Reading about the factories in the other thread made me wonder what it must have been like to work in one of them back in the day. I've read and heard a few stories over the years and it sounds like some interesting stuff happened now and then.
I don't have a direct factory story, but a related one:
Back in the mid-late sixties, and again in the mid seventies to mid eighties, my Dad was a Pontiac salesman.
He once sold a full size Pontiac to a customer in '68 or '69, I believe, and the car soon returned to the dealership with a strange noise. Every time the car went up or down a steep grade, the customer could hear a "sshhhh-thump" sound.
To make a long story short, after many unsuccessful attempts to diagnose the noise, the service guys finally cut open one of the rocker panels to find a Coke bottle that had been stashed there at the factory. The noise was caused by the bottle sliding in the rocker until it hit the end panel on steep grades.
Heres a funny factory story.. Fellow in N.B. in 1966, ordered a Strato Chief 2 door sedan, for his first new car, to go to University with (His Dad was paying for it) he ordered it white with red interior 396-325HP, 4 speed Munice, Posi-trac, pass mirror, and metallic brake linings It took over six months to show up!! It was shipped by rail.. When it was unloaded, in Sackville, at Dealership, the car was a beauty.. It had crossed flag Chevy emblems on it, and was a fast car with headers and 4:11 gears added.. 44 years later the mechanic who always tuned it ,and "was there" when it came in, confirmed the Chevy emblems, and confirmed the "air cleaner" had 396 Turbo jet emblems... He figured the car was (late) and was built with a batch of big block 2 door Chevys in Oshawa Witnesses (2) are alive and well in N.B.
I like Carl's story better but the Coke bottle reminded me of Roger the original owner of a Dick Harrel prepped Copo 427 Chevelle on the Yenko site.. Now restoring the car 40 years later after finding and buying the car back he's found his original rattle too...a mason jar stashed in the hollow vent area behind the kick panel!.
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-- Edited by Ghost Post on Thursday 29th of July 2010 09:38:23 AM
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I like real cars best...especially the REAL real ones! ----------------------------------------------------------------
Not a Pontiac story but Chevelle. Back in 1975 I traded my 68 GMC pickup for a 1969 Chevelle Malibu. The owner not only had the car since new, he worked on the same assembly line in Oshawa where his car was being built. He was telling me that all the components were heavy duty, where applicable. Things like the alternator, heavy duty clutch, had a posi instead of the 10 bolt. I was skeptical, I was the buyer, he was trying to sell me a car. It was a 350 with 3 speed column shift. I ended up with the car, best car I ever had. The engine was supposed to be 255 hp but was actually 300 hp. I had the vehicle for 1.5 years, it got totalled and went to the scrap yard. Would love to get my hands on the trim tag!
While working at a GM dealer I've seen a lot of strange things. I remember a full size pickup that was GMC on one side and Chevy on the other! We've also seen trucks with steel wheels on one side and aluminum on the other!
Our brand new '61 Strato Chief had a bad rattle clunk from passenger side under dash. Several trips to dealer failed to find a fault. Then finally they took the kick panel off, three coffee cups with a pair of pliers in them rattling around. Oshawa workers must have been disgruntled bunch.
While working at a GM dealer I've seen a lot of strange things. I remember a full size pickup that was GMC on one side and Chevy on the other! We've also seen trucks with steel wheels on one side and aluminum on the other!
Must have built it "one piece at a time" like Johnny Cash's Cadillac.
