Factory #44 2000

I took this photo from the Hamilton Avenue gate facing west with factory #04 and #44 showing during December. That is our Pontiac Gran Prix in the photo.

Buick City Remodel 1985

This photo appears to be factory #04 during Buick City construction.

This view inside factory #44 during Buick City remodeling shows the first floor dip tanks being built. I believe this view is facing south west from near the entrance to factory #40/bldg #16. The raw body's would be submerged in these tanks after they had went through the second floor sealer line in factory #04 to get rust prevention and paint prep.

Factory #44 Buick City

This view shows the remodeling going on during 1985 getting ready to become Buick City. At the left you see body receiving has been mostly removed but the rest stayed to become a truck dock. When this building was first built it was for paint on the second floor and the engine dress on the first floor, also follow up had all it's offices located in a large mezzanine structure. Follow up was for tracking parts. Before Buick City the tire and wheel room was located north of #44 with the rail line extending through to #44 for offloading engines and transmissions. I remember one afternoon when some fault with the engineering on the engine line caused the whole assembly line to drop two feet, there were no casualties. One worker did die in an accident here during Buick City remodeling.

Factory #44 During Construction

Here's a view facing north west across Hamilton at Division, showing the construction of factory #44 in 1974. Even at this time the building was being used by factory #04 for overflow of vehicles needing repair. I was working one Sunday in there early in the morning and it was so dark I walked into an open pit full of ice water, the first floor was still dirt at that time and that sure ruined my morning. This also shows a good view of the body receiving structure. When you enlarge this photo you can see one of the Fisher Body trucks above the corvette, the truck is either pulling out or waiting for a full load of body dollies to show up. The trucks could not just sit and wait blocking the dock because there was a constant stream of body haulers coming from Fisher #1 on south Saginaw st. four miles away.

The Two 40's

Here's both factory 40's from December 2000, I took this photo from where the old Pere Marquette tracks run. You can see the the demolition has started on building #16/#40 at the left. In the distance you can see the bridge to factory #94 has been partially removed, old forty would be one of the last to go.

Factory #40 Building #16 1947 & 1997

The photo above shows #40/16 during construction in 1947.

Here your looking north at the dock on the south end of factory #40 in 1997, (the same view as shown above) I took this shot through my windshield. The tank farm and factory #44 are on the left.

Fork Truck

This was my fork truck after Buick City was created, I received this truck when it did not even have one hour on the gauge. Here it's parked on the bridge that goes from Division St. to factory #08/#95.

Inside Bridge #23 Bridge #23 1940 Bridge Demolition

20 Years At Buick

Here I’m getting congratulated for reaching 20 years seniority. I look a little out of sorts so I probably had a few drinks in me, which would explain me shaking hands with one of the worst supervisor’s I ever had. If I had a top three worst list he would make that list. Ted Flint's prior occupation before Buick management was as a tour bus driver for Blue Lakes Charter, taking senior citizens to Cedar Point. That is the type of supervisors we would have in the waning years. We were deliberately setup to fail around 1990 for some reason. It was shortly after the joint venture at the Numi plant in California with the south Korean's. If someone ever follows the money trail they will no doubt figure it out. I never have believed in Lloyd Ruess and his publicly stated reason.  LINKS: 

Part Delivery printout Factory #12 1925 Thru 2002

Lisa & Me

This is Lisa and I. She was the best boss I ever had at Buick. I was an extra man back then in the '90s. I knew every job in the materials department and that was the problem. Some higher ups in our group had some old scores to settle with me so I was pretty open to be jerked around. When anybody needed a body to fill a job they always called for me first and Lisa was wise to this. She wanted me in my own department covering anything she needed done. What she would do is when the call's went out over the radio for help she would ignore them because she knew the game. She would say she hadn't checked all her manpower yet and would get back to them later, hopefully after they had found another to fill the job. She could not always protect me but she did a pretty good job. She told me when she quit G.M. that she could no longer treat people the way they were demanding her to do, so she left for Florida and got married. There was no shortage of regular workers becoming supervisors. The older ones were usually the best and they understood how things really worked  because they came up through the ranks.  If upper management and workers had spent just a little more time doing there real jobs instead of settling old scores our children would still be building Buick's in Flint.

Buick 1969

This view is facing north east with the last Flint World Headquarters (main office) now in the left foreground and the body receiving structure now fully visible, attached to factory #04. Factory #08 the Buick garage is now a parking lot and factory #01 is gone.