African American and female workers.Thanks for the upload.
In those days, cars were made to order, dealers didn't have a large inventory of new cars on hand but they had demos. All new cars were built to order based on what the buyer wanted e.g, color, trim, power steering, radio, seat patterns-color, etc. Radios didn't come with the car you had to order it. The cars on the assembly line and at the end of this film were all custom ordered.
Its a better system, with better cars. Nobody knows how to do anything anymore- all this digital tech being the only thing they have ruined their brains. You can set yourself free from that but it takes work!!
They are still custom ordered. The dealers made bulk orders for their inventory, based on what they think can sell faster.
Exner was THE guy who influenced styling of the whole American car industry during the 50s , early 60s. His designs still invoke beauty today!!. Chrysler 300, Plymouth Fury, The Imperial! Exner was the MAN!!!
Exner for sure designed some of the most beautiful cars ever built (55-56 Imperial and DeSoto's for e.gs.) and arguably some of the ugliest (60 & 61 Plymouths & the 61 Dodge). The eccentric outer-space designs of the 62 Ply's and Dodge's wasn't his fault... bad spying information, combined with mis-management resulting in multiple management turnover! He called them "plucked chickens"!
@@maptinklerI'll take a 1962 bright red Super Stock Dodge any day.
Well, it was the man from Ford who shaped Chrysler from 1963 through 1974. Golden years!
Ahh, the good days of America. Wish a person could jump into the video and stay there. Those cars were a work of art.
We can have this back. The perpetual growth of digital and cheap plastic disposability isn't sustainable, but this is with what we know about recycling and renewal now.
My grandpa worked for Chrysler from before the war to some time in the 80s I think. He started as an apprentice lathe operator and was a full on engineer when he retired. Engineering schools today would do well to look at that model, every mechanical engineer should be able to machine.
fascinating...from the springs to the crank..most of us take for granted the thought and skill involved..i would like to see a modern film to compare how things have changed...thanks for posting this film
I miss the old days... They always had the greatest voices and Chrysler always the most beautiful cars. Even their dashboards were beautiful and unique.
"Christine" is still one of the prettiest
Until you are in a crash, and your face goes into the metal dashboards!! they where junk!
@@cengeb Soyboys couldn't handle the work in manufacturing cars back then, it's really sad they can't even drive them. Talk about weak.
I bought many Chrysler products,GREAT CARS!.
@@Adamz678 These punks don't even work anymore...I drove my own Wrecker&Junked Cars 6 days a week..I had many 10/12 hrs days working for myself!.
What a beautiful time! Everything was made better and here in the U.S.A!
I have my doubts. Everybody was moving, crouching and trying to attach something to the cars all at the same time. I‘m sure you could sweep a bucket of bolts off of the factory floor at the end of a shift. Today‘s highly mechanized production lines produce a better product and workers‘ backs aren‘t ruined.
@@wjekat I am talking about the innocence...All jobs were still in the States. I see your point‚ but what about all the jobs lost or sent overseas?
but we had jobs in Detroit and it’s suppliers
Yeah the junk rusted out in 5 years
This was a great video. Just imagine all the different colour combinations and options!
I've seen tons of automobile production line videos from the 20's - 50's and I have to say that THIS was the most DIVERSE ones I've ever seen, ESPECIALLY for those days!!! Made my heart smile. The sad part is that most of those jobs were lost due to "robotics". We've shot ourselves in the foot with that. Grrr.
Yes, and look at the nice lady flashing the racist hand gesture at 25:16. 👌😉
@@vladtheimpala5532 I hope this is a joke
@@eldoradomanchuria
Relax. I’m making fun of the people who think that this 👌is a racist gesture.
@@vladtheimpala5532 Yes that is what I was hoping lol. Poe's Law, can't be too careful on the interwebs
who cares what color people are? stop trying to shoe horn race into EVERYTHING.
Something to consider: This base model car sold for about $3,200. The average family income in 1955 was $5,000. The average house cost $11,000, and the average rent was $88.00. Having an automobile like this in your driveway back then meant you were doing pretty well. Oddly enough, most of the people working in this film couldn't afford the very car they were building.
This presentation aired on WXYZ T.V channel 7 Detroit on Wed. May 25, 1955. Dave Kilgour the narrator worked for the Plymouth division. It aired in other markets as well and was shown at the University of Pittsburgh. David Kilgour died March 4, 1963, he was born in Glasgow, Scotland. There are some newspaper articles on him and the credits at the end list some info.
My first car was a 55 Plymouth Belvedere, a generous gift from an elderly neighbor & WW1 vet who'd had a stroke. It was 17 years old & I was 20. Loved it!
My neighbors had a 64 Belvedere and if I recall it had the push button gear shift on the dash.
@@tluns810 I think by that time, Chrysler had also installed a Park lever with the push button automatic transmission.
Great video, all people's working together. Wonderful it once was.
Sure was!😁
No eye, hearing, or head protection...wear whatever you want..gotta love it!
Sounds crazy right ? I can remember how much a lot of guys complained when they finally did start requiring protective gear.
Not safety protection,
This looks like an extremely neat, tidy, and well-run factory.
The big three are no more. Rip.. This is the best film on assembly Ive seen. For post war cars these seem to make sense like you might want to own one! These cars are are as different from today's as the brass era cars were from these..
rolling the coil springs from rolling stock was highlight for me
Thanks for giving us a peek inside the plant. Like a trip back in time! American workers making American cars.
those are nice cars. love the line "If you have no business here, don't go away mad, just go away"
These assembly worker are truly kept busy !!!
Totally fantastic! The only way this could be better would be if it had 1957 Imperials in it. Thank you so much for sharing this rare assembly line footage!
The insane segments of the industrialized assembly line shown here is mind boggling, this plant must of been huge!! Crank shaft forging to tires, to bell housing hone. Many a worker made a living making the BEST Chrysler vehicles ever made!! Modern Fiat/Chrysler cars ain't nothing compared to a Belvedere or Fury
Very very interesting
Obrovský obdiv,co se dokázalo v těch dobách vše vyrobit. Nádherná luxusní pohodlná auta, nikdo z nás by tohle dnes takhle nesvedl.👌👌👌👌👌❤️👍👍👍👍👍👋
Thank you so much for sharing.love these classic films
I visited Ford's Rouge Plant a few years ago. What a process!!
Image, those Plymouth's were probably around $2300.00 if that and the company still made a good profit!! In 1955 I was 9 years old and my parents bought a new Buick Century. That year alone Buick sold more than 750,000 cars, a record breaker! The orders were coming in so fast the production of the motors were moved to hand trucks on the floors. They could just about keep up. That was a time in America when we had it all! Somehow we pissed it all away!
These are 1955 Plymouths. My dad had a '55 Plymouth Plaza 4 door 6cyl and I had a '56 Plymouth Savoy 2 door V8, both were stick shifts.The 56's were slightly facelifted versions of these cars.
I miss my 55 Plaza.
I really regret selling it.
Just a great old car.
So much human effort in making the old cars! Not like today.....makes me even prouder to own and drive my early 60's Dodge!
Thanks King Rose! That was great!
qmopar Thanks for watching.
Very interesting seeing those Chrysler polysphere head engines put together⛽🇺🇸⚙🔧
I've seen a lot of assembly line videos, but this plant has a level of family and camaraderie that doesn't show in the Ford and GM films. Even the voices here beat those boilerplate narrations we hear in most all 1950s education reels.
I worked @ Chrysler Fenton,Mo. Plant #1 South hired in with the Chrysler LeBarons & Dodge Diplomats! We were building 80 units an hour. We had the fastest assembly line in the world! April 1977 Trim Dept.
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Chrysler should have kept the plant even if it was idle, Now they need production facilitys
World's biggest car factory is VW in Wolfsburg Germany, in 2019 they produced and sold 704,000 vehicles....one factory, has about 5 lines going. Biggest in North america is VW, in Puebla Mexico, been there since teh 1960's. If you look at current GM Ford Chrysler factorys, they still look like this crap, look at modern German factories, , we are 3rd world car makers. No one buys stuff made here for cars. VW 1 in the world
Glad to see you, I hired in there in March of 1977 in the trim Dept.
@@KingRoseArchives Your Very Welcome! It Was Great Working There!
I love these documentaries' music. I wonder how the director motivated an orchestra to perform this..."Ok people. we are going to record a happy industrious tune...for a segment in which coil springs are manufacturated..." Musicians: "BOOOOORIIING!"
23:12 "If you have no business here, don't go away mad, just go away" Pretty funny!
What doest it mean?
@@marcincz147 it means - get back to your place on the assembly line.
@@RivieraByBuick thanks mate.
I think if people were present to see their custom ordered car being assembled, they might take much better care of them over the years.
Volkswagen allows this now.
Or, in the case of US built cars, never sit in them.
Wow awesome Video, it took me over an hour of pausing and examining to watch it. really wish you had some 1957 Dodge Forward Look Truck Videos. Almost none exist and that would be so cool to see.
Yes. The '57 Dodge truck was the most beautiful truck ever made, in my opinion.
Can you imagine pulling one shift under the pace and conditions....amazing....
Two and three-tone cars were all the rage in 1955 and '56.
By God, I'd love to see that style back today on modern cars
Car 642 is the same colour as mine, same body type & same model but, wrong year. If that were a 58, it would be my car! great vid!
Very impressive, well done
What a fascinating video. It's amazing how many techniques shown here are still used today. Though much of the welding and painting is now robotic.. And everyone now uses unibody construction...I see many familiar production techniques still used today...
IF I could ever have one wish, it would be for a fully loaded 1983 Chrysler Cordoba just like I sat in when I was 15 years old accompanying my Dad to a Chrysler Dealer for an oil change!!! I really dreamed about that car!!!!
I love the hokey acting in these old movies !
Great video King Rose!!!
That tiny smirk when he says: "business men". Hidden language if I ever seen it
Love watching this intricate dance of parts and skilled labor...interesting stuff 🤔😉
You're welcome. I'll see if I can dig up some Imperials.
I own a '65!
Can never wrap my head around how much material and how many suppliers were needed to build all those cars
I had a Chrysler 300M, later a PT Cruiser convertible, a Jeep Wrangler 2001 too. My mother had a Dodge Dart 1968. Greetings from Santiago, Chile.
Except for the Dodge dart all those vehicles are really gay. Santiago Chile is the asshole of the earth.
Great video. Love the way the cars were assembled at the factory. Super quick. Team work. USA.
and they did it so poorly Chrysler is a speck in the auto world, and owned by Renault Puegot, Stalantis....and yet VW and TOYota are the dominant global brands, along with stalantis, obviously chrysler and any U.S. leftover brand, are not doing it right, wake up
What a time👍
Impressive number of people employed manufacturing and assembling each car. Why are cars today more expensive now , with all the robots and limited colors and interior colors, compared to cars back then? Who is pocketing the difference?
It's sad at the end when the narrator "Dave Kilgour" walks off into eternity.
We all do. Your comment is six years old have you taken that walk yet?? If you don't respond then I guess you took that walk.
@@lenisbennett3062 Still above ground for a while.
very cool vid.....hard workin people back then...dang
My God...ALL THOSE PEOPLE !!! Man it must have been Good Times back then in Detroit...Too Good...So Good it was mismanaged into the ground.
23:12 "If you have no business here, don't go away mad, just go away"
SquillyMom: They don't care if they mismanage. Once they did their damage they just look around to see where else to "jump" to. Ahhh….Politics and Government.
I bet it is real sad to drive through Detroit now.
These processes are antiquated far too labor-intensive for today's world..
Detroit must have been a great place to live & work but now it's very dark and dangerous!🤣
Love these Videos. Simple Times for sure.
Great video, Thanks for sharing.
Where did we go so wrong as a country.... things were MUCH better back then!
CEOkiller I don't know about you, but none of those assembly line jobs look the slightest bit appetizing to me.
+MrShobar Many of them look easy, but when you figure the worker spends 8 hours each day doing the same thing, over and over again, can't move from your spot...Sorry. If I did that I would go insane. My job is probably tougher than most of theirs, but I get nothing but variety from the beginning of my shift till the end. It takes a real special person to do the work they do.
You want to work in a factory, and do that kind of work? Not me. Been there.
+88thetruth88 That's right, because in those socialist paradises we all know that in their factories unicorns do all the work.
I think it would actually be fun cause I like all old cars :)
Some people out their would like to see this, seeing their relatives from a long time back.
One little detail that some people may not know is that hubcaps were installed at the dealer and not on the line. However, in these videos that are meant for public consumption they put them on to show the car as a finished look. The last scene you can see a few cars in parking lot where they were not installed.
+Kenneth Southard Thanks for sharing.
...Some other car Mfg. videos here show the cars (minus hibcaps0 on trucks to be shipped to dealers......
In later years the Radio antenna was also dealer installed
Wheel (basic steel rims here) were painted to match exterior color. The wheel showed around a hubcap, these weren't full wheel covers, the wheel underneath was visible.
General motors had Delco ,Ford had philco. And Chrysler made some of their own Radios? @ Huntsville Alabama but they also bought them from Motorola & Bendix if memory serves and Phillips as a subcontractor we repaired them all in the field . there were regional independent repair shops across the country..
What a great video...although I'm still hoping to find a video showing a 1957 / 1958 Plymouth assembly line. Only a few photos have surfaced on the internet.
AudioMobil. look up that horror movie about Christina you see that fat ass assembly worker with that fat cigar in his mouth pissing off Christina he paid for it
Love this stuff. Thank you
Liked a lot! Give us more please...
Stay tuned.
Great video! Thanks.
Nice to see how industrious we were back then! And, making beautiful cars with real quality and style! Go Mopar!
Fiat own Chrysler . Chbrysler is Italian now
WWII war production will never be matched. It all came together to meet the challenge. Also thanks to "Rosie the Riveter".
Style yes,quality no.
58fins Mopar isn't the car it's Chrysler Mopar is MOtor PARts division.. And if Chrysler cars were so great what happened to all of them. Oh that's right they're rare because 98% of them rusted away or recycled because they all broke
Quality? cars where JUNK back then, stuff wore out rusted rotted, unsafe, inefficient, nice metal dashboards, horrible brakes, lousy tires, junk, stuff need so much maintenance, leaks, junk squared, things have imporved big time, even the factory looks like a death trap, hell hole
I owned one of these cars when I was a teenager. What a rust bucket! The problem with these cars is they never painted the unexposed metal such as inside the rocker panels etc. I worked for Ford ( Mahwah, N.J.) and Pontiac in Pontiac Michigan in the sixties, same problem. The idea was planed obsolescence, so you would buy a car every couple of years. If the manufacturers did the proper rust proofing these would have been great cars.
Chryslers of this era were notorious rust buckets. Especially the 1957s. Lots of thin metal from poorly (newly) designed stamping regimens, and lots of nooks and crannies that didn't get paint. Fords of this era were rust buckets too, but mostly because a bad batch of carbon steel, not lack of rustproofing.
Chrysler skipped a developmental generation between the '56 and '57 model year. And while the '57's were far more advanced in design than Ford or GM, they were rushed to market and suffered squeaks, rattles, premature rust and snapping torsion bars.
The boxy Keller era cars were more rugged that the exotic Forward Look cars.
Yes and that was before galvanized steel. I bet up north with the snow and salt you would be lucky to get more than 4 years out of a new car
@@JasonFlorida Where I learned to drive was what is called the Ramapo Mountains, on the New York/New Jersey boarder. There are places that certainly get more snow but we got a lot of freezing rain. the weather was always changing it could be 65 degrees, the next week it could be in the 20's to even below zero. The sanding trucks were out at least every other week if not more frequent. I even ice skated on the road once when I was in grammar school. I had a 54 Plymouth that rotted where it attached to the frame. My brother had a Bronco where the driver's door was falling off. Ford actually had a law suit because a persons foot was broken when the door fell off on his foot. We called it body cancer.
I love how in the beginning, the lady said she wants a car with a heater.
My first Dodge had a heater a.m radio and cigarette lighter were the only options $1,700.
I can't believe heaters were still optional as late as 1955.
Not everyplace where these cars were sold really got cold enough for a heater - so make 'em pay extra if they want one.
I showed this film to my robot, he was impressed.
Much appreciated! You sure have an amazing collection of this stuff,,,
Otro gran video, gracias!!! Slu2 desde Rivera, Uruguay 🇺🇾
Great video! I did get a chuckle out of the time spent on the making of coil springs - you know, the ones that were so inferior to the "Torsion Aire Ride" that was just around the corner. Of course let's face it, a coil spring is a torsion spring coiled up and a torsion spring is a coil spring that, well, didn't get coiled!
Neat, but as an engineer, that is not a good analogy.
Please explain.....
that is the worst analogy ive ever heard. i can show you how. take a pair or vice grips and nick a coil spring, and then use it. it wont break. do it to a torsion bar, and you now have a pipe bomb.
I watched the whole episode. I wish it was still like this, at least working and working and producing cars even with this simple technology.
Yes simple technology, but cars today usually hit 200,000 miles with no major issues on regular maintenance.. the cars of the 50s, 100,000 miles was overhaul time.
Yes, Sir...I wish for the old simple times, before computers and cell phones, there was respect for the fellow man, paid just a few bills and got groceries, and was proud of doing a hard day's work.
Can't tell but this could be the big Plymouth plant across Mt Elliot from my grandparent's house. I remember sitting on the porch swing listening to the banging and clanging and smelling the paint. We had a red '56 Savoy. First big fin car. It was a honey but rusted through by '61 and was 85% Bondo by weight after '64.
love these vids must have watch it 10 times already please load up some 65' new yorkers like mine lol
Fantastic! Beautiful cars!
I believe I saw our ‘56 Belvedere goin down the line!
Amazing from start to finish, don't ever say those workers didn't earn their $$$$ then
jim dandy Yes the Do . i worked Skilled Trades on Production for the GM 400 transmission. That Lune does NOT Stop for Anything. if you havent worked Production you have Never HUMPED ... Lol. i miss it
Still a hard job today not as hard as back then but still a lot of manpower needed for the press shop and the line I worked for Chrysler for 6 years until injury ! Miss that kind of work I loved my job
and now us younger workers have to work twice as many hours to buy the same stuff they did....what a shit world we live in.
Eat less sugar and wheat or was work the secret for a trim body.
Ahhh the work ethic dick wag! These videos are full of those propaganda comments!!
Love this video.
I guarantee you our host took a drink from time to time.
Yup with your grandmother!
Back in the day when smoking and drinking were the norm . But $hit still got done and done well .People with hang overs at work, were extra cautious.
When Detroit was on top and everyone took pride in their work.
Except Jonny Cash
My Dad worked at the engine block plant in Indianapolis both him and the plant are long gone the plant was raised and and the new modern plant was built in Mexico right after NAFTA was approved
NUNCA HABÍA VISTO UN VÍDEO DE CÓMO ARMAR UN CARRO, QUE IMPRESIONANTE, COMO ME HUBIERA GUSTADO NACER EN ÉSA BELLA ÉPOCA PARA TRABAJAR ALLÍ...SE VÉ TAN VIVO, QUE PARECE QUE FUÉ FILMADO LA SEMANA PASADA..LO LO MÁS TRISTE ES QUE YÁ TODO ÉSO NO EXISTE, TODO ES HISTORIA.. LA FABRICA, LOS SONRIENTES EMPLEADOS, NADAAA... TODO QUEDÓ EN UN SUSPIRO...TODO.., ABSOLUTAMENTE NO QUEDA NADA ....😔😔😔
I work at Jefferson North and it's ALOT more efficient these days. Fanuc robots are used instead of people in the body shop and there's less people on the assembly line. If a whole row of bolts go in something they put the bolts in a fixture, they don't put them in by hand one at a time. The torque is checked on anything that's screwed in. Robots paint the vehicles too.
Be hard to find that many people to work that hard these days. Good thing we have the robots or there would be a car shortage.
Thats why my Caravans go over 250,000 miles and my old favorite AMC hardly made 90,000 without your foot going through the floor pan. Had one that had no top on the gas tank - rusted out. That accounted for the bad mileage.
When I was growing up in the 1960s the talk was that in the future robots would do all the work and we would have it easy. Well, the future is here.
Totally amazing.
V8 engine is the 318 Poly (“A”). Interesting that the bellhousings are bored in place on the block. Thanks for posting
Oh, I'd love to be able to buy one of those straight off the assembly line! I wish we could buy cars that has some style, but today, they all look like big jellybeans.
Pastor Matthew I know what you mean.
Pastor Matthew You can still find some deals on these old cars if you are willing to do some work on them.
jelly beans, they look like the shit off new transformer movies. Complete shit
Jellybean era pretty much ended 15 or 20 years ago.. Now they look like alien insects
SAW FIVE CARS IN A ROW A FEW DAYS AGO THE ONLY CLUE TO THEIR IDENTITY WAS THE MANUFACTURERS LOGO ,ALL LOOKED LIKE UPENDED DUNG BEATLES !!
Very cool to see!
Very interesting I enjoyed this....
Excellent video
Incredible. That tool that that lady had to put on the brake line was, indeed “trippy“, I’ve never seen anything like that. All of you wrench addicts here, notice, how they don’t start the bolt with their fingers before they apply the impact, they just let the Tool drive them in, I was wincing watching this, but it obviously worked. It makes you wonder what happened to all of the equipment and all the trouble and the beautiful cars that they made an engines. I have an old Mopar and I can appreciate that. It’s still runs and drives fantastic. Oh, and it even can outrun most of the new Camaros and Mustangs still.
Made in early fall of 1954 for the all new 1955 Plymouth Forward Look cars designed by Virgil M. Exner Sr. This film shows the brand new Chrysler Body Assembly plant built in early 1954.
As soon as I saw the bumped out trunk lid I knew it was a '55 Belvedere