History Life on the Assembly Line 1959

Neat pictures. 1959, where's all the cuffed blue jeans?

 

I lived not far from that plant when I was a kid. It was built about 1913 for a now defunct auto company and held the record for oldest plant in continuing operation. I think it finally shut down about 1998. It looked unbelievably old on the outside.

 

OSHA would have a fit now days .Wheres my hard hat ? Thanks for posting ! Thats why they are in so much trouble . BS laws .

 

Very cool pictures, thanks for the post. All those union members working on the floor and GM was still making hugh profits, but today the plants are filled with non union robots and GM's going tits up! Whats up with that?

 

I was thinking this! But seriously. Made in America. And people wonder where the jobs have gone...

 

If you're interested, here are similar pictures from a Plymouth assembly plant in 1958.

Not in color, but still pretty neat.

http://www.forwardlook.net/19571958Plymouth/58Plymouthassemblypics.htm

 

ill take a couple 283's and a couple 348's and a complete 2 door in black!! thanks fer the pics!!!

 

How cool would it have been to work there back in the day?

 

I'm pretty sure Tarrytown did not have a stamping plant or forge. Every part was brought in by rail or possibly by barge. The plant was right on the Hudson River.

 

I work in a GM truck plant and it's pretty neat to see that a lot of stuff in those pictures is almost exactly the same as how they do it now.

 

Way cool post. I love looking at that stuff too!

I always dream about seeing my Chevelle (I know - sorry, its my other car - a musclecar) when it was brand new in 1969 and talking to the original owner, etc. I wish I could find him.

There is just something romantic and innocent about these old pics.

Does anyone know if there is a website dedicated to pics of old automotive assembly lines like this?

 

Thx for the pix and the memories they bring back to me! I worked at the Atlanta plant, Fisher body division, Nov. '58-Dec. '66 in the body construction dept. Got laid off, went to trade school and became a machinist, never went back.
Even saw a job I ran on the '62-'64 models where the man was standing where the floor pan would have been if it had been a whole body instead of just the right side, operating a spot welder. Also showed another job I ran in one or two shots where they were welding together the floor pan only. Most of the rest was familiar as the body shop got off 24 mins. ahead of paint and trim and I rode in a car pool where some of the guys worked in those areas and I often visited them on their jobs while waiting for them to get off.
The plant was the old Lakewood plant in South Atlanta, closed years ago and then became a recycling center which caught fire and burned down.
The first cars I helped build were those '59 models you depicted, and the last were '67.
Hard work, good pay for the times, and some good friends made some of whom I still have contact with today, although many have died.
Dave

 

I wonder back in teh day,,how many people who worked on car ass. lines were actually gearheads and liked cars ?? and if they were were they still a few years after working there

 

Very cool pics! It makes me wonder of any of the cars in the pics are cars that now belong to HAMBers. Obviously no way to ever know that, but it's a cool thought.

 

1000 Thanks for posting this! I sort of become a deer in headlights when I see photos like this. This seriously made my day.

 

Actually were quite a few gearheads of all the different ranges of interest in the car hobbies.
I was into hot rods, others liked to restore old cars, one friend had a beautifully restored '37 Cadillac, others liked to drag race their new cars in stock classes, and still others that I knew were into oval racing, where I later put in several years and earned my username from having more dents in the front bumper that the rear!

Dave

 

I'll take a 348 tri power in a 2 door post. radio and heater delete and a positraction.....