1936 Chevrolet Assembly Line - When Men were Men

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smitty_bs

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A 1936 Chevrolet assembly factory. Note the automation that was already in place, the workers lack of any and all modern safety equipment, glasses and helmets, and they ALL know exactly what to do and its getting done. Note also that when the body comes together with the chassis that it is in FULL trim, Interior, windshield, all glass etc. is already in place as it is dropped onto the awaiting rolling chassis, "AMAZING". Simplicity at its best. Note that while the metal finishers are checking the sheet metal for minute and tiny flaws and defects that they are wearing heavy leather work gloves. How would YOU like that repetitious job of placing 3 rivets in the 3 holes on the chassis for about 35 to 40 years.

Fascinating 1936 Footage Of Car Assembly Line [VIDEO]
 
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Neat video! I hired into Buick Motor Division at 18 at spent much of my adult life there so I could probably relate to that film better than others. I got around the complex over the years working in a number of different Plants and also visited friends who had worked at Chevy, AC & Fisher Body so I got a good feel for many of their processes as well. Fisher Body is probably where the bodies shown in the film came from. I used to visit a friend who worked "Body Drop" in Buick's Final Assembly so I could really relate to that part of the film. Lot's of stuff was always going on in that place (Final Assy) and it never ceased to amaze me how all those parts, some big, some small, some that I had probably made myself, all came together at that one place and with all those people working as one big team to make it happen.

Most of the old GM Factories around here are now gone, like the one where the first Corvette's were made back in '53, which was only about 3 miles from where I sit.

The portion of the film showing the presses stamping out the major body panels made me see the face of a guy I had once worked with. He got crushed in a similar press and, as you could imagine, it was a bad scene based on those who were there when it happened.
 
Very interesting! I worked for Ford for 38 years. Things hadn't changed a lot from 1936 to 1986 in some respects. In 1986, sheet metal workers still used a gloved hand to check for flaws. Until a couple of years later, there still wasn't a sensor able to detect surface flaws as easily as a human hand.

I noticed, that in the fender and roof section presses, they already were using the two-hand switches to keep hands out of the press.

The fixtures used to flip the frames and deck the completed bodies is now rigid. No swinging parts or fixtures in the plant today. And the work rises to the worker on "benches". No more stooping and bending, for the most part.

I don't think anyone needs a 32oz hammer any more to fit rivet heads.

In the 1970's I moved from Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant to the auto assembly plant across town, so I wasn't at the plant when this accident happened. My dad's maintenance crew had to repair a floorpan press. They had insured that everything was locked out, and that the power was completely off before the crew went in and made the repairs. After the repair was finished, and the press tested, my dad signed off on the repair and sent his workers on to other jobs. When he was about 100 feet from the press, he got an emergency call on the radio. One of his electricians had dropped a knife under the press bed, and had gone back to retrieve it. He only stopped the operator, went under the top of the press, and tried to get his knife. The press cycled and crushed the man. My dad got back to the press in time to see the man try to raise himself up. This was in the days before EMS services. They called the county police, who got there in about ten minutes. My dad went to the hospital with the police and his electrician, but the man died on the way. Even in forty years, people still take unnecessary risks.
 
I enjoyed watching this. Thanks for posting it.

Scott
 
:) I retired from Nissan assembly plant in Smyrna Tn. and in some ways things are similar today. There is way more automation today and fewer people doing the work. Don
 
I thought that video was VERY COOL!!

I was amazed over the robots they had in 1936!! I guess the Japanese Generals hadn't caught that one back in the day. I'm blown away in 2011, but can only imagine what I would have thought about the production capability of Americans back in 1936. That film should be mandatory viewing by our Congressman and Senators.......... HINT HINT!!!!!

Thanks for posting!

Chief38
 
Last edited:
chief38 said:
I was amazed over the robots they had in 1936!! I guess the Japanese Generals hadn't caught that one back in the day. I'm blown away in 2011, but can only imagine what I would have thought about the production capability of Americans back in 1936.
Click to expand...

Chief, I can't speak to the policies of other Car Companies, but GM had a strick rule against cameras in the Factories, which started to ease a bit in the 90's, but only if someone was retireing, or something special was going on. Even then, if "they" spotted you in areas other than where the "party" happened to be they would gently remind you that cameras were restricted.

They used to tell us that the no camera policy was to prevent manufacturing espionage, or some similar type of spy-sounding name. For years if you seen a camera crew inside the plants you could bet it was one of GM's.
 
Imagine spending a whole day at an indoor range without hearing protection. Not an earplug in sight in the video. And if the statistics are accurate a good majority were drunk at some point during the shift.
 
One would need to be paying attention, all day every day, for forty years. If'n your mind ain't in it, a body part would be. No thanks, even at $75/hr. Joe
 
Now when you see films of UAW members they are smoking dope, and drinking beer in a parking lot before going BACK to work.:eek:
 
chief38 said:
I thought that video was VERY COOL!!

I was amazed over the robots they had in 1936!! I guess the Japanese Generals hadn't caught that one back in the day. I'm blown away in 2011, but can only imagine what I would have thought about the production capability of Americans back in 1936. That film should be mandatory viewing by our Congressman and Senators.......... HINT HINT!!!!!

Thanks for posting!

Chief38
Click to expand...

You can't teach politicians anything. We read the Constitution to them -- how did that help?
 
jlrhiner said:
That's a rather broad brush to be painting with, don't cha think?
Click to expand...

The ones who get publicity are the ones drinking and smoking dope. Maybe the union has a public relations problem?

Coming to work drunk wasn't invented last year. If I had to do some of those jobs, they'd be more bearable if I was hammered. Working the line is miserable. I never did it and I'm thankful.
 
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