All Things Buick

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Oak Park Industrial Complex 1907

This 1907 map shows the Imperial Wheel Factory with the wrong configuration. That happened quite often back then because the map makers were trying to be as up to date as possible and plans sometimes don't go as planed.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Industrial Leaders Of Flint : In the early 20th century.

This is from the same book as the previous posting. It is a fascinating look at Flint during WWI. (1) What makes it so interesting to me is the fact that they include not only the names and faces of those who served from Genesee County but they also include their addresses. Looking back, it was a more innocent time. (1) WWI was known as "THE GREAT WAR" or "THE WAR TO END ALL WARS" before the outbreak of the second world war.

Josiah Dallas Dort

Josiah Dallas Dort b: February 2, 1861 d: May 17, 1925, always falls in the shadows of Durant and Mott when it comes to Flint history. When you read about all the things he has done to better Flint you will have a better understanding of what I mean. If not for General Motors, Dort would maybe be the one most remembered in Flint. But even as it stands he is still one of the great men who always stepped forward in Flint. Now just a little more background on J.D.Dort. As stated in the article from 1918 he was twice married. His first wife "Nellie" Matilda Bates died in Phoenix, Arizona March of 1900, and was buried in Flint, Michigan at Glenwood Cemetery. Dort took a two year absence from Flint when his wife became ill. She required the drier climate in Phoenix. After her death he then got remarried May 8, 1906 to one "Mable" Marcia Webb the daughter of Charles Augustus and Rosa Webb. Her father Charles was once commandant at Fort Mackinac. Her mother Rosa founded the first library on Mackinac Island. Marcia was born September 1, 1881 and passed away in Flint in 1978. I have found two conflicting dates for her death. One shows August of 1978, another shows October 12, 1978. Either way she is listed as being buried in the Old Flint Cemetery. How they met, I have not found yet. She went to college at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and later transferred to Vassar in upstate New York. I guess what I'm driving at is, like his friend Durant, Dort was another well to do businessman who liked the younger ladies. Another interesting fact I found in the Dearborn Historian from 1968 states that "Dort was the person responsible for bringing Charles Nash into the fold". It says that Nash came to his attention while working as a cherry picker on Dort's farm. This conflicts with the story of Durant having discovered Nash's talents. One final note: as a tribute to Dort, a highway in Flint was named in his honor. Part of the famous "Dixie" highway, which was called Western road at that time, was simply renamed, "Dort" highway. This was changed by the Flint city council on August 2, 1926, a little over a year after he passed away. The business route for the Dixie was Saginaw Street through downtown Flint. follow the link for Nash history

follow the link for Nash history

Charles W. Nash Major Road layouts in the early 19th century

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Factory #62 Revisited.

The elaborate tire and wheel delivery system in factory #62. Link for news on the unified assembly line from 1927.

Unified Assembly line open for business. "That is the steam cleaning booth before body marriage".

More construction.

Construction of the Unified Assembly plant between 1925-1926. This is the roofed over area between factories #07 and #10. just type in #62 in the blog search at the upper left top to see numerous views inside factory #62 go to the following link for WWII production.

Factory #62 WWII

Buick Personnel

Another view of building #85 personnel on Industrial Avenue. This north view is the same as show at the very bottom.

This was where you hired in during the early '20s. This is Industrial Avenue just south of factory #12. This would be the Oak Park entrance. Factory #04 would be built here after WWII.

This is the rear entrance of the current Buick personnel building, facing north. photo supplied by Kevin Burger

This shows the sign on Leith st with factory #31 in the distance. photo supplied by Kevin Burger

This is the current Personnel building just after being built, building #18 at the corner of Leith and Industrial. As with the previous building #85 it also house's main medical. This is also the location for the security and fire departments.

This building #85 built between 1936-1937 for Engineering, personnel, metallurgical etc. The news article is shown below. It took over the Personnel duties; Date unknown at this time. This was where I hired in.

Link for full original article.

This personnel building was the original #68, located on the west side of Industrial Avenue. directly across the street from factory #38. This building was given to the city of Flint after Buick moved Personnel to the "NEW" building #85 on Leith street. I'm not sure of the exact date of this move. When I hired in (late in 1972) I did so at the Leith street location.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Early Steetcar on the Buick Run.

One of the first streetcars that ran the rails in Flint. This one was on the line going to The Buick complex.

Friday, September 25, 2009

B.O.P. & G.M.A.D.

This is a nice color photo I found that matches the one shown below.

These two pages from a 1938 press release shed some light on pre WW II assembly operations for Buick.

This is the Fremont, California plant which opened in 1962 as a G.M.A.D. (General Motors Assembly Division) plant. This particular facility would become the General Motors and Toyota joint venture plant after the original facility ceased production in 1982. It would reopen in 1984 as the Nummi (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.) factory, and is now scheduled to close in March 2010. Shown on the assembly line here is a 1964 Buick Skylark just receiving it's body being followed by a Pontiac. The car in front of the Buick is an Oldsmobile F-85. A good story from 1983.

This rather rare dust jacket (not as rare as the hardback) for the 50th anniversary book of Buick shows the locations of the B.O.P.plants in 1953.

Contrary to some written histories, here is a B.O.P. assembly plant in 1939. Most histories I have read claim 1946 - 1959 as the span in which these plants were constructed. Terry Dunham, the co author of: "The Buick: A Complete History" has corrected me pertaining to the first California B.O.P. plant. "Buick's first production on the West Coast came out of a plant located in South Gate, California down around Los Angeles".According to Wikipedia the South Gate plant opened in 1936 and was the second B.O.P. after the Linden, New Jersey plant. General Motors did establish the B.O.P. Sales Company in 1932. In this photo we can clearly see first, the rear quarter of a 1939 Pontiac coupe, the car receiving it's body with the unmistakable grille is a 39 Buick, and the car after the Buick is an Oldsmobile. The Linden N.J. plant was home to GM automobile assembly operations from 1937 to 2005, they assembled nearly 9 million vehicles in its 68 year history, including Buick's, Cadillac's, Oldsmobile's, Pontiac's, the Chevrolet Blazer and the GMC Jimmy. During World War II, they produced Grumman Wildcat fighter planes. Automobile production resumed in 1946. L.A. Buick plant 1936.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Buick Assembly 1922

Just a different source of the photo below. Link for 1922 Buick's. 1922 transmission advertisement.

A 1922 look inside the Buick assembly plant #01 where the body’s are just being “cut in” with paint around the door jams and seats. Pretty much the same as today, except the seat part. The car body’s at this time would have gotten their seats in either 16-b or factory #07 on the second floor and then passed through the west bridge in the courtyard (heading south) between assembly and factory #01. Then they made the return trip to factory #06 assembly’s second floor through the east bridge of the courtyard, only this time heading north. The body’s were then lowered to the first floor to mate with their prospective chassis. As far as the seat stuffing department at any given time is anybody’s guess. Things were always moved around. In my time you never knew from year to year where any departments new location would be. The engine dress line was one that was always on the move. So if you have better information than I do, please leave a comment.

I've had this photo for years and never realized it was Buick in Flint. It is dated the same date as the photo below. I know I have a better copy, and will post it when I locate it. I also have another one of this same view, only the workers have changed positions. I also located the photo at the bottom of this post in the book "Our Day's Together At Buick City". I guess you really can't see the forest for the tree's. I have way too much stuff in my archives.

This addition known as 06-b built in 1915 is where I now believe this photo was taken. This is a north view between factory #06 connected on the right and #07 connected on the left. These were numbered (north to south) as 06-b, 06-c and 06-d. Factory #09 is connected at the north-end. When the photo below was taken the roofed over area at the left between #07 and #10 did not exist. This is the only addition with three floors, which is obvious this building had. The second floor was the seat stuffing department. You can see the stairs in the right background of the enhanced photo below. If this assumption is correct, that would mean in the photo below the photographer was facing south, as evidenced by the light entering through the windows in the background.

Enhanced for more background detail.

Here is the "New for 1922" 4 cylinder engine very similar to the 6 shown below.

This photo dated November 17, 1922 shows workers have just installed the tires. Note the different tread patterns used on the front and rear. You can also see the fixture being used to align the running boards. The only other pillars I ever saw at Buick that were round were in engineering #84 the old Part's and Service building built between 1938-1939 and factory #05 enamel plant which were of a little bit different style.
Link: ORIGINAL

. see the following link to view the 1922 body being assembled in the old W.F.Stewart plant
W.F. Stewart Inside + Postcard

1954 Buick Fisher Body #1

Here we are on south Saginaw street in Flint, Michigan at Fisher Body plant #1. These 1954 Buick's are just getting their final polish on the assembly line.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Division Street 1947

In this view facing directly north up Division Street we have factory #01 on the left. Then in the middle is the just completed assembly plant, bldg. #16/#40, where I first entered a General Motors factory in 1972. At the right is the old transmission plant #40. Factory #01 was constructed between 1905-1906. The original contract for construction on this building was signed on September 4, 1905. The builders were Field, Hinchman & Smith out of Detroit, Michigan. This was actually the 2nd Buick factory built in Flint, but after erecting this factory in the Oak Park Industrial Complex on Hamilton Avenue, factory #1 on east Kearsley street became factory #2. This factory covered all aspects of car assembly (truck assembly continued at Jackson) after Buick assembly moved back to Flint from Jackson, Michigan. Building #16/#40 erected between 1946-1947 replaced factory#06 constructed in 1907 which took over assembly operations previously done in factory #01. When first built this factory became part of the Unified Assembly plant #62 which came into being in 1925. Factory #40 built between 1919-1920 took over transmission assembly that had previously been done in factory #01. you can find more information at the following post's