Intro from an old Assembly Plant guy

[Keith Seymore]

I attended a memorial service for my friend Steve today. He passed away suddenly on July 2nd of a previously undiagnosed heart condition. He was 61 years old.

Steve and I worked at the GM Milford Proving Ground together. He was a mechanic through and through, with an affinity for engines and machines of all kinds. The memorial was held at his farm, about an hour north of where I live. The family had asked any of us with "hot rods" to drive them for a small display. I thought it would be fitting for me to drive lil Red, since that's what he and I worked on when we were together. They also had his '67 GTO, his wife's '69 Chevelle (it was her car from before they were married) and his '72 Chevy pickup parked out in the grass.

Many of us heard Steve say, on more than one occasion, "...after I'm gone I want you to run my ashes through a Chevy big block, running at 4000 rpm. I want to see what the inside looks like." He even reiterated with one of his buddies: "you're gonna take care of that, right?"

So - today was the day. At the end of the service they fired up his '72, which has a 396 in it, and ran it up to 4000 rpm, while pouring some of his ashes down the carb throat. I cried a little.

Godspeed my friend. A hot rodder to the very end.

K

[Keith Seymore]

One of the things I have been I have been meaning to do is visit the dealership where I bought my pickup and take a few pictures. So, since I was out that way today, we stopped by on the way home from Steve's house.

Here it is, nearly 26 years after it was delivered, sitting on the same lot.

K

[mosesburb]

Sorry to hear of your loss, Keith. He sounds like a great guy--especially with his request to see the inside of a BBC wrapping out at 4K. That is hardcore right there. Too cool.

Is the dealership you got your truck from still working under the same name as when you got it there?? Also, being that you drove it down the line, did you actually pick it up there or was that just a location to do the paperwork??

[Keith Seymore]

Thanks, guys -

Originally Posted by mosesburb

Is the dealership you got your truck from still working under the same name as when you got it there?? Also, being that you drove it down the line, did you actually pick it up there or was that just a location to do the paperwork??

Yes - same name. In fact, I got my Chevelle from the same location, except at that time it was owned by Robert Uptegraff (aka "Uptegraff Chevrolet"). When he sold it to the Hank Graff family they left the original signs up for quite a while with a red line through the "Upte" (lol).

I drove my truck off the end of the line and over to the shipping building. From there it went through the process just like all the rest, meaning I did the rest of the business transaction at the dealership. In fact, in looking at the invoice (post#572 of this thread) I see that I still paid the $525 destination fee - even though it is about 9 miles from the assembly plant to the dealership!

K

[S10Fan]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I attended a memorial service for my friend Steve today. He passed away suddenly on July 2nd of a previously undiagnosed heart condition. He was 61 years old.

Steve and I worked at the GM Milford Proving Ground together. He was a mechanic through and through, with an affinity for engines and machines of all kinds. The memorial was held at his farm, about an hour north of where I live. The family had asked any of us with "hot rods" to drive them for a small display. I thought it would be fitting for me to drive lil Red, since that's what he and I worked on when we were together. They also had his '67 GTO, his wife's '69 Chevelle (it was her car from before they were married) and his '72 Chevy pickup parked out in the grass.

Many of us heard Steve say, on more than one occasion, "...after I'm gone I want you to run my ashes through a Chevy big block, running at 4000 rpm. I want to see what the inside looks like." He even reiterated with one of his buddies: "you're gonna take care of that, right?"

So - today was the day. At the end of the service they fired up his '72, which has a 396 in it, and ran it up to 4000 rpm, while pouring some of his ashes down the carb throat. I cried a little.

Godspeed my friend. A hot rodder to the very end.

K

Outstanding!

[Keith Seymore]

I saw this the other day and realized I never shared:

When I left the brake group at the DPG the guys had this "going away" present made.

These are K truck rotors, polished and cut in half, probably as a nod to the "V Blazer Brake Pull" project we worked on forever. One of them has a nice plaque with my name and the date on it. Suitable for bookends or doorstops, as needed.

I am always touched by the thoughtfulness and appropriateness of this gift.

K

[mosesburb]

That is cool as hell.

It was real sad to see DPG shut down. So much of cool stuff from that place left in roll-off dumpsters. We had a contract with one of the salvage companies and we hauled bunches of trailers of shop equipment, office stuff, etc out of there. Those guys got the best stuff. Some of the "artwork" was the coolest stuff to be had out of there. All gone now. Signs at the entrance gone. High fences gone. Hell, they even cleared out the oleanders. The basic silhouette of the facility still remains as they never really finished the destruction of it.

I'm glad I got to see some of it in action before it went away. It was cool pulling out of there and seeing these vehicles pulling in with one front seat and a bank of instruments where the passenger seat would normally be. Or seeing over the fence at the vehicles with the crazy paint that try to camouflage the shape of the bodies. Real cool stuff.

[Keith Seymore]

My mother-in-law still lives in Mesa, so we get out there a couple times a year yet.

I always make a drive down Ellsworth to see how things are going. It's sad to see it all gone.

We knew even back then that we would remember those days as "the good ole' days".

K

[Keith Seymore]

Well - I share the little victories here, I guess I should share the "foibles" too...

Had a little bump over the weekend. I was backing the trailer with the door open and hooked it on my buddy's car. Bent the door around backwards so that it wouldn't close. Bent the structure and I had to bend it up a bit more to get it off. Damage is contained in the door, other than a few scratches at the rear edge of the fender.

Anyway - now I need a door.



K

[57NAPCO]

Keith, trust me, your not alone in the truck customizing department. I've done more than a few blunders myself. It will fix.
Thanks for your stories, they are epic!

[Greenlee]

Yikes! That's a bummer. It probably won't be too bad to fix with a replacement door.

I did something similar one time. I was backing up a trailer on a construction site in rutted dirt. The truck wasn't moving so I gave it some more gas thinking I was in a rut. It turned out it wasn't moving because I was turning into a stake that was in the ground. As soon as i gave it throttle i heard the door cave in.

By the way, the technology GM has now to prevent dumb ass mistakes is amazing. I just got a 14' Cadillac CTS and it alerts me with a seat vibration every time I get close to anything.

[pontgta]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Well - I share the little victories here, I guess I should share the "foibles" too...

Had a little bump over the weekend. I was backing the trailer with the door open and hooked it on my buddy's car. Bent the door around backwards so that it wouldn't close. Bent the structure and I had to bend it up a bit more to get it off. Damage is contained in the door, other than a few scratches at the rear edge of the fender.

Anyway - now I need a door.



K

Noooooooo😥. It was painful to see but at least it was not any worse...

Hope little red gets well soon

Thanks gor the stories Keith

[MalibuSSwagon]

Now I don't feel so bad about screwing up my straight tailgate with a trailer incident.

[Hiluxxulih]

Luckily GM square body doors are all over , matching the paint may be harder .