Intro from an old Assembly Plant guy

[Wwes]

Keith,

I thoroughly enjoyed the last three hours spent reading your thread, with GM history and pictures. A couple things come to mind:

-My uncle worked St. Louis assembly putting these squares together from 80-86 or so. He moved up to Ft. Wayne, In when they opened that factory (was it for the GMT-400?). I always loved seeing his new GM products when I was 5-6 years old at the time, it made an impression. He's now retired but my cousin works there, which was disappointing when I found out my (then) new GMT-900 was assembled in Mexico.

-I still have the picture of my prom night standing beside my S10 Blazer 4x4. That was one tough little truck.

-Took the wife to the NCM in Bowling Green, drove her through the Assembly plant parking lot, she was amazed at the "GM" only, "Big Three" parking, and "Foreign makes behind this line" sign.

And finally, I was always a fan of the "cat eye" 2003 GMT-800 refresh. Matter of fact tried to work out a couple deals, but I was too cheap and dumb to pull the trigger at the time. Anyways, the first one I saw was parked at a gas station small town FL, the owner (a good ol country boy) was proud of his truck, long bed 4x4 single cab. I said "nice truck" he says "I'll sell it" and I said "I've only got 15k if that will do" - being somewhat serious - he was quite offended and said "I outta whip your ass for that comment" and looked like he was quite serious. Luckily the ass whipping was averted and my driveway is now full of current and past GM products.

[Keith Seymore]

Looks like photobucket finally caught up with me;

I have hosted them on another third party site and am gradually going through and replacing the photobucket boxes. Please be patient.

I have them saved on my laptop so if any reader has a specific question or item of interest I can address that as an attachment.

K

[v30crewcab]

yeah hopefully they will figure out their mistake and go back to being useful. I hope nobody pays their fees for their slow web stuff. their pics used to work ok but never could get their videos to work.

[KMK454]

Keith, crazy to hear you sold the truck. Congrats on the new ride!

Question on the side-mount spare - how did you mount it up, and was it a factory option?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by KMK454

Keith, crazy to hear you sold the truck. Congrats on the new ride!

Question on the side-mount spare - how did you mount it up, and was it a factory option?

Thanks for reading and commenting. Lil Red is nearby, so I still get "visitation".

The spare tire mount was factory: RPO P13.

K

[KMK454]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Thanks for reading and commenting. Lil Red is nearby, so I still get "visitation".

The spare tire mount was factory: RPO P13.

K

Thanks Keith!

Looks like LMC offers the bed-mounted spare tire add-on, but... you have to drill holes in the bed. Hmm...

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Looks like photobucket finally caught up with me;

I have hosted them on another third party site and am gradually going through and replacing the photobucket boxes. Please be patient.

I have them saved on my laptop so if any reader has a specific question or item of interest I can address that as an attachment.

K

Done!

At first I said I wasn't going to do it, but I've gone through and repaired the links to all of my Photobucket pictures.

You'll note some of the other participant's photos still have the blue box but all of mine should show up.

If you notice something out of order let me know and I'll take a look at it.

Thanks,

K

[83GMCK2500]

Yay! Thank you very much Keith. I loved reading through this thread and experiencing the history/knowledge you've shared here.

[jkk]

Good stuff very interesting

[Hiluxxulih]

Completely of topic , how has the project you have been working on ? and is it something that we will be able to buy at some point ?

[Keith Seymore]

Your question is timely, as we are into regular production now and thinking about what might be next. My management pitched an idea yesterday of moving me over into the Second Stage Manufacturing/Accessories group, which is where they do small volume RPOs that the assembly plant doesn't want or can't do (think spray in bedliner, or sticker packages for Alaska, police prep packages. That kind of thing). They kind of offered and I kind of said I'd be interested. Transition would occur about three months from now if it all works out.

Re: the product - no - it's not something that would ever be available to the general public. Still going to be several years before I can share much detail.

K

[porpaintt]

Keith,it sounds like you had a fun career,which makes it easier, even with the ups and downs that come with it, makes problem solving more enjoyable than a job.
I go back and read your bio from time to time to see how much you enjoyed what you were doing.

I have come up with a little problem with my 73 4 door I am building.
I am installing power doors on the truck and have not been able to figure out where the front door harnesses come into the cab,do I have to drill some holes ,if so where?
I don't think they will fit through the holes for the front hinge bolt.
This is a 73 4 door that had airbut know power doors.
Thanks for any info you can supply.
Carl

[Keith Seymore]

I see I haven't posted here for a while and today is as good as any to do so:

It was 40 years ago today I walked through the doors at Chevrolet Flint Assembly, kicking off my illustrious GM career.

K

[SKT]

Too cool Keith!

Any more pics or interesting stories?

[naphtali5725]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I see I haven't posted here for a while and today is as good as any to do so:

It was 40 years ago today I walked through the doors at Chevrolet Flint Assembly, kicking off my illustrious GM career.

K

hey Keith, thanks for your long term dedication to GM, and this forum!!

[Keith Seymore]

Thanks, guys.

Got my Father's Day present from the kids (mostly my youngest son Joseph) -

[Palf70Step]

Very nice Keith!

[Ol Blue K20]

Did he do the art work himself or have it done? Either way that's very nice.

[Keith Seymore]

Thank you; He took the photo and gave it to a friend, who used a photoshop filter or something to create the line art.

K

[1976gmc20]

I can't believe I read the whole thread !!!!

[rwhit57]

Hey Keith, Good to see your still hanging around. I have a question, just curious.Were special order trucks built with any more attention to detail? I assume they come down the same assy line. Thanks, Randy

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

I can't believe I read the whole thread !!!!

Well done, you. I don't think I have ready the whole thread.

Originally Posted by rwhit57

Hey Keith, Good to see your still hanging around. I have a question, just curious.Were special order trucks built with any more attention to detail? I assume they come down the same assy line. Thanks, Randy

Thank you; no - same assembly line. The only thing would be if you put a sign in the windshield designating something (ie, "1st 1979", or "for Red Skelton") or sometimes if you were following it down the line the guys would ask "...zis yours?" and would do a little better job if they liked you.

K

[asphaltburner]

Glad to see you're using some of your retirement to keep up the posts, Keith! I'm doing the same,...on forums for a number of different kinds of vehicles/tractors.
Thanks for your continued contribution, man!
Todd Compton, alias asphaltburner.

[rwhit57]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I see I haven't posted here for a while and today is as good as any to do so:

It was 40 years ago today I walked through the doors at Chevrolet Flint Assembly, kicking off my illustrious GM career.

K

Keith congrats on 40 yrs. I put in 25 at American Airlines. Watching and being a part of the history of these trucks is cool, but sharing that with the folks here is awesome. Thank you. I asked you about special ordered trucks. You and I are old enough to remember that if you wanted a vehicle a certain color or option you had to order it and wait. There weren't big dealerships here in Okla and they only carried a small number of each model.I remember my Dad ordered my Mom a 67 Caprice, maroon with maroon int., and a 325hp/396. Momma's hotrod, LOL
That was one of them that snapped the motor mount and they did the cable to the block repair. Anyway thanks again, Randy

[Daubs]

Hey Keith, I have a 2004 2500HD Crew Cab 4x4 with the 8.1L (L18) engine.

I remember reading a thread somewhere with a GM engineer who helped develop this engine. He talked how it was designed for medium duty trucks, very reliable, etc.

There isn't much I can find via google on this engine...

By the way, I love it! 134k miles, doesn't burn any oil, replaced the water pump...and that's about it. Super engine!