I Love these old films...My grandfather was a Auto Painter for the Cadillac Division. I am proud of all the Auto and Rubber workers we had in our family.
As someone who spent time on a production line I can say, those people know they are facing yet another seemingly endless day of mind numbing work and know that tomorrow will be exactly the same
Along with a full belly, a roof over their heads, and clothes on their backs all the while spending more money on useless electronics than many third world workers make in a month. Don’t like “mind numbing “ work? Start your own business. Work for yourself. Then you’ll know what work is. I run my own small business and 12-16 hour days are normal.
Somebody in this comment list obviously hasn't known anyone who worked in the auto industry. They are very well paid and have great benefits. Industry is the engine of any economy and spawns towns and cities, builds roads, parks and shopping centers. Our middle class has nice cars, boats, motorcycles and homes. Hard work is what makes profit. A person can feel pride at the end of the day when he/she works hard. When the workers get lazy, quality goes down and manufacturers lose profit and have to close down.
The work is much safer today, too. Over $2000 of the price of every GM car goes to pay for pension and medical payments for past and present employees. Legacy costs that many foreign manufacturers don't have. Makes it that much harder to compete.
Nowadays people hate on American-made cars. German-made cars, for example, are dominating the market. Not to mention the presence of other non-American manufactured goods (anything made in China) in the market.
You have to admire the dedication of all those years of hard labor for their families. My wife's grandma worked at "The AC" as she called it. AC spark plug factory in Flint Michigan for 34 years. She was one of the last to get a true pension. I wish we could make things here again so the kids could have something to do.......sigh.
When a man could earn enough to feed a family of four and have a nice home on one workers salary. Before maximum profits won out over excellent work and the welfare of the lower classes.
Just what I was thinking while watching this sunny little movie. Since the strike ended during the winter of 1937, it's easy to imagine that all the workers we see getting their paychecks were now members of the UAW. According to the Wikipedia entry on the strike, the result of the settlement was that workers "got a 5% increase in pay and were allowed to talk during lunch." So not all the prosperity we see here can be credited to GM's benevolence.
@@TheOzthewiz that's why all of trump's and his families products they sell including magazines hats are made in gyna.... meanwhile he gave corporate taxes the biggest pay raise in history....and 97% of them bought shares back for profit while 3% used it to expand jobs.
They were anything but.. They were rough riding, poor handling, and generally unreliable compared to now. When's the last time you had to change a flat tire? Or had a car that just wouldn't start? That used to be common.
@@tempest411 Don't misconstrue, I love the looks of those from post WW II until 1980 or so, especially late 1950s and early 1960s !! Those were some great and quite memorable shapes with the space age and jet age. I was born in 1957, and cars from the 1950s and even late 1940s were quite common on the streets well into the 1970s.. But about the time the movie "Christine" came out (1983), I realized they were disappearing quickly. I miss them all !
You make a good point, but look at 06:00 for example - the endless rows of desks for clerical workers. In an era before computers, the white collar workforce was also substantial - which is why all the "Big-3" automakers had skyscrapers in downtown Manhatten - human computers, basically. The recession of 1980 saw a reduction in blue collar labor. The recession of 2009 was a layoff of the white collar counterparts, as more and more office jobs are replaced with web-based applications.
my grandparents bought their home (their 3rd home as the family grew) in 64 for $15,000. they paid it off in 10 years with my grandfather working fulltime and my grandmother working odd jobs and/or part time and raising 3 children (they ended up having 5). after they paid off the house my grandmother was given a choice between a new car or an inground pool (the pool won). she ended up getting a new car in 85 for more money then what they paid for their house (as my grandmother found very funny).
I love these old movies, I lived in Lansing for 3 years and RE olds was still a big name. the plant i worked in at one point did assembly on the 442. A coworker found a picture of an area that now has vertical mills and 3 axis machines making defense parts.
Absolutely. Think of what was going on in Soviet Russia in the 30's. I would rather have my fortunes tied to General Motors than live in a workers paradise that socialism offered.
Its not that simple to compare. America was flush with money from WW1 and ongoing reparation payments from Germany and loan repayments from UK, France, Russia.
4 years later and American car manufacturers would halt the production of cars and turn to producing an unprecedented number of war machines to fight in WW2. The "giant had been awakened". Admiral Yasimoto expressing his well founded apprehension aboard his flagship after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Sadly, something that started as a great idea - collective bargaining - evolved into greedy Unions. THAT, gave manufacturing Companies almost NO CHOICE but to move their production *and all our jobs* OVERSEAS, to Countries that are more like WE USED to be! Asia has what used to be our Middle Class - AND, our Economy. Our Unions took things way too far......
Small government? I remind you that this were the years of the New Deal, a plan that involved a lot of government control, a plan that revived the U.S. from the Great Depression, caused by a totally free stock market.
And all those goods they were buying were made in America, by Americans. That was the key to prosperity. Everyone who wanted to work had a job and earned a good wage. How times have changed. Now we have the working homeless, people who have jobs but cannot afford accommodation, and sleep under bridges, yet still put in a days work. Something is terribly wrong and we need to fix it.
It almost unconscionable to think that every factory that was shown in that film is gone and when I say gone I mean gone. Most every factory that GM shuts down just sits for years and gets vandalized when parts of it could be rented out. Ultimately GM gets sewed by the city its in and has to give the property to the city after they pay for its demolition and clean up. And when its all gone and there is nothing left at all but a giant concrete slab, they put a fucking fence around it? No fence for years when the building was there getting trashed and vandalized but a fence is put up when there is nothing there at all? More of the great GM management thinking like the EV-1
This is a great period piece. 90% of the heavy and other lifting jobs in the plants today are automated pick and place. The big robot welders you see today were often hand controlled back then. I remember the "nut runner" job was to control by hand a machine that tightened big front suspension nuts. Those guys had forearms like Popeye from handing on to that air powered nut tightener! A down side is that a GED will not get a job in a modern plant. You almost need an associates degree, but that is not true in the vendor plants. Most everything today in computer controlled!
oldcarboater - The Computer, which promised to "improve day-to-day life" has literally and almost singlehandedly *DESTROYED* The Middle Class, the American Dream, Pride in a hard day's work, character, manners, respect, and nearly EVERYTHING that USED to make this a great Country!!! 😲 😲 😮😣 It's NOT Racism! It's certainly NOT the idealistic concept of "fair share" - especially for people who simply refuse to work..... NOPE. We are literally living in the aftermath of the Revenge of the Nerds! Enjoy your iPhone in your face. You ARE the illustration of the decline of a once Great Nation. Regardless of where your family came from, everybody had the same opportunity - to WORK for their fair share.
I am from St. Louis. I recognized that building just before you see the shot from across the Mississippi River-Cahokia. It is the city Municipal Court building.
Perhaps the work was tedious at times. But I suspect the sense of community those people had more than made up for it. Community it work, at home in the neighborhood, at church, the bowling league, at their kids school. I bet they knew their neighbors in a way that’s rare today. I bet they had a pride in those community public buildings that no one even thinks about today. What has replaced all that? Facebook?
Interesting film. Supposedly the cost to build a modern car is somewhere around $7000-$8000. Auto workers get good pay and benefits. Hence, the high overall price they charge to the buyers. Buyers are probably paying more toward worker benefits just as much for the vehicle itself lol
Well said and true, i am 57 so i remember no cell phones, computers, etc. But we do love the internet as i will attest to, regardless it's sad what this Country has become.
The days when a blue coller worker could support his family with his paycheck only, now his wife has to work just to keep up with the jone's or nowadays the perez's.
But '37 was the same year Congressional Republicans forced New Deal programs to be scaled back -- too early, as it turned out; a snap recession followed. Only the run-up to WWII -- Lend-Lease orders from Britain and increased military preparedness spending by FDR -- brought us out of the doldrums of 12-15% unemployment. So much for the self-correcting bias of capitalism.
The orchestra playing in the background with the many playing their instrument, in itself is like the cars shown in the film. An element of the times. We don't see those cars, but a few . . . we don't hear the orchestra (especially 'live' in the cinema hall) like this in films.
Fascinating to watch. I wonder how many of the men seen here putting cars together ended up fighting in Europe or the Pacific theater in WWII just a few years later? I wonder how many didn't come back. What was built in this factory during the war?
There really WAS a time when the American Worker was treated well and paid well, and the rich paid their fair share of income, but it ain't that way anymore :(
+Robbi496 The 'Rich" pay MORE than their "Fair Share". If you got rid of "entitlements", then there'd be more than enough tax money....But half of the people just suck up resources without paying ANYTHING. "Fair share" is a term used by socialists to divide us.
+mj ee I love when our government tells us Social Security is an entitlement. Since when is taking money out of someone's paycheck for 45 years and then spending it, an entitlement???? The government took my money and then used it as a "slush fund" and left me with an IOU.
Somebody made a comment, were all the Black Folks...well the rule was at that time that Black People should not be filmed ..Some years ago I contacted the History Channel and asked the question. Why was there not much film of Blacks fighting for our country. They replied , that at that time WWII, Korea Conflict film crews were told not to film Blacks ....How sad.....My Dad served in WWII and in the the Korean Conflict.......R.I.P. Dad
They were paid much better than today, all things considered. One adult could maintain a home with no college degree (or debt) and most workers belonged to unions. Today, the average wage is virtually unchanged since 1978, while housing, health care and education are up exponentially.
Makes me wish I lived in those times. Times have changed but not for the better. Back then, everything was quality made American made. Now it's Chinese made junk at higher prices and a shorter life expectancy. Plus, the Chinese stole the technology from us (after we sent it to them to make our junk)!
The workers at GM in Oshawa Ontario earned big bucks for a century. Sadly GM closed the plant Dec 2019 and laid them off. Over recent decades the percent of Oshawa work force who worked for GM went from about 80% to zero.
It's shocking to see Flint, Michigan shown in this film vs. Flint today. Those jobs are now in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, China, and who knows where else.
You know with different music and a different story line, change the language and the narrative, and viola! You have a Soviet Union style propaganda flim clip where the people are all going to work for the collective good of the people! 👍🏻
This was during during the Great Depression and there was a lot of backlash against big business when workers realized that Capitalism Isn't the infallible religion that the wealthy want you to think it is. So out came the propaganda.
@@Acer_Maximinus yep , those terrible " whites " that fought for the Union and your freedom , thats the way it was for a 100 years since Lincoln freed the slaves. Blame those racist southern democrats for keeping you down during reconstruction too , KKK days and not to mention segregation.
Today's cars are a dozen times safer than the old ones -- and I've had a couple of dozen '30s, '40s, and '50s cars. We now know that safety under crash conditions comes not from rigid steel construction, from a combination of: 1. dissipating energy away from the passenger compartment rapidly, and in a controlled manner, plus 2. cushioning the spontaneous and involuntary movement of passengers brought about by physics, in response to an impact. The first purpose is accomplished by building-in all that "plastic" you deride, plus the careful design crumple zones, breakaway engine mounts, "self-jettisoning" gas tanks, etc.; the second is the work of airbags -- of which even the cheapest car now has at least six. There's no question which car I'd want to experience a 40MPH crash in -- a mid-'50s Cadillac or a '2015 subcompact. The subcompact, every time.
@@50zcarsman Their idea of safety is feeling the enormous jolt of two cars colliding at 60mph that is transmitted efficiently to their body via the solid steel chassis.
At that time, they believed that a rigid frame was the best protection in a crash. Packard even touted their hidden running boards as a safety element up to 1950. I have a 1949 Pontiac and there's nothing but fairly thick sheet metal proecting me in any collision, ant the interior is all metal. My friends ask me what will happen if I'm in an accident, as if it isn't obvious! My grandmother was in a low speed accident in 1950, never drove again, and really didn't like riding in cars afterward because the car was so damaged in the accident, although she wasn't hurt.
these are called propaganda movies ( when they are from Russian origin)..but being of american production house it's called on this channel as to be a "capitalist realism". I prefer knowing the fact that in 1937 - "following bitter strikes of 1936/37 after the GM settled with the United Autoworkers it has released the film From Dawn To Sunset, which depicted how the GM payroll drove the local economies of it's 21 plant towns." Sergave.K. (Product placement in hollywood films,2004) . I would simply call it "pure pursuit for persuasion and massaging the brains of people in a great propaganda style."
I worked in several factories (engine bearings, industrial fans, heater hose, meat, etc) and hated them all, but when you know nothing and have no skills its a place to at least support your family yourself and move a little up in life. By the way, your fortunes are linked to the job, no job no income, I suppose nowadays there is a growing desire to be linked to government and then one may not have to earn a living.
Industry was a good thing, a living wage for the common man, a country where no one took anything for granted, where work was rewarded. Also, companies manufacturing a product that was worth the investment. People took pride in their jobs and the things they bought with their hard earned money. We live in a disposable society, let's take a page from our grandparent's generation, there's a lot we can learn from them!
The difference back then was other jobs paid wages that to so people could buy things, unlike today with big corps who moved all their jobs over seas. Just how did they think all the people here without jobs anymore could buy anything other than the minimum to survive. Those big exec's are a bunch of Mr. Burns' from the Simpsons.
The Unions, which WERE a good idea at the start, outlived its usefulness, got GREEDY and corrupt, and MADE all those US manufacturing jobs move away....
+Carmine Allocca That's what the right wants you to believe. Americans earning wages that are on par (competing) with foreign labor are no longer Americans. The people of this country will all be reduced to living in government or corporate subsidized apartment blocks living as surfs for corporations. They will not own homes, they will not own cars, they will be strongly discouraged from voicing opinions that counter what the state or corporations want them to support. In short, the people of this country will all be turned into everyone else in the 3rd world. There's nothing wrong with unions, but it needs to be supported by laws that say nothing is allowed to be sold in this country that isn't made by the people of this country. If we can't make it, we can't have it. That probably means everyone's fancy smart phones and plasma screen TVs will go away, but I'm ok with that...As long as Americans can own their own homes and put food on the table, everything else is secondary.
tempest411 I've never been one to listen to what the Right or Left tells me to.... I have always been a student of History, both recent and distant. One thing I've learned... EVERYBODY'S WRONG NOW!! We've become such a politicized Nation, so OVERLY Partisan in thinking and so Litigious in action, and SO overrun with corruption and overregulation, that it's any wonder we can still produce and sell ANYTHING! :( Why has China, Mexico, Canada and Slavic countries kicking our ass in labor and production??? (And yes, they certainly are) Their people WORK! They don't spend half their tenure STRIKING and SUING their employers, they value the WORK. They're proud and happy to. They VALUE their jobs - like we USED to. We've become a society of whiny, sue-happy trolls, with a sense of entitlement and low self worth. Our PEOPLE are the problem, from the bottom to the top. In the Teens, 20's, 30's and 40's, American workers were indeed being mistreated and disrespected. When the first Unions organized and "fought the system" back then, their objectives were honorable. Even if most Unions were corrupt at the core, and run by notorious individuals at first (and yes, STILL are). They may have strong armed their members, and worked a few "dirty deals" with management, that were profitable for the Unions. But their INTENTIONS were to give the American workers a fair, level playing field, to actually pursue the "American Dream"! Even in the early days, they occasionally went too far... In the 1910 - 1930 frame, one of the best production jobs here was at the Ford Motor Company! Sure, some of Henry Ford's principles were a bit Socialist leaning - BUT, he was the FIRST American mass producer to VOLUNTARILY pay his employees a Living Wage. His idea was "a well paid employee is a happy and more productive employee". His side motive - he also felt that the well paid employee would also return his investment, by creating CUSTOMERS out of his employees. His employees buying HIS products, were also good, free advertising for his products. He took pretty good care of his employees, in other ways as well. He was RIGHT! But, the Unions wanted a piece of that pie. After two decades of fighting and "finagling", up to and including demonizing Henry Ford, finally convinced the workers at Ford to organize... The employees at Ford, and the relationship with Management would never be the same. Unions used the same tactics to organize many corporation's work forces. It was a better advantage for other workers besides Ford, and VERY profitable for the Unions! [Now, NONE of this had ANYTHING to do with the abhoorable treatment of Blacks and other minorities, and the unfair treatment of women employees! These were related issues, with their own battles, but not relevant to this subject.] This all worked well, for a while... By the 1950's, the American middle class was the strongest, happiest, most euphoric than we may have EVER BEEN in our Nation's History! Then, a paradigm shift began. The workers were indeed doing quite well. Most, with honorable intentions, strove to give THEIR children a better life than they grew up with... This started to backfire, in that it created the FIRST generation of entitled, CONSTANTLY complaining and irresponsible young adults. (Sadly, I am in the tail end of that "Baby Boomer" Generation) There were Civil Rights battles occuring in the 50's, 60's and 70's. That was INDEED a worthy cause, and a necessary one as well, that brought necessary changes, that made life far more harmonious (until the PAST decade!) Somehow these fights for Unity and Liberty, somehow encouraged a good number of SPOILED, entitled White kids (MY generation!), to fight for "perceived" injustices, starting at school. Usually starting with anything from class curriculum to food on campus, to the way they were permitted to dress! Some, joined the Civil Rights battles, because they felt it was the "right thing to do"! :( By the 1970's, these spoiled kids spread their need for more, more, MORE to their workplaces. The Unions were more than happy to capitalize on that! They didn't want *fair* wages - they wanted MORE than fair wages, more than fair benefits, and LESS than fair workloads. [This was also simultaneously occurring in Great Britain] By the 1980's, the overdemands of the "modern" worker, was starting to choke American (and British) Companies... THAT was the period that accelerated the demand for companies to REPLACE the domestic workers! (Outsourcing, robots, ect...) By the 1990's, some of these "Boomers" (NOT me or others like me), became politicians, lawyers, and professors. They really had the power to change now, and exploited it to the maximum. They PUSHED technologies for "innovation" (read: employee REPLACEMENT, since it no longer affected them personally).... They got laws passed, some with good intentions, but would have long term repercussions. They started the "PC" movement, intended to create "equality", but only created resentment and division. The generation of lawyers created precedents and laws, constricting future parents from properly raising their children. Created ideals like "everyone's a winner", which crippled competition, the pursuit of exceptionalism, and true sportsmanship. The lawyers and politicians (quickly becoming the SAME), passed sweeping legislation like NAFTA, making it VERY EASY for domestic producers to move their production facilities AND workforce, to OTHER countries. The ones who became professors and teachers, created an environment of further entitlement and self righteousness, and even as far as "indoctrination" to THEIR way of thinking! They've since created a new generation of lazier, MORE entitled individuals, that NOW believe, as "fact" (because it's been drummed into their heads for SO long) that with the reinvented moral system they've learned - also now believe like it's a FACT, that the WHITE Americans, and especially the Executive class, is now entirely responsible for ALL the problems socially and economically, here, and indeed in the WHOLE World!! All leading up to the present, and a President, elected by NO other qualifications except for his skin color, a product of ALL I mentioned above - who has, in the name of "equality", has created the MOST divisive, corrupt, morally reprehensible group of Americans. Simultaneously creating a weaker nation, looked down on by the world, especially our adversaries, who've been taking FULL advantage of our new weaker stance.... And a generation of young adults, who have been lead by the education system and the government, to believe that staying HOME and collecting entitlement benefits is PREFERABLE to working for a living! ESPECIALLY the minorities, who have been convinced that the "white man" is keeping them down, and not their inability or desire to improve their lives... Rev. Martin Luther King is ROLLING OVER in his grave! THIS is never what he envisioned as equality and civil liberties for all. This is NOT what he fought - and died for. Most sad, is that the smaller percentage of Americans, the "Loud and the Proud", have distorted the views, the direction, moral compass, and the World perception of our once great Nation... And the majority just kept their heads in the sand, and let it happen! No, this ISN'T a Democrat OR Republican problem... It's merely a PROBLEM, and a HUGE one! :(
+Wooley689 Clothing makers, toy makers, etc couldn't tap into the asian manufacturing because it just wasn't practical. No big freighters with standard sized cargo containers. They were stuck with North America.
It sure seemed to work. Products made here and it’s interesting to see. You don’t see many obese people or homeless. People worked hard and virtually everyone worked. I remember stories that my parents and grandparents told me. You could send your kids to school without fear of them being a victim of a shooting and getting hooked on drugs. I’d live in this era in a heartbeat.
"while attempting to convince them that their own fortunes were inextricably linked to the fortunes of General Motors." This is exactly why GM went bankrupt several decades later, and shouldn't even exist today: they never did convince anyone.
+AlainHubert I'd have had no problem with GM going under if it didn't mean it's market share would just be replaced with more foreign cars and we'd have even more Americans out of work. GM makes good cars and trucks. They just got caught in a bad set of circumstances.
GM's fate was sealed in 1937 (same year as this film) when they gave into the strike and signed their first contract with the UAW and the communist Reuther brothers. From that day, it was just a matter of time before the final collapse and ultimate bankruptcy.
That's what America was all about! An auto worker, or most any factory worker could support a family nicely given their wages and our country's economic state. Too many offshore factories and foreign countries undercutting our labor wages. Big middle finger to corporate America for shipping production overseas.
wonder if people realize.the average paycheck in 1937 was $40 a week.$40 a week supported a family,but today thanks to unions,lawyers,government regulation envio rules,and liberal policies......today it takes 2 to barely support a family.today you can`t even get a pound of good ground meat for less then $3.78.this is what is called progress..by the way did anybody notice the sizes of those eggs at about the 2:03 point,wow those are eggs,its amazing the food quality back in the day.
Neat little film! However, anyone else notice that out of the THOUSANDS of plant employees, who were able to provide goods for their families and rise economically, there wasn't ONE person of color in the entire company? The disparity is deafening. Makes you wonder how people of color "got by" and provided for their families back then. Thankfully things have changed. Better late than never.
When people took pride in their work and were proud of what they did and showed it their personal and profession lives. What happened? I'm only 40, must have been something back then!
My dad worked on the Assembly line at GM and retired there.My dads prayer was,none of his kids would ever have to work in a factory.Prayer Answered.Thank you Father.you could not pay me enough,i seen my father come home many a night,over tired,white tee shirts burned through all over, with holes from spot welders,only to make a rich man richer.
the lesson of the story is we were a great manufacturing nation and that's why we had all the wealth and people lived a higher standard of life. Now that manufacturing has shifted (mostly) to China, our wealth has been drained and the credit card debt in the US is $1T! You can't have a wealthy society only by having big social media companies that steal your personal info to sell to advertisers.
The film reminds communist propaganda 20 years later in Eastern Europe. America and later also newly established communist regimes in Europe shared the same enthusiasm and cult of work, nobody cared about pollution, carbon emissions and biodiversity. Those times laid foundations for today's prosperity but also environmental disaster the next generations will be living in.
I Love these old films...My grandfather was a Auto Painter for the Cadillac Division.
I am proud of all the Auto and Rubber workers we had in our family.
You should be!
i love too but i couldn't find their archieves
You keep saying that on all videos. I think it's a bot account
@@lollipop84858 oh well ..that's what I think
It's my opinion that I have a right to say..no bot
@@lollipop84858 I'm going to say it on the next video too ..lol
This was the greatest nation on Earth. The real generation of men and women who built usa. Huge respect from India
You’re right. WAS! And thanks to the rise of liberal democrats, those once great cities have been forever destroyed.
As someone who spent time on a production line I can say, those people know they are facing yet another seemingly endless day of mind numbing work and know that tomorrow will be exactly the same
Along with a full belly, a roof over their heads, and clothes on their backs all the while spending more money on useless electronics than many third world workers make in a month. Don’t like “mind numbing “ work? Start your own business. Work for yourself. Then you’ll know what work is. I run my own small business and 12-16 hour days are normal.
WHat happens, when working on an assembly line, if you have to take a dump? Does the line back up till you get back or does someone replace you?
@Ralph Goober That’s true which is why they shouldn’t bitch about having a good job.
@@jason60chev Ever hear of a cork?
@@jason60chev They get a backup replacement for a bit.
Somebody in this comment list obviously hasn't known anyone who worked in the auto industry. They are very well paid and have great benefits. Industry is the engine of any economy and spawns towns and cities, builds roads, parks and shopping centers. Our middle class has nice cars, boats, motorcycles and homes. Hard work is what makes profit. A person can feel pride at the end of the day when he/she works hard. When the workers get lazy, quality goes down and manufacturers lose profit and have to close down.
Today real work is for suckers, smart people make great money by conjuring and reallocating work done by the suckers.
The work is much safer today, too.
Over $2000 of the price of every GM car goes to pay for pension and medical payments for past and present employees.
Legacy costs that many foreign manufacturers don't have. Makes it that much harder to compete.
sooke54 We pay for those medical costs, in which we all deserve medical care, one way... or another.
@@sooke54 I agree, every one should be paid less so you can buy more
Nowadays people hate on American-made cars. German-made cars, for example, are dominating the market. Not to mention the presence of other non-American manufactured goods (anything made in China) in the market.
You have to admire the dedication of all those years of hard labor for their families.
My wife's grandma worked at "The AC" as she called it. AC spark plug factory in Flint Michigan for 34 years. She was one of the last to get a true pension. I wish we could make things here again so the kids could have something to do.......sigh.
"AC" Not "The AC" AC Stands for Albert Champion Inventor of the Champion Spark Plug.
Instead of play video games and become “influencers”.
Don't you dare tell me or anyone else what we have to admire !
@@mcmans. She could've called it "the ac" if she wanted to, you're not the boss of her or the boss of naming things
Never ever to be seen again...ever. Almost like a science fiction film.
You got that right!
You got that right!!
Not in The United States You Got That Right. GM Factories in Mexico and China from US Tax Payers.
When a man could earn enough to feed a family of four and have a nice home on one workers salary. Before maximum profits won out over excellent work and the welfare of the lower classes.
+Tim Richards That's why they staged a sit-down strike at GM in 1936-37?
Just what I was thinking while watching this sunny little movie. Since the strike ended during the winter of 1937, it's easy to imagine that all the workers we see getting their paychecks were now members of the UAW. According to the Wikipedia entry on the strike, the result of the settlement was that workers "got a 5% increase in pay and were allowed to talk during lunch." So not all the prosperity we see here can be credited to GM's benevolence.
Tim Richards Long before the One World Globalist traitors with names like Clinton/Bush sold this country out all in the name of “free trade”.
@@prevost8686 Chancellor Trump will bring all these great jobs back. We just have to give him a second term..........and maybe a third?
@@TheOzthewiz that's why all of trump's and his families products they sell including magazines hats are made in gyna.... meanwhile he gave corporate taxes the biggest pay raise in history....and 97% of them bought shares back for profit while 3% used it to expand jobs.
Love how these are shown in their full high fidelity sound, as they were originally, and not with the top end all cropped off.
Those cars are GORGEOUS!!! They looked so much nicer than what we have today.
It's the 1930's where is the money coming from???.
They were anything but.. They were rough riding, poor handling, and generally unreliable compared to now. When's the last time you had to change a flat tire? Or had a car that just wouldn't start? That used to be common.
@@MarinCipollina Yes, but they looked gorgeous! The reliability isn't so bad if you look at it as a challenge and appreciate 'old stuff' as I do.
@@tempest411 Don't misconstrue, I love the looks of those from post WW II until 1980 or so, especially late 1950s and early 1960s !! Those were some great and quite memorable shapes with the space age and jet age.
I was born in 1957, and cars from the 1950s and even late 1940s were quite common on the streets well into the 1970s.. But about the time the movie "Christine" came out (1983), I realized they were disappearing quickly. I miss them all !
The masculine dream of a lifestyle. What a time, the familys, the occupations,so civil, so respectable, so wonderful
I’m sure that it wasn’t quite this romantic, but it’s nice to dream. What a great society.
I love the quality control, 2 guys with lights quickly checking over the car.🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗🚗
Love the old all-metal cars. No crappy cheap Chinese plastic parts to fall apart. Great video!
You make a good point, but look at 06:00 for example - the endless rows of desks for clerical workers. In an era before computers, the white collar workforce was also substantial - which is why all the "Big-3" automakers had skyscrapers in downtown Manhatten - human computers, basically.
The recession of 1980 saw a reduction in blue collar labor. The recession of 2009 was a layoff of the white collar counterparts, as more and more office jobs are replaced with web-based applications.
my grandparents bought their home (their 3rd home as the family grew) in 64 for $15,000. they paid it off in 10 years with my grandfather working fulltime and my grandmother working odd jobs and/or part time and raising 3 children (they ended up having 5). after they paid off the house my grandmother was given a choice between a new car or an inground pool (the pool won). she ended up getting a new car in 85 for more money then what they paid for their house (as my grandmother found very funny).
I love these old movies, I lived in Lansing for 3 years and RE olds was still a big name. the plant i worked in at one point did assembly on the 442. A coworker found a picture of an area that now has vertical mills and 3 axis machines making defense parts.
My Dad Worked at Oldsmobile in Lansing For 30 Years. I Always Wanted A 442 But Never have Bought one Yet.
The plant shown in Flint Mich is where I started my career out with GM in 1969......Nothing left of it but a empty concrete field...
Absolutely. Think of what was going on in Soviet Russia in the 30's. I would rather have my fortunes tied to General Motors than live in a workers paradise that socialism offered.
Its not that simple to compare. America was flush with money from WW1 and ongoing reparation payments from Germany and loan repayments from UK, France, Russia.
4 years later and American car manufacturers would halt the production of cars and turn to producing an unprecedented number of war machines to fight in WW2. The "giant had been awakened". Admiral Yasimoto expressing his well founded apprehension aboard his flagship after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
God bless america and her industry..you will rise again..best wishes from the uk
Capital, hard-working virtuous people, rule of law, small government, faith in God--those are a few of my favorite things.
+writereducator How about collective bargaining rights? These very workers occupied various GM plants and shut down production to earn their rights.
+MrShobar People in any legitimate endeavor have the right to organize.
Sadly, something that started as a great idea - collective bargaining - evolved into greedy Unions. THAT, gave manufacturing Companies almost NO CHOICE but to move their production *and all our jobs* OVERSEAS, to Countries that are more like WE USED to be!
Asia has what used to be our Middle Class - AND, our Economy. Our Unions took things way too far......
Small government? I remind you that this were the years of the New Deal, a plan that involved a lot of government control, a plan that revived the U.S. from the Great Depression, caused by a totally free stock market.
JA Murphy many industries today need more unions.
And all those goods they were buying were made in America, by Americans. That was the key to prosperity. Everyone who wanted to work had a job and earned a good wage. How times have changed. Now we have the working homeless, people who have jobs but cannot afford accommodation, and sleep under bridges, yet still put in a days work. Something is terribly wrong and we need to fix it.
Fascinating to see so many able-bodied men actually going to work. Ahh the good ole daze...
It almost unconscionable to think that every factory that was shown in that film is gone and when I say gone I mean gone. Most every factory that GM shuts down just sits for years and gets vandalized when parts of it could be rented out. Ultimately GM gets sewed by the city its in and has to give the property to the city after they pay for its demolition and clean up. And when its all gone and there is nothing left at all but a giant concrete slab, they put a fucking fence around it? No fence for years when the building was there getting trashed and vandalized but a fence is put up when there is nothing there at all? More of the great GM management thinking like the EV-1
Government Funded. What do You Expect?
3:17 and this is what Detroit used to look like in 1937
This is a great period piece. 90% of the heavy and other lifting jobs in the plants today are automated pick and place. The big robot welders you see today were often hand controlled back then. I remember the "nut runner" job was to control by hand a machine that tightened big front suspension nuts. Those guys had forearms like Popeye from handing on to that air powered nut tightener!
A down side is that a GED will not get a job in a modern plant. You almost need an associates degree, but that is not true in the vendor plants. Most everything today in computer controlled!
i worked at troybilt. the gears cut in the cnc chuckers would embed in your skin. the coolant was absorbed into your body too.
oldcarboater - The Computer, which promised to "improve day-to-day life" has literally and almost singlehandedly *DESTROYED* The Middle Class, the American Dream, Pride in a hard day's work, character, manners, respect, and nearly EVERYTHING that USED to make this a great Country!!! 😲 😲 😮😣
It's NOT Racism! It's certainly NOT the idealistic concept of "fair share" - especially for people who simply refuse to work.....
NOPE. We are literally living in the aftermath of the Revenge of the Nerds! Enjoy your iPhone in your face. You ARE the illustration of the decline of a once Great Nation. Regardless of where your family came from, everybody had the same opportunity - to WORK for their fair share.
So, what was the purpose of WW2, and at the end we wind up with foreign cars?. And our cars are cheap.
Brand new ( all long gone) Cars. 1937.
They seem to be happy during the great depression.
I am from St. Louis. I recognized that building just before you see the shot from across the Mississippi River-Cahokia. It is the city Municipal Court building.
Perhaps the work was tedious at times. But I suspect the sense of community those people had more than made up for it. Community it work, at home in the neighborhood, at church, the bowling league, at their kids school. I bet they knew their neighbors in a way that’s rare today. I bet they had a pride in those community public buildings that no one even thinks about today. What has replaced all that? Facebook?
Nice simple solid cars .Love my Chevy 37.Antique car.
Interesting film. Supposedly the cost to build a modern car is somewhere around $7000-$8000.
Auto workers get good pay and benefits. Hence, the high overall price they charge to the buyers. Buyers are probably paying more toward worker benefits just as much for the vehicle itself lol
Well said and true, i am 57 so i remember no cell phones, computers, etc. But we do love the internet as i will attest to, regardless it's sad what this Country has become.
The days when a blue coller worker could support his family with his paycheck only, now his wife has to work just to keep up with the jone's or nowadays the perez's.
the rich got too greedy. They reduced our earnings by half and took it for themselves. Its why the man and wife both need jobs now.
As long as you were white
In 1937 those workers were the lucky ones....the Great Depression was brutal.
But '37 was the same year Congressional Republicans forced New Deal programs to be scaled back -- too early, as it turned out; a snap recession followed. Only the run-up to WWII -- Lend-Lease orders from Britain and increased military preparedness spending by FDR -- brought us out of the doldrums of 12-15% unemployment. So much for the self-correcting bias of capitalism.
back in the day when America actually made things.
Um.. since when has "america" not made things?
Wow, Just Say it...
The orchestra playing in the background with the many playing their instrument, in itself is like the cars shown in the film. An element of the times. We don't see those cars, but a few . . . we don't hear the orchestra (especially 'live' in the cinema hall) like this in films.
Fascinating to watch. I wonder how many of the men seen here putting cars together ended up fighting in Europe or the Pacific theater in WWII just a few years later? I wonder how many didn't come back. What was built in this factory during the war?
Blackfinity1 Tanks, trucks, airplanes, jeeps . . .
+writereducator and lots of each
:) Thanks for posting these videos ! They are like a XMAS present.
There really WAS a time when the American Worker was treated well and paid well, and the rich paid their fair share of income, but it ain't that way anymore :(
Robbi496 Agreed!!
This was before Unions, environmentalist, PC, and lawyers got there hands in it.
+Robbi496
The 'Rich" pay MORE than their "Fair Share".
If you got rid of "entitlements", then there'd be more than enough tax money....But half of the people just suck up resources without paying ANYTHING.
"Fair share" is a term used by socialists to divide us.
+mj ee I love when our government tells us Social Security is an entitlement. Since when is taking money out of someone's paycheck for 45 years and then spending it, an entitlement???? The government took my money and then used it as a "slush fund" and left me with an IOU.
Robbi496 Hey lady, you need a few lessons on real US history and economics, not the brainwashing standard of the public school system.
Somebody made a comment, were all the Black Folks...well the rule was at that time that Black People should not be filmed ..Some years ago I contacted the History Channel and asked the question. Why was there not much film of Blacks fighting for our country. They replied , that at that time WWII, Korea Conflict film crews were told not to film Blacks ....How sad.....My Dad served in WWII and in the the Korean Conflict.......R.I.P. Dad
black people get a raw deal in the justice system
@@billysmith5721 Black folks, men & women, got a raw deal all the way around. The prejudice is still there.
This is real America, for that 1937
What Beautiful Craftmenship on the Vehicles in those days...Wow
Yeah, when you had to head back to the dealer every month to fix a defect!
Pretty cheery narration for the Great Depression. Unemployment in '37 was over 14%.
At least wages and prices were a lot more in line back in the 30's todays they are way out of wack.
What makes you think they were?
+DYNO DON Correct. There was a lot of labor unrest in 1936-37.
They were paid much better than today, all things considered. One adult could maintain a home with no college degree (or debt) and most workers belonged to unions. Today, the average wage is virtually unchanged since 1978, while housing, health care and education are up exponentially.
That was so awesome.
VIDEO MARAVILHOSO EXEMPLO DE MUNDO
CIVIĹIZADO.OBRIGADO.
Cuando eran todos blanco?
Adjusting for inflation, these men made 9 times more than the people doing it now. Plus, they weren't laid off every 7 months.
Whow what a lovely film. Big on American dream :)
Wanna see the Chevrolet's new for 1937 being assembled? Fascinating history!
Makes me wish I lived in those times. Times have changed but not for the better. Back then, everything was quality made American made. Now it's Chinese made junk at higher prices and a shorter life expectancy. Plus, the Chinese stole the technology from us (after we sent it to them to make our junk)!
красивые машинки. молодцы
Watching this in 2020, the covid 19 era, look at those crowds of people shoulder to shoulder! and now...streets are mostly empty.
Too dangerous now.
The threat was never even real.
The workers at GM in Oshawa Ontario earned big bucks for a century. Sadly GM closed the plant Dec 2019 and laid them off. Over recent decades the percent of Oshawa work force who worked for GM went from about 80% to zero.
It’s a shame the US is not like this anymore.
Another Jam Handy classic 👍
And this in the middle of the great UAW strikes.
Didn't realize how de-centralized GM was getting even by 1937.
what worries me is the lack of eye protection and little regard for worker safety
I would love to go back to those days even though I wasn't born till 15 years later. Quality built cars and simpler times.
Ahh, the depression. An era of prosperity.
It's shocking to see Flint, Michigan shown in this film vs. Flint today. Those jobs are now in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, China, and who knows where else.
You know with different music and a different story line, change the language and the narrative, and viola! You have a Soviet Union style propaganda flim clip where the people are all going to work for the collective good of the people! 👍🏻
Ikr
Only in our case, it really is for the good of a free people.
@@kj475
“…for the good of a free people.”
In 1937, it was for the good of free white people.
This was during during the Great Depression and there was a lot of backlash against big business when workers realized that Capitalism Isn't the infallible religion that the wealthy want you to think it is. So out came the propaganda.
@@Acer_Maximinus yep , those terrible " whites " that fought for the Union and your freedom , thats the way it was for a 100 years since Lincoln freed the slaves. Blame those racist southern democrats for keeping you down during reconstruction too , KKK days and not to mention segregation.
Another Jam Handy Classic!
Back when cars were cars built of steel, not of plastic like today.
You mean back when a 35mph crash would kill all the occupants of both vehicles? Yeah. What a time. You dope.
yeah so youre implying new cars also dont kill people due to its plastic body, good job.
Today's cars are a dozen times safer than the old ones -- and I've had a couple of dozen '30s, '40s, and '50s cars. We now know that safety under crash conditions comes not from rigid steel construction, from a combination of: 1. dissipating energy away from the passenger compartment rapidly, and in a controlled manner, plus 2. cushioning the spontaneous and involuntary movement of passengers brought about by physics, in response to an impact. The first purpose is accomplished by building-in all that "plastic" you deride, plus the careful design crumple zones, breakaway engine mounts, "self-jettisoning" gas tanks, etc.; the second is the work of airbags -- of which even the cheapest car now has at least six. There's no question which car I'd want to experience a 40MPH crash in -- a mid-'50s Cadillac or a '2015 subcompact. The subcompact, every time.
@@50zcarsman Their idea of safety is feeling the enormous jolt of two cars colliding at 60mph that is transmitted efficiently to their body via the solid steel chassis.
At that time, they believed that a rigid frame was the best protection in a crash. Packard even touted their hidden running boards as a safety element up to 1950. I have a 1949 Pontiac and there's nothing but fairly thick sheet metal proecting me in any collision, ant the interior is all metal. My friends ask me what will happen if I'm in an accident, as if it isn't obvious! My grandmother was in a low speed accident in 1950, never drove again, and really didn't like riding in cars afterward because the car was so damaged in the accident, although she wasn't hurt.
Visited in 1937 very interesting to see the people their dresses of that time roads shops houses population was very less.
No flat screens or I products in those stores! Imagine how much different this video would look in color.
This could never happen in todays woke culture.
All the workers would want to be the CEO in 2 weeks with a trophy.
The men in the lines are in the same sequence as the paychecks they are getting.
these are called propaganda movies ( when they are from Russian origin)..but being of american production house it's called on this channel as to be a "capitalist realism". I prefer knowing the fact that in 1937 - "following bitter strikes of 1936/37 after the GM settled with the United Autoworkers it has released the film From Dawn To Sunset, which depicted how the GM payroll drove the local economies of it's 21 plant towns." Sergave.K. (Product placement in hollywood films,2004) . I would simply call it "pure pursuit for persuasion and massaging the brains of people in a great propaganda style."
F**k it. I've heard enough. I'm going to the 40's. I know medical science was...well, there wasn't any. But I'll take my chances...I'm goin' in!!
I’m in the trades, I get up before the sun 0 dark 30
When you could buy a nice home for an honest days work
I worked in several factories (engine bearings, industrial fans, heater hose, meat, etc) and hated them all, but when you know nothing and have no skills its a place to at least support your family yourself and move a little up in life. By the way, your fortunes are linked to the job, no job no income, I suppose nowadays there is a growing desire to be linked to government and then one may not have to earn a living.
Industry was a good thing, a living wage for the common man, a country where no one took anything for granted, where work was rewarded. Also, companies manufacturing a product that was worth the investment. People took pride in their jobs and the things they bought with their hard earned money. We live in a disposable society, let's take a page from our grandparent's generation, there's a lot we can learn from them!
I wanna see what one of paychecks looked like
The difference back then was other jobs paid wages that to so people could buy things, unlike today with big corps who moved all their jobs over seas. Just how did they think all the people here without jobs anymore could buy anything other than the minimum to survive. Those big exec's are a bunch of Mr. Burns' from the Simpsons.
The Unions, which WERE a good idea at the start, outlived its usefulness, got GREEDY and corrupt, and MADE all those US manufacturing jobs move away....
+Carmine Allocca That's what the right wants you to believe. Americans earning wages that are on par (competing) with foreign labor are no longer Americans. The people of this country will all be reduced to living in government or corporate subsidized apartment blocks living as surfs for corporations. They will not own homes, they will not own cars, they will be strongly discouraged from voicing opinions that counter what the state or corporations want them to support. In short, the people of this country will all be turned into everyone else in the 3rd world. There's nothing wrong with unions, but it needs to be supported by laws that say nothing is allowed to be sold in this country that isn't made by the people of this country. If we can't make it, we can't have it. That probably means everyone's fancy smart phones and plasma screen TVs will go away, but I'm ok with that...As long as Americans can own their own homes and put food on the table, everything else is secondary.
tempest411 I've never been one to listen to what the Right or Left tells me to....
I have always been a student of History, both recent and distant. One thing I've learned...
EVERYBODY'S WRONG NOW!!
We've become such a politicized Nation, so OVERLY Partisan in thinking and so Litigious in action, and SO overrun with corruption and overregulation, that it's any wonder we can still produce and sell ANYTHING! :(
Why has China, Mexico, Canada and Slavic countries kicking our ass in labor and production???
(And yes, they certainly are)
Their people WORK! They don't spend half their tenure STRIKING and SUING their employers, they value the WORK.
They're proud and happy to. They VALUE their jobs - like we USED to.
We've become a society of whiny, sue-happy trolls, with a sense of entitlement and low self worth. Our PEOPLE are the problem, from the bottom to the top.
In the Teens, 20's, 30's and 40's, American workers were indeed being mistreated and disrespected. When the first Unions organized and "fought the system" back then, their objectives were honorable.
Even if most Unions were corrupt at the core, and run by notorious individuals at first (and yes, STILL are).
They may have strong armed their members, and worked a few "dirty deals" with management, that were profitable for the Unions. But their INTENTIONS were to give the American workers a fair, level playing field, to actually pursue the "American Dream"!
Even in the early days, they occasionally went too far...
In the 1910 - 1930 frame, one of the best production jobs here was at the Ford Motor Company! Sure, some of Henry Ford's principles were a bit Socialist leaning - BUT, he was the FIRST American mass producer to VOLUNTARILY pay his employees a Living Wage. His idea was "a well paid employee is a happy and more productive employee".
His side motive - he also felt that the well paid employee would also return his investment, by creating CUSTOMERS out of his employees. His employees buying HIS products, were also good, free advertising for his products. He took pretty good care of his employees, in other ways as well.
He was RIGHT!
But, the Unions wanted a piece of that pie. After two decades of fighting and "finagling", up to and including demonizing Henry Ford, finally convinced the workers at Ford to organize...
The employees at Ford, and the relationship with Management would never be the same.
Unions used the same tactics to organize many corporation's work forces. It was a better advantage for other workers besides Ford, and VERY profitable for the Unions!
[Now, NONE of this had ANYTHING to do with the abhoorable treatment of Blacks and other minorities, and the unfair treatment of women employees! These were related issues, with their own battles, but not relevant to this subject.]
This all worked well, for a while...
By the 1950's, the American middle class was the strongest, happiest, most euphoric than we may have EVER BEEN in our Nation's History!
Then, a paradigm shift began. The workers were indeed doing quite well. Most, with honorable intentions, strove to give THEIR children a better life than they grew up with...
This started to backfire, in that it created the FIRST generation of entitled, CONSTANTLY complaining and irresponsible young adults.
(Sadly, I am in the tail end of that "Baby Boomer" Generation)
There were Civil Rights battles occuring in the 50's, 60's and 70's. That was INDEED a worthy cause, and a necessary one as well, that brought necessary changes, that made life far more harmonious (until the PAST decade!)
Somehow these fights for Unity and Liberty, somehow encouraged a good number of SPOILED, entitled White kids (MY generation!), to fight for "perceived" injustices, starting at school. Usually starting with anything from class curriculum to food on campus, to the way they were permitted to dress! Some, joined the Civil Rights battles, because they felt it was the "right thing to do"! :(
By the 1970's, these spoiled kids spread their need for more, more, MORE to their workplaces.
The Unions were more than happy to capitalize on that! They didn't want *fair* wages - they wanted MORE than fair wages, more than fair benefits, and LESS than fair workloads.
[This was also simultaneously occurring in Great Britain]
By the 1980's, the overdemands of the "modern" worker, was starting to choke American (and British) Companies...
THAT was the period that accelerated the demand for companies to REPLACE the domestic workers! (Outsourcing, robots, ect...)
By the 1990's, some of these "Boomers" (NOT me or others like me), became politicians, lawyers, and professors. They really had the power to change now, and exploited it to the maximum.
They PUSHED technologies for "innovation" (read: employee REPLACEMENT, since it no longer affected them personally)....
They got laws passed, some with good intentions, but would have long term repercussions.
They started the "PC" movement, intended to create "equality", but only created resentment and division.
The generation of lawyers created precedents and laws, constricting future parents from properly raising their children. Created ideals like "everyone's a winner", which crippled competition, the pursuit of exceptionalism, and true sportsmanship.
The lawyers and politicians (quickly becoming the SAME), passed sweeping legislation like NAFTA, making it VERY EASY for domestic producers to move their production facilities AND workforce, to OTHER countries.
The ones who became professors and teachers, created an environment of further entitlement and self righteousness, and even as far as "indoctrination" to THEIR way of thinking!
They've since created a new generation of lazier, MORE entitled individuals, that NOW believe, as "fact" (because it's been drummed into their heads for SO long) that with the reinvented moral system they've learned - also now believe like it's a FACT, that the WHITE Americans, and especially the Executive class, is now entirely responsible for ALL the problems socially and economically, here, and indeed in the WHOLE World!!
All leading up to the present, and a President, elected by NO other qualifications except for his skin color, a product of ALL I mentioned above - who has, in the name of "equality", has created the MOST divisive, corrupt, morally reprehensible group of Americans. Simultaneously creating a weaker nation, looked down on by the world, especially our adversaries, who've been taking FULL advantage of our new weaker stance....
And a generation of young adults, who have been lead by the education system and the government, to believe that staying HOME and collecting entitlement benefits is PREFERABLE to working for a living!
ESPECIALLY the minorities, who have been convinced that the "white man" is keeping them down, and not their inability or desire to improve their lives...
Rev. Martin Luther King is ROLLING OVER in his grave! THIS is never what he envisioned as equality and civil liberties for all. This is NOT what he fought - and died for.
Most sad, is that the smaller percentage of Americans, the "Loud and the Proud", have distorted the views, the direction, moral compass, and the World perception of our once great Nation...
And the majority just kept their heads in the sand, and let it happen!
No, this ISN'T a Democrat OR Republican problem...
It's merely a PROBLEM, and a HUGE one! :(
jakkkflash They don't feel like they HAVE to pass....
The Gubment gives them a FREE ride!! :(
+Wooley689 Clothing makers, toy makers, etc couldn't tap into the asian manufacturing because it just wasn't practical. No big freighters with standard sized cargo containers. They were stuck with North America.
It sure seemed to work. Products made here and it’s interesting to see. You don’t see many obese people or homeless. People worked hard and virtually everyone worked. I remember stories that my parents and grandparents told me. You could send your kids to school without fear of them being a victim of a shooting and getting hooked on drugs. I’d live in this era in a heartbeat.
I would buy one of those cars in a heartbeat 💓 .👍👍👍
Every day for 80 years........WHERE are all of those cars, now?????
Some of us are still building and maintaining them,they just call us Hot Roders or Low riders now,,,,
Nearly all of them have been scrapped and melted down. Some of that metal might be in your car.
A great lesson could be learned from opening credits for our leaders.
"while attempting to convince them that their own fortunes were inextricably linked to the fortunes of General Motors."
This is exactly why GM went bankrupt several decades later, and shouldn't even exist today: they never did convince anyone.
+AlainHubert I'd have had no problem with GM going under if it didn't mean it's market share would just be replaced with more foreign cars and we'd have even more Americans out of work. GM makes good cars and trucks. They just got caught in a bad set of circumstances.
GM's fate was sealed in 1937 (same year as this film) when they gave into the strike and signed their first contract with the UAW and the communist Reuther brothers. From that day, it was just a matter of time before the final collapse and ultimate bankruptcy.
FDR’s new deal was making a difference and the economy was growing again. But WWII on the horizon....ugh.
That's what America was all about! An auto worker, or most any factory worker could support a family nicely given their wages and our country's economic state. Too many offshore factories and foreign countries undercutting our labor wages. Big middle finger to corporate America for shipping production overseas.
“…shipping production overseas.”
Automation and mechanization killed US manufacturing jobs.
Similarly with steel and other industries.
wonder if people realize.the average paycheck in 1937 was $40 a week.$40 a week supported a family,but today thanks to unions,lawyers,government regulation envio rules,and liberal policies......today it takes 2 to barely support a family.today you can`t even get a pound of good ground meat for less then $3.78.this is what is called progress..by the way did anybody notice the sizes of those eggs at about the 2:03 point,wow those are eggs,its amazing the food quality back in the day.
Neat little film! However, anyone else notice that out of the THOUSANDS of plant employees, who were able to provide goods for their families and rise economically, there wasn't ONE person of color in the entire company? The disparity is deafening. Makes you wonder how people of color "got by" and provided for their families back then. Thankfully things have changed. Better late than never.
Who cares? Look what happened when there were.
@@mrknotthall What? Your lack of education is showing,...in more ways than one.
When people took pride in their work and were proud of what they did and showed it their personal and profession lives. What happened? I'm only 40, must have been something back then!
@PAPPY I'm from the old school, you don't your job, there's the door and don't let it hit you on the way out!
Wow! a valuable historical document
20:51 Oakland. The Chevrolet factory was replaced by Eastmont Mall.
11:08 I wonder if the guys driving those new cars across the tracks know that a train is pulling out!!!!
Has anyone seen Flint Michigan today? It union/crime culture make it impossible for any major company to compete. Most dangerous city in America.
Totally destroyed by the UAW.
18.15 is a shot of one of the first indoor shopping malls.
It sounds like Jim McKay doing the narration way before ABC sports.
I forgot one thing they worked and lived in AMERICA and they bought American products and this country prospered because the profits stayed here
My dad worked on the Assembly line at GM and retired there.My dads prayer was,none of his kids would ever have to work in a factory.Prayer Answered.Thank you Father.you could not pay me enough,i seen my father come home many a night,over tired,white tee shirts burned through all over, with holes from spot welders,only to make a rich man richer.
He didn't have to work there, he could have worked somewhere else.
Your father worked "to make a rich man richer"? When's the last time you saw a poor man give somebody a job ?
Someone should now do a movie on how industry is doing everything to destroy the middle class.
how sweet, like a perfect utopia.
the lesson of the story is we were a great manufacturing nation and that's why we had all the wealth and people lived a higher standard of life. Now that manufacturing has shifted (mostly) to China, our wealth has been drained and the credit card debt in the US is $1T! You can't have a wealthy society only by having big social media companies that steal your personal info to sell to advertisers.
No they didn't it was the depression!
Shame how America got left behind in the design etc of cars..Inveting some fantastic innovations in automotive history..
Thank you Grandpa and Grandma..but..looks like we failed you...sorry...not my fault...we tried..but..too many traitors....thanks for the memories...
A film like this will be made illegal soon. They don't want new generations to know what life was like. I hope you all realize this.
That is not Party approved correct thinking and speech
@@waterheaterservices I know this but I cannot help it. I am driven by conviction and its already beyond the turning point.
We bailed out GM and they took off for China.That would not fly in 1937.
The film reminds communist propaganda 20 years later in Eastern Europe. America and later also newly established communist regimes in Europe shared the same enthusiasm and cult of work, nobody cared about pollution, carbon emissions and biodiversity. Those times laid foundations for today's prosperity but also environmental disaster the next generations will be living in.
11.00 mins Background music "I'm in the money" as there pay checks are handed out.
There.
Interestingly every factory shown in this film has been demolished. Sad really