Buick Factories.

We all have had problems at one time or another about what a factory should be called. This is Don Bent's interpretation concerning this dilemma. Maybe this will help set your mind at ease (a little) and help you understand that we can all have this same problem.  This is from Don's Second Edition book "A Place Called Buick". I use this as my field guide while researching  Buick history.

Powertrain Flint North Demolition 2011- 2012.

The last of factory #81 / #70. Building #86 is at the extreme left.  All photos from Leonard Thygesen between 2011- 2012. 

Foundry #70 1926 - 2011  Factory #70/#71a Hercules Diesel Engine Block & Head Casting Factory #70 Engine Block Pouring Buick WWII First Metal July 17,1942  Historic photo.

I find it sickening that these German named machines are tearing the factory apart that made parts to fight the Nazi's during World War II.     Imagine all the still living and dead military personnel seeing what their children and great grand children have let happen to their country. This is what happens when we don't learn from history. We are bound to repeat it.  News story from 1981.

A very small section of the north end of factory #81 / #70 is all that is left.

Factory #81 is just a small pile of rubble here. Factory #05 that turned out J-65 jet engine components during the Korean war is still intact in the left background. Factory #10 where all the Liberator cylinder heads were cast during World War II is still intact in the right background.

This map shows the location of the 4 pictures shown above.

The cleared site where factory #81 once stood, which was originally foundry #70 before 1981. Nothing but rusting rails left to tell the tale.

The old magnetic hoist for the old Buick foundry #70 that was changed over to torque converter work in 1981.  At that time it was designated factory #81..

When you enlarge this photo you can see where a guy like me would have entered the building. I was a truck driver for most of my time at Buick. They made torque converters here during the factories waning years. This structure housed the magnetic hoist that was once used for bringing scrap metal into the foundry up until 1981. Leonard Thygesen said the large crane moving back and forth made the whole structure sway. This in turn caused the concrete footings to crack. He stated they had to repair those footings in the early 70's.  Only this small section was left when Leonard took this photo.

This is where factories #81, #05 and #10  once stood. Just one lone shed is all that is left. This elevated photo was taken from the roof of the old Bell produce building.

This is a never before seen look at the south end of factory #81. This view was not possible when factory #31 was still standing. This was the Buick foundry #70 until 1981 and cast iron into engines for most of it's life. Only the south-end is left standing at the time of this photo.

This is the main gate of factory #31 on Industrial Avenue (shown below) and was taken in the early 80's. Check out that stylized script. You are facing east.  This is from Don Bent's book "A Place Called Buick". 

Factory #31 Front Hub Assembly Factory #31 During Construction Factory #31 Axle Line Crankshaft Work Buick North 1966 Overview Factory #31 2008

Facing south-east at the gate of factory #31 on Industrial Avenue.  

This is the south end of factory #31 as never before viewed  from Industrial Avenue facing south-east.

This map shows the location for the 7 photos shown above.

Portland Cement.

Kids from Flint spent many an hour around the ruins of these old cement works located between Silver lake and Lake Ponemah. My parents would not let me play here because of my age. While Swimming in Silver lake you were always reminded of the drop off which is sudden and steep. It was caused by the dredging around these lakes in the first half of the 20th century. The last time I was near here you could still see some of the walls standing. A popular bar is located on Ponemah now. I did get a chance to fill in on guitar there one night during a bands break.

A closeup of the panorama farther below. Silver lake was on the left just beyond the road.

Closeup of the panorama below. That is Ponemah on the right. 

Aetna Portland Cement Company. located on the southern edge of Genesee County. This was the glue that held the bricks together, that built the early factories.

Just Another Brick In The Wall.

Clio brick yard north of Flint. The photo just above this one is showing a one day output of bricks and is from the Buick 50th anniversary book put out in 1953. I'm not sure about the identity but it does show the early air drying method mentioned in the story below of the Sandstone Company.  There were brick making establishments all over the state and country at that time, because the raw materials could be found most anywhere. The first brick building in Flint  got it's raw material very close to this site at the foot of Church Street, very near the banks of Thread creek. When I was younger you could see these depressions where the clay and sand had been removed only we did not know what they were for. By the way, the first brick building erected in Flint is believed to have been the old "Scotch Store" at the corner of  Second Avenue and North Saginaw Street according to the book "The Picture History Of Flint" by noted local historian Lawrence Gustin ,which even includes a later photo from that 1852 time period. It was a substantial three story building.

Grand Blanc brick yard very near the Flint Sandstone brick Company.

This article was in the Wolverine Citizen on July 24, 1909. I have read many such articles from this time period and unlike today people would keep the skulls and other bones on display even going as far as keeping a skull on their desk. Today the whole site would be shut down and sometimes even closed permanently, in many cases.

The new Buick factories used a lot of these sandstone bricks in their original factories. They were soft and you could easily scratch words into them. Salt used in the winter months was especially degrading on these old bricks. There were still plenty of these old buildings around the Buick complex right up until the end.

A 1916 history.

The 1922 Flint City Directory's listing for the brick co. 

The arrow shows the entire area occupied by The Flint Sandstone  Brick co. in 1920. On the map you can see that they also had access across the street to the east even along Tobias Street. Ex Mayor Don Williamson runs a recycling facility there now. When I was young that was where we all took our scrap metal and turned it into money.

As you see in this current map Deming Road was later changed to south Grand Traverse St. This was done when the two were connected at the corner where I once lived on Ninth and Grand Traverse St.

The arrow points to the area that was occupied by the Flint Sandstone Brick Co. In the southwest of Flint. When it was in operation this was outside the city limits.

The caption says Sandlime but the sign on the building says Sandstone.

A piece of marble (top) from the facade of the main office at Buick on the corner of Industrial and Hamilton Avenues. They also used black granite for accent. The red tinged brick (bottom) is from the assembly plant #04 located just across the intersection from the main office.  The assembly plant was originally called the new large sheet metal plant for Buick just after World War II. This was the last factory my father would work in before he died in 1966.  Link:  

Factory #04 1947 

Leonard Thygesen who has recorded the demolition done at Buick and preserved it all on film  and photographs gave me these mementoes from the demolition. On the right is a brick from the assembly plant #04 built in 1946-1947. It was demolished in 2002. Go to the following link: 

Factory #04 Collage  The white marble on the left is from the Buick World Headquarters in Flint or building #01, some knew it as the Buick administration building  or the main office, some even called it The Ivory Tower or the Marble Palace. It opened in 1968 and closed completely in 2003.  Demolition took place between 2005- 2006.  Go to the following links: Buick world Headquarters at Flint Michigan  The last Headquarters In Flint, Michigan.   Go here to order from Leonard. Shown below is a piece of the black granite used for accentuating the white marble. This is from Leonard's personal collection.

 

Foundry #70 1926 - 2011

The following are some views of the new (in 1926) Buick grey iron foundry. Link for news story on new foundry.  Another news story 1927.  Story 1927 with photos. Largest foundry story.  Just another story from 1927.  1926 story.  Another 1927 story. 1954 addition.  The Great Mile and a Half 1926 story of Buick.

The blue arrow shows the direction and location for the courtyard shown below.

Building #71 on left and #70 on right.

During construction.

The 1953 announced addition to the Buick foundry. This would be designated #71-a.

All the photos above are from Don Bent's book "A Place Called Buick"

Post World War II proposed additions (in red) for the grey iron foundry. Building 70 and 71 were connected in the mid '30s.  North is at the left. 

This area is shown below circled in red. This is facing west.

Link for pollution scrubber.   

Factory #70 when new. The inset photo is from Don Bent's book "A Place Called Buick". 

This diagram shows the location of the switch engine shown in the photos below.

Switch engine at work on July 11, 1989. The truck in the foreground is on Division Street heading south-west at the north end of factory #81. That is factory #10 in the far background.

That is the spring plant #03 filling the background. The location is diagrammed below.  

Days of old.

Factory #81 as it was designated from 1981 to 2011.

Here are the foundry buildings identified. The main buildings #70 and #71 were built between 1926-1927. Building #71-a connected  #70 and #71 in 1939. The lighter colored west addition made to #71-a was done in 1953. The safety store where everyone bought their shoes was located just where Division st. starts turning to the east, just under the structure connecting with #31. This addition was shaped at the north-end to follow the curve in Division Street. I never personally went in here myself other than the safety store.  If any of these designations are wrong let me know. This view is from 2005 when the factory was known as #81  torque converter plant at Buick. The support structure at the lower right numbered 97 was originally #21 and was the tool  grinding shop. It was still  #21 in 1980.  I'm not sure when that changed. The uses of these different areas are: #71 Cleaning room. The cleaning room is shown below with the two photos of engine blocks going down the line, #71-a was the core ovens, #70 was called the pouring loop and had line 1 & 2 making brake drums with 3, 4 and 5 doing the engine blocks. Area #72 was for sand storage and mixing sand. Keep in mind this would be information from the '60s and '70s. Area #73 was maintenance. Area #74 may be a dock. Area #70-b is the cupola area. Area #70-a was for  crane maintenance.  The office area was #69-c.  Cooling towers were at #69-a. The pattern shop was #69 and 2nd floor was the wood patterns with the first floor being the steel patterns.   Factory #70 core room.  

Go here for 1927 expansion story. Foundry story Links:

Factory #70 Raw Casting

Factory #70 Before 1953

Factory #70 Core Room

Block Grinding In Factory #70

Factory #70 Engine Block Pouring

Factory #70 POTS

Factory #70

Days gone by. The next three photos are from the Buick facebook site.  

The following story of the V-6 engine returning to Buick is from the book "The Good Old Days At The Buick by Lynn Ruester.....  A quote from George Elges, who retired in 1981 as GM Group Vice President:  "I had a number of challenges facing me when I went to Buick, but the first big one was to find my office.  They had put  up the new building since I had been there, and I had quite a time finding it.  I hadn't been on the job long when the energy crunch hit and the emphasis suddenly switched to small cars and fuel economy; Buick was in deep trouble.  We had big cars and big engines, and fuel economy was something we didn't say much about.  Buick had tried a small V-6 engine a dozen or so years previously, and it didn't work out.  Buick customers wanted big Buick's.  When the demand suddenly shifted, we were left high and dry.  I had brought in Bob Burger as general sales manager, and even Burger couldn't come up with any ideas to sell Buick's.  The whole industry was in trouble because the Japanese were bringing in their small, fuel efficient cars and none of us could match them........Well, all of us were trying to figure a way out of this problem.  We were going around the country, having meetings with our dealers, trying to hold their hands through this crisis, but we didn't really have much to offer them.  They couldn't sell our cars; they were having financial troubles, and so were we........About this time I somehow got to thinking about the old Buick V-6.  I knew the engine because some years back I had bought a boat with the Buick V-6 engine.  It was a beautiful engine, and I just hadn't heard much about it for years........I called Don Taylor who was our production manager, and I asked him to quietly delve into what American Motors was doing with that engine.  Don did that and reported back that AMC was not using the engine, that they had mothballed the engine line and it was just sitting in Toledo.......I immediately called Ed Cole, and asked for permission to get in touch with American Motors so we could try to get it back.  Well, in Ed's inimitable style, he said he would take over himself.  'I'll handle this, George, at a higher level.  you can forget about it.' .........As the story later came back to me, Cole got in touch with Cliff Studaker, who was our engine expert, and they chased down to Toledo.  What Ed tried to negotiate was having American Motors build the engine and sell it to us.  That wasn't what I had in mind at all.......Thank goodness, those negotiations fell through.  American Motors wanted too much money to sell us the engines, so Cole just forgot about it, and that dumped the ball back in my lap.  On our own we pursued it and finally we struck a deal with American Motors to buy the line and bring it back to Flint.......I took that proposal to the GM Administration committee, and got the approval to go ahead.  That was one miracle, getting it past the committee.  The second miracle was when we discovered that the old foundations were still in place in our Engine plant.  Finding those foundations meant all we had to do was clean up the floor........To finish that V-6 story, thanks to Buick people like Cliff Studaker, Bob Breeden, Don Taylor, Bernie Caine, and a host of others, we had V-6 engines in our 1975 models, a miraculous turnaround, and a real crisis situation for Buick was averted.  We were again able to build the cars our dealers wanted, and sales responded accordingly."

Link for old foundation story.

Inspecting a fresh engine block. These foundry photos were sent to me from Leonard Thygesen and he received them  from an old foundry worker.  They were probably taken in the mid 70's. Leonard said he helped install the V-6 engine line in factory #36 when it was brought back to Buick. 

1958 factory #70.

The bottom mold is called the drag. The light colored sand is the core.  

Making up cores for the Buick V6 at the Buick foundry. 

A remembrance from the last V8 made at Buick.

Buick supervisor turned Mayor of Flint Floyd McCree visiting old stomping grounds. This is from Ebony magazine July 1967. Original link.