Intro from an old Assembly Plant guy

[truckfan]

i have the original bill of sale on my 1977. it cost $7500! i was shocked. my dad bought a new plain jane 73 and bragged it cost $3495. options are sure high. the 454 is a $700 option, as i recall

[bluex]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I thought they did, because it seems like we used to watch them roll off the line and comment on the price. Maybe that was in later years when I was building Escalades and H2's....




K

I do the same thing at work now!!!

After working for two different auto companies, and seeing what goes on I cant believe anyone buys a new car!!

[Pyrotechnic]

Hey Keith I have a question for you. I noticed you said you were considering ordering your truck with the 3 on the tree. I didn't realize these were available up till 87. A couple years ago I saw a strange truck on Craigslist, it was an 87 GMC longbed stepside, no options, 3 on the tree, and it was a weird orange color. Like something something a state agency would order. It was a really strange optioned truck and seeing the 3 on the tree for an 87 seemed weird to me. I was just wondering if they were still making Saginaw 3 speeds up till this time or if they were just depleting left overs ? The 3 speed trucks seem to be a rare thing all together.

[TravisMartin]

Maybe my crs is running wild. I remember asking about the sticker when I bought my 80 as I was at that time an avid Corvette restorer/collector and such stuff is important in those circles. I recall the truck listed for $8194 as equipped. But the guy who sold it to me, who was also pretty big in Corvette collecting at the time and had been truck manager at the dealership for a while, said they didn't put 'em on pickups, just Blazers & Suburbans.

I still have the sticker and all the glove box stuff from the 80 2WD blazer I ordered 2 days after buying the pickup. I'll drag it out next time I'm over there and see what it cost; seems like it was quite a bit more than the pickup but I ordered it with everything they offered except skid plates, big mirrors, and sliding windows (never liked those...) Even had tach and posi...black with red interior; shoulda kept that one!

Travis

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Pyrotechnic

Hey Keith I have a question for you. I noticed you said you were considering ordering your truck with the 3 on the tree. I didn't realize these were available up till 87. A couple years ago I saw a strange truck on Craigslist, it was an 87 GMC longbed stepside, no options, 3 on the tree, and it was a weird orange color. Like something something a state agency would order. It was a really strange optioned truck and seeing the 3 on the tree for an 87 seemed weird to me. I was just wondering if they were still making Saginaw 3 speeds up till this time or if they were just depleting left overs ? The 3 speed trucks seem to be a rare thing all together.

Yes, they were still available. They were RPO M62 and M64 (both Saginaw three speeds, but with different low gear ratios depending on the application).

The truck you mention above does sound like some kind of fleet order (ie, as cheap as possible) and the three on the tree would have been the base manual trans for that package.

Incidently, that IS how I ordered my 80 stepside. It was a straight six with a three on the tree and then I removed the Saginaw three speed, installed a Saginaw four speed in it's place with a Hurst floor mounted shifter. I cut the nub off the steering column (and pinned it in place so that it wouldn't rotate) and then installed a Sun tach on the column to cover the hole.

K

[SkullCandy]

A little of topic but

Keith Seymore, Are you still working on the volt? I have heard very little about it in the last 6 months.

You can PM me if you don't want to clutter up you thread and i'll delete this post.

Thanks

[Keith Seymore]

Yes I am; I think I can talk about it here.

It's actually going quite well; lots of news and activity back here. We just finished our "Integration" build (pre-production units) at the PreProduction build shop across the street. The build was started on time and finished early, the final vehicle celebration being covered by our local big newspaper, the Detroit Free Press. http://freep.com/article/20091009/CO...production-run. I was also individually interviewed by the author, Mark Phelan, for a feature on Michigan auto workers, which will run later in the year.

(Now that I think about it: We also had a bunch of visits from the national media during the build: Discovery Channel, National Geographic and several international dignitaries - the Prime Minister of Australia and the Secretary of Energy for Great Britain - all stopped by. About the only person we haven't seen is Jay Leno - lol).

There were 74 completed vehicles, using production intent bodies and components, which will be used for all kinds of testing (barrier, driveability, durability, road trips, marketing, etc). Some of these vehicles are loose on public roadways, and have been driven in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona and up and down Pikes Peak. My Vehicle Chief Engineer and some of the other engineers have been driving them around on weekends. I should add that, of the 74, either my boss or I have driven every single one of them.

There is a little bit of a lull currently as we gather data from these vehicles and transition from the PPO build shop to the next big phase, which is Non-Saleable builds in the vehicle assembly plant in Hamtramck, Mi.

There's still a lot of work to be done but basically we are on track and things are looking very good.

K

[SkullCandy]

Thanks! When is GM looking to launch it?

[Keith Seymore]

November of next year, as a 2011 model.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Just thought of another story

I was sitting here thinking about some of the build conditions on my truck, and how they would never fly today, such as:

* Door gaps that vary as you walk your way around the periphery of the door
* Adhesive moldings that fall off
* "Skunk stripes" of body color that peek out from behind wheel opening moldings (when looking into the wheel housings)
* Exposed fasteners in the interior
* Exposed sheet metal (painted body color) in the interior

and etc - stuff like that.

Anyway, I thought to myself "...that's how we made 'em".

So - that's what made me think of this: back when I was at the assembly plant the UAW (the local union) was very militant. We were always butting heads over build quality and personnel issues and there was very much a "us vs them" mentality with the plant management.

As a result, "somebody" (...I don't know who...) got the idea that we should have a plant "mascot". They went so far as to design and build this giant caped "cat" costume, like a superhero, complete with a huge fuzzy plastic head. The idea was that this cat would make appearances down on the assembly line, visiting and shaking hands with the workers, generally doing zany things to lift our morale and thereby improve product quality. His image would appear on our stationary and cartoon pictures were painted on the walls in the audit area, cafeteria, and other areas where the hourly employees congregate.

They even had a contest to "name" the Quality cat, with the winner earning some highly desirable gift or activity (...I'm sure it was a day of paid vacation...). When all the results were in the winning name was chosen....




....wait for it....








"Howie Makem".

[Keith Seymore]

Ok - so now we have this giant cat costume; we need somebody to wear it.

One of the ladies in the Specifications department was chosen. She was a crusty, tough old bird (...in fact, that was her name: "Birdie"). In hindsight she was probably a pretty good choice, because I'm sure she could hold her own in a bar fight. She wasn't very happy about being chosen to be "Howie Makem".

Besides Birdie's attitude problem there were some issues with the cat suit itself. One was that it was incredibly hot inside the suit, a situation that only exacerbated the heat in the plant during the notoriously humid Michigan summer months. The huge head was also an issue, making it difficult to maneuver in close quarters. But the biggest problem was that the head prevented the wearer from seeing out - they had to cut some small "eye holes" in the neck in order to provide some semblance of outward visibility. In the end, because of the safety implications, even that wasn't enough and we had to assign an escort, leading Howie by the hand through the plant.

As you might expect, the line workers were not all that enthused. I think they thought they were being "talked down to" (...wouldn't you, being accosted by a giant cat with a cape on?...) and Howie was generally greeted with cat calls (no pun intended), obscenities and inquiries about his/her gender. The escort had to perform double duty, both as a seeing eye guide and bodyguard.

It all came back to me this morning. What a vivid memory: Birdie and her escort walking through the plant, hand in hand, her sweltering in the giant cat suit, greeting the line workers on one side and spewing profanities like a sailor on the other...

K

[menace121978]

heck of a story!! i can just picture it!! things sure have changed...

[joe231]

[Keith Seymore]

Here's "lil Red", earning his (her?) keep last Saturday:



Picture taken at Milan Dragway during their last tune & test session of the season.

K

[BGRAFX]

What's in the trailer?

[Keith Seymore]

The Chevelle:





Tryin' to put 'er in the 9's...

(...didn't happen that day...).

K

[old Rusty C10]

well i just got done reading the entire thread and i gotta say you have a heck of a fleet there and i love the truck and the malibu. Those pontiacs are awesome as well.. welcome aboard ( a bit late but better late than never) and thank you for a very entertaining and informative thread! My next question is are there any new mods for the truck youre planning or future plans for it? or is she done for the moment?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

well i just got done reading the entire thread and i gotta say you have a heck of a fleet there and i love the truck and the malibu. Those pontiacs are awesome as well.. welcome aboard ( a bit late but better late than never) and thank you for a very entertaining and informative thread! My next question is are there any new mods for the truck youre planning or future plans for it? or is she done for the moment?

Thank you. I knew you had been making comments but didn't realize you hadn't read the whole thing.

I've done everything I set out to do so it's essentially "done". Next planned steps are to just drive it and of course regular maintenance.

I suppose it could stand to have the engine bay cleaned up a bit but, as I say, that's above and beyond the original vision. I have thought about dropping the rear another inch or two but I left the rear high on purpose, since I didn't want it to drop down too far when hauling or trailering (which I do somewhat often). Besides - I've heard it referred to as a "hot rod" rake, which I like...



Thanks again -

K

[3r!c84]

i like that pic with the trailer,whats up with that big mirror ?

[Keith Seymore]

Thanks - that's an add-on trailer towing mirror.

Those little D49's don't cut it when towing a big box!

K

[HOGDADDY]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Got the IP top pad installed:







I repainted the silver around the outside of that trim piece, as well as taking the vents completely apart, wiping them all down and spraying the outside of the vent argent silver.

and the cluster bezel installed:







The cluster bezel is pretty much untouched other than a thorough cleaning and painting the vent as described above.

Cool thread here I enjoyed reading all of it. btw what is a IP pad and its black? Where did this come from I need a dashpad also, thanks in advance..

[truckfan]

i love that old "Olds 98" stereo. my parents had a couple of cars w/ that radio.

notice the iPod jack. forgive me for not having read every word, but how did you do that? i know there are shops that do that, but did you do this mod? if so how hard is is?

[SBTork]

Originally Posted by truckfan

i love that old "Olds 98" stereo. my parents had a couple of cars w/ that radio.

notice the iPod jack. forgive me for not having read every word, but how did you do that? i know there are shops that do that, but did you do this mod? if so how hard is is?

I JUST noticed that. I am also wondering this as I would like to do it in my '85 Suburban

[old Rusty C10]

I had one other question.. the paint you used.. was it one stage or two? and the brand name? i know pictures dont show all the details but that came out incredibly good and that most of the trick to a paint job coming out great is the prep work, and I was just wondering what was used.
I also wanted to note that I showed this thread to a buddy who is a body man by trade and he stated that the adhesieve these days like you used for your patch panels is as good or better than welding the patches in as long as you prepare the surfaces like the glue states, so anyway when i do my work on mine im going to try the adhesieve route

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by HOGDADDY

Cool thread here I enjoyed reading all of it. btw what is a IP pad and its black? Where did this come from I need a dashpad also, thanks in advance..

"IP Top Pad" = the dash pad ("IP" stands for Instrument Panel). It was maroon originally but I went back together with black. I got that one from Cheyenne Pickup Parts. It was backordered for a couple months but I am pretty happy with it now that it's installed.

K