Before unibody cars became standard in the 1970s, a lot of auto manufacturers would manufacture the finished body (passenger cabin) at one plant and then transport them to another plant to marry them up to the chassis/powertrain via train or truck. The Cadillac Detroit Assembly plant was a good example.
What were the frequency of deliveries by train and truck? Was there a distance cutoff (25, 50 miles, etc.) that made railroad more viable? Finally, did the cutoff change over time due to things like larger trucks and freeways?
Not positive on the correct answer but I do know that frames are transported often. It actually makes more sense to transport the sturdy not pretty stuff around rather than the other way. Also individual panels and other stampings are shipped but these are easier to package and handle.
Oh BTW unibody tech dates back to the early 30’s at least. The Chrysler Airflow was one.
Joe,
Not sure about the Detroit plant. The Buick complex in flint received continuously.
The Fisher Body plants #1 and #2, yes the original ones, were on the south side of Flint and Buick was on the North. They used special dropped floor trailers to haul the bodies through downtown Flint. The bodies were on special wheeled racks that were then loaded in reverse sequence and driven to Buick. The had wreckers with spare tractors staged ready to go rescue any break down as all trucks had to arrive in proper sequence. At Buick the bodies were pull off and sent to the third floor to start their journey down to the first floor to mate up with the proper frame, drivetrain and front ‘clip’, the fenders, grill, hood.
Bob
Joe Blow: Need to research “Fisher Body Co”
See link@http://www.fisherco.com/heritage/
Fisher( later Fisher Body Co) started out building wagons around the turn of the 20th Century in Norwalk, Oh. They byuld the bodies for autos assembled by other manufacturers: FTL "…In 1916 the Company became the Fisher Body Corporation. Its capa
A lot of the auto and truck frames were made in Milwaukee, WI at the A.O. Smith plant and I believe they still make frames for a few vehicles. I do remember as a kid the Milwaukee Road trains loaded with frames headed South to Chicago and sometimes North to the Twin Cities. Some of the Milwaukee Road frame trains would be up to 40% frames and the rest assorted high cube extra long box cars and auto rack cars. The Milwaukee Road would ship daily out of Milwaukee, I
[quote user=“CMStPnP”]
JoeBlow
Before unibody cars became standard in the 1970s, a lot of auto manufacturers would manufacture the finished body (passenger cabin) at one plant and then transport them to another plant to marry them up to the chassis/powertrain via train or truck. The Cadillac Detroit Assembly plant was a good example.
What were the frequency of deliveries by train and truck? Was there a distance cutoff (25, 50 miles, etc.) that made railroad more viable? Finally, did the cutoff change over time due to things like larger trucks and freeways?
A lot of the auto and truck frames were made in Milwaukee, WI at the A.O. Smith plant and I believe they still make frames for a few vehicles. I do remember as a kid the Milwaukee Road trains loaded with frames headed South to Chicago and sometimes North to the Twin Cities. Some of the Milwaukee Road frame trains would
The now gone GM assembly plant in Baltimore which operated from 1935 until 2005 built GM vehicles from parts all made elsewhere.
Frames, engines, driveline components, everything came in, mostly by train, to a large indoor recieving area. High level platforms and bridge plates allowed fork trucks to unload palletized parts from box cars, again, all inside the the plant.
Bodies were welded up and finished there, but the panels for those bodies came as stampings from other plants.
Frames came ready for suspension parts to be installed.
During the late 70’s and 80’s the plant built GM “A” body cars - Chevrolet Malibu, Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Pix, LeMans (later renamed with other Pontiac nameplates).
After that it was the sole plant that built the Astro/Safari mini van from 1985 until 2005.
I had the oppertunity to watch both “A” body production and minivan production at the plant and was involved its refitting for the vans.
Most of the parts came from as far away as Detroit and Ohio, and farther.
Joe, a side note or two about auto design.
GM was slow to adopt the complete unibody idea.
Chrysler was the first major domestic company to imbrace the unibody, going to full unibodies early in the 60’s.
The first GM unibodies were the compact cars in the early 60’s - NOVA, CORVAIR, OLDS F85, TEMPEST, SKYLARK, then later the CAMARO/FIREBIRD - really just a sporty NOVA.
Other GM cars remained body on frame but used a system where the body added strength to a “lightweight”, “perimeter” frame. This lasted until the first front wheel drive models, but the last of the big “B” body rear wheel drive cars were still body on frame to the end in 1996 with the last Buick Roadmasters and Chevy Caprice.
Like GM, Ford started with the small cars, FALCON, and its sporty sister MUSTANG in the 60’s, and slowly intergrated unibody construction next into mid sized c
Having grown up about 3 blocks from Ford’s Chicago assembly plant (switched by NKP/N&W), I observed a lot about auto parts traffic. Before they were shipped on flatcars, frames were shipped in modified gondolas. The frames were loaded standing on one end, with a framework in one end of the gondola which allowed the frames to lean about 10 degrees from vertical.
Parts deliveries seemed to be almost daily, either on a switch run from Calumet Yard or from BRC on trackage rights on CWI.
Having lived along the C&O line between Plymouth and Saginaw/Flint (former PM, now CSX Saginaw line), I saw a lot of auto parts trains. Of course, the boxcars contained who-knows-what, but the gons with the frames were unmistakable.
We visited the Oldmobile plant in Lansing Michigan in the 1950’s. They stamped their body parts right there.
Off topic but GM Executives hated the Wilmington, DEL plant because of the poor quality and the worker “could care less” attitude. The Chevy Lumina and Corsica were made there and both were defect ridden cars. They tried other models as well. Seems like nobody really cared about quality too much at that specific plant. Theft was also pretty high there.
Add the Monday/Friday thing (quality suffers just after and before the weekend) and you had a double whammy…