I viewed an early 1970’s General Motors video on their auto logistics and how the computer aided them trace railcars. Great to seen the old cars.
The SP and GM pioneered the use of a “verta-pack”" auto rack. Vega’s were loaded into specially constructed racks and then a fork lift tilted that “pocket” into the vertical postion for transport.
I remember reading that the concept was good, but the various fluids in the automobile did not stay where they were supposed to be and the idea was abandoned. Also, enclosed auto tracks were coming into vogue due to damage during transit.
I remember the “vertapacks,” even though I did not remember the name. I had not thought much about them, and I am not surprised that they were not a success–cars are designed to stay almost level and not to be tilted as these were. Apparently the vertapack designers did not get with the automobile designers to make certain that nothing would leak out when the cars were tilted?
The Vega was supposed to have been modified to prevent fluids from leaking, among other things a baffle was installed inside the engine to stop oil from leaking out through the No. 1 cylinder. No idea how well the changes actually worked in the real world.
A downside of the Vert-A-Pac was that it could not be used to haul anything else, so the return move was always empty. As time went on and auto assembly spread out across the continent (to say nothing of imports) backhauls have become common.
Even if the fluids didn’t leak out, the plugs that were supposed to keep them in place were in tough places to get at, and were sometimes not removed or opened properly. The dead Vega three blocks from the dealer was a staple of 1970s car humor. The bottom line with the VertaPacks was that the Vega was a sales bomb, and the VertaPack cars weren’t tall enough to handle any other models GM had at the time. Add to this that loading and unloading required the cars to sit about 60 feet apart on parallel tracks, so any efficiency in transport was lost in handling. SP also tried the StackPack, a container holding four or six vehicles, but it required special handling equipment which wasn’t usually available in vehicle loading yards.
My mom had one, borrowed it one afternoon, that car barely made it up a hill. She also bought a Ford Pinto at one time. Good grief. It’s been Toyotas ever since.
Remember the Vega enthusiasts in the movie ‘Contact’? I’m sure there is a Pinto enthusiast club as well somewhere out there.
PT Barnum was right on the money, not sure if he went far enough if folks celebrate these things.
The Vega was a cluster from the very inception of the idea. GM needed a new manufacturing plant to build it - The Lordstown Assembly Plant was constructed for it in a no expense spared CRASH construction project to have the plant producing cars YESTERDAY. 24/7/365 construction to get the plant built and into production. The Vert-A-Pacs, I believe, were a GM idea to be able to ship more automobiles in fewer rail car loads. If my memory is still intact, I think 20 or 22 Vegas were shipped per rail car load. Recall seeing a Freight Bill at the Newton Falls, OH Agency for a Vert-A-Pac from Lordstown to California in 1968 - $4800 in 1968 dollars - I was earning less than $24 a day at that time working for the B&O.
A friend of mine had a Mercury. In order to change a taillight, you had to remove the rear bumper! I read that a certain GM car had a problem with one spark plug. I order to change that rear spark plug(s) you had to remove the engine and tilt it in order change spark plug(s).
The end of the Vert A Pack was not because of fluid problems. As the Vega got redesigned after year 3 or 4 it got to long to fit in the Ver A Pack. Ver A Pack held 30 Vegas. They got 18 on a standard trilevel.
The early transverse v6 models it was easier to get the back 3 plugs out by either going underneath or pulling the top engine mount and rotate the engine forward. My husband changed many a set of spark plugs on his parents X body Buick V-6 engines. He always swore when it came time to replace the back 3 on any of them. He said to his mother once the engineer that came up with the engine bay on the X body GM cars needed to be shoved into the space between the rear bank and the firewall.
“1970s GENERAL MOTORS RAILROAD LOGISTICS / SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 74672…”
At about 5 minutes in, there is video of the Vert-a-Pack loading operation, and also the Stack-Pac loading from inside the cars. There is also video of one of the first GM supplied Unit Trains to the West Coast. [note; The half-dozen or so SD units on the head-end, and the open double, and triple decked auto transport cars.]
My father worked at GM’s Proving Grounds, and he told me about that - I believe it was a Cadillac. I don’t recall that you had to remove the engine, but you did have to loosen one of the engine mount bolts.
As big as those cars of that era were, they still managed to pack the engine compartment full.
He worked on one special project involving a pick-up. They added a water pump (not the one for the coolant), an air compressor, and who-knows-what else under that hood. Talk about tight…
The Chevrolet Monza 1975-80, assembled at Lordstown when equipped with the Chevy small block V8 required the engine to be moved off the motor mounts to change the rear two plugs.
I had a Chevette in the '70s that was fun to drive (four speed manual) but the AC compressor was mounted right above the distributor. Not impossible but a b—ch to work on when you had to change the points. Also went through clutch cables. Tought daughter to drive on it.
I know, this has nothing to do with trains except that I took the kids to watch them many times in it. Hope that passes the test.
The dealer wanted $600 to change my headlight bulbs in my 2011 GMC Acadia. $300 was for the HID bulbs (found on Amazon for $35) and $300 was to take my front bumper off to change the bulbs. Ended up doing it myself by by removing the panel inside the wheel well and blindly replacing the bulb.
They may have moved over to Dodge. Changing the headlight bulbs in my Ram involves removing the grille…
As you note, it can kinda be done by fumbling around, but it’s a lot easier if you take it apart. Besides - I broke one of the retaining clips on one of the electrical connectors doing it that way and that very nearly netted me a ticket…
Those days are gone forever. Easy maintenance started to go out the window with muscle cars that had massive V-8’s that were almost too big for the engine compartment. Environmental laws were the next step and the development of microprocessors which controlled just about every phase of combustion finished the job.
