History Guide

What a great read! Now it would be REALLY COOL if it were a Segway to an announcement for THE 2015 HOT ROD REVOLUTION! (hint hint!)

 

Ever look at a 1942 or older American car or truck and wonder what it did to help win WWII? Every city in the USA must have had factories working round the clock to turn out materials. You can still fine new stuff in the original boxes at swap meets. Bob

 

Some other bits of info;
Trenton NJ made airplanes and drove them across the street I think they were called Torpedos (?)
Janesville WI made 105 mm shells
Allison Transmission made airplane engines (P 40), later used by a few drag racers
Saginaw steering gear made all kinds of stuff like wing actuator screws, machine guns, etc
Willow Run Mi made big bombers and rolled then out to the airport next door
Five or six GM plants became the Eastern Aircraft Division during the war.
Flint Coldwater Road was built to make transports but did not get finished in time.
Expansion at the Ford Rouge was for planes and boats.
St Louis Shell plant is still in mothballs, made ammo for WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

 

Thanks everyone for the history leasons.

 

Man.....what a Country and a great generation of people......it's unreal when you go into old buildings or look at old tools and see what city in America those items were built in....

 

I had an M1 carbine built by IBM. And another built by International harvester.

 

I have ww2 aircraft map lights made by Stromberg

 

and what does that factory make today? who nearby can tell us? or is it torn down and all production moved overseas?

I started my toolmaker/mold maker apprenticeship there. I worked there for about 3 years then transfered to Delco Remy (they made starters, generators, alternators, ignition systems, horns, switches, batteries and lots of other stuff) and finished my apprenticeship. The were both in Anderson, Indiana and both were GM divisions. When I was at Guide they still had a line to build military lights. At their peak both GM divisions employed about 40,000 people in Anderson. In a town of about 60,000 that makes a big impact. Sadly neither exist anymore. Luckily I was able to retire before they were gone. They were broke up, divided up, sold off, and eventually closed. Empty fields are where most of the plants were.

 

To continue with the history lesson, Sandy Hill Iron & Br*** is now GL&V/ Sandy Hill. There were over 300 people employed there with a machine shop, weld shop, cast iron foundry, and other supporting dep'ts. When I left in 1998, the foundry was the only dep't. left along with some support people and employed about 75 people. Still making mainly paper machine related castings today and I'm proud of the 25 + yrs. I put in there!

 

So awesome! I just saw the biggest World War 2 reenactment in the world last weekend in Conneaut Ohio.....Many Guide lights there1