G-Man II, You and I could have had a blast together when I worked at Chrysler in Windsor, On. Canada in the '60's.
WAP (Windsor Assembly Plant) built everything from a Valiant 2dr to a Chrysler convert. The only things we didn't were 300's and Imps.
I started out in '64 on the gateline welding in the patch-plates just before the roofs came on. A patch-plate is the piece in the corners of the body behind the windshield where the sunvisors screwed into. I also welded the top of the centre post between the doors on a 4-door. We even built RHD vehicles for export to OZ and the UK. Valiants, Baracudas, Furys, Monacos, Chryslers...2 drs, 4drs, wagons, converts......198 slants to 440 six-packs. We built them all on the same assembly line and there was seldom 2 identical vehicles in line, they were totally at random. It was quite the place to be in '65 !!
I started as a pipefitter apprentice in the changeover of '65 and got to see the whole operation as a tradesman.
When I worked midnights as a fitter, one of the jobs was to do a walkthru at the administration building where the President's office was. I would go over about 2am and sit in Mr. Todgham's (the Pres) chair in his big oak trimmed office. For 10 mins I was Papa Bear, Pres. of the Chrysler Corp !! G-Man, I would have made you exec. vice-pres. for 10 mins, how would you have liked that.
All the cars at the plant had the keys in them and you could always take a Superbird or 340 Dart for a spin. We built the engines right across the driveway in Plant2 WMP (Windsor Motor Plant) or wimpy for short. There was always a hot test of 50 or so engines running at the same time. FYI...the engines were run with a plate on the oil filter mount that fed oil to the engine and no drain plug in the pan. The coolant also just ran down into a catch-pan under the engine where the oil drained. Oil & Coolant ran down into a trough and went to a centifuge where they were seperated and reused !!
That will have to conclude our plant tour for this evening.
P.B. (that brought back some memories)