1970s GENERAL MOTORS RAILROAD LOGISTICS / SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 74672

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Made in the 1970s, this General Motors corporate film explains some of the supply chain management challenges faced by the company, and the work undertaken to make the delivery of automobiles more efficient and damage-free. The film was made in the wake of a series of complaints by dealers and customers about damage in transit -- either by bad handling on railroads or trucking. GM's new "Logistics Operations" division was tasked with delivering cars as quickly as possible to dealers with a minimum of damage. In March 1970 GM sent a "unit train" from Chicago cross-country, in an experiment designed to see if a non-stop transcontinental delivery would be successful. The result was very positive and led to GM implementing a host of new policies related to non-stop rail delivery of automobiles.
The film features images of the Vega starting at 5:00 minutes, with images of the automobiles delivered in a vertical position or "Vertipak", and computerized rail car tracing (seen at 7:30 minutes) designed to track automobiles in shipment via Teledyne computers and IBM punch card computers.
Both railroads and automakers wanted to eliminate theft and damage from vandalism and weather, thus reducing shipping costs. They also wanted to increase the number of vehicles carried per rail car for the same reason. Toward that end, in 1968 General Motors and the Southern Pacific Railroad jointly began work on development of a radical new rail car designed to carry the Chevrolet Vega, a new compact car being developed by GM. Known as "Vert-A-Pac", the rail cars would hold 30 Vegas in a vertical, nose-down position, versus 18 in normal tri-level autoracks. Each Vega was fitted with four removable, cast-steel sockets inserted into the undercarriage that locked into the hooks on the bottom-hinged doors that made up the car side.
The prototype car, SP 618000 was turned out in December, 1968 and tested through 1969. Chevrolet conducted vibration and low-speed crash tests to make sure nose-down Vegas wouldn't shift or be damaged in railcar collisions. Chevrolet's goal was to deliver Vegas topped with fluids and ready to drive to the dealership. To do this Vega engineers had to design a special engine oil baffle to prevent oil from entering the No. 1 cylinder, batteries had filler caps located high up on the rear edge of the case to prevent acid spilling, the carburetor float bowl had a special tube that drained gasoline into the vapor canister during shipment, and the windshield washer bottle stood at a 45 degree angle. Plastic spacers were wedged in beside the powertrain to prevent damage to engine and transmission mounts. The wedges were removed when cars were unloaded. The rail car doors were opened and closed by means of a forklift truck.
The first production Vert-A-Pacs entered service in April, 1970, the last ones in January, 1973. Besides Southern Pacific, the B&O, BN, D&RGW, FEC, IC, L&N, MILW, MP, PC (MDT), RI, SCL, SLSF and Southern Railway operated Vert-A-Pacs. All were withdrawn from service at the end of the 1977 Vega model year and were reracked with conventional tri-level racks.
Another joint General Motors-Southern Pacific automobile rail car was the Stac-Pac. It was designed to carry 12 high end Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac models in four removable fully enclosed tri-level containers per 89-foot flat car. The first production Stac-Pac cars entered service in October, 1971. Beside SP and its Cotton Belt subsidiary (SSW), Stac-Pac flat cars were contributed to the pool by the Santa Fe and Trailer Train, with the containers being supplied by ATSF, BN, D&RGW, FEC, MILW, PC (MDT), RI, Southern, SP, SSW, UP, and by General Motors itself. All of the cars and containers were withdrawn from service at the end of the 1976 model year.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com

[@sparklecanada0112]

My Father worked at GM in the 1960's and 70's. This brings back memories.

[@pedalingthru2719]

I had a uncle that worked for southern railroad back in the 70's at the Knoxville yard. He always had new car parts and tires to sell cheap.

[@crlaw75]

Wow, that's funny.

[@markjohnston3502]

0:51 is a shot of the car loading dock next to Lakewood Assembly in Atlanta, GA. The train/car rail enclosure still stands. Lakewood was one of three plants that built pick-ups along with cars - Fremont & St Louis Assembly.

[@andrewrife6253]

The fact that I can watch this video and design a car on a company website, then contact a dealership who can price and order it, or find one at a dealership anywhere in the country all while sitting on the couch or even out in the woods is a testament to how far technology has come since loading tapes into a computer the size of a truck

[@godoftheinterwebz]

now auto racks have to be armored and are covered with graffiti. We don't always move forward

[@DellAnderson]

@@godoftheinterwebz Depends who you mean by 'we'.

[@vincentpellegrino789]

I enjoy these videos. It's like living history.

[@norcaldeemichaels]

It’s no coincidence that all those shiny new locomotives at 4:02 were built by GM as well. A few more horses than necessary to pull that train, but it’s appropriate & looks good in the video.

[@robertlee9395]

They had to cross the Rocky mountains.

[@apolloniaaskew9487]

Back when GM made Excellent cars, trucks, buses and locomotives.

[@godoftheinterwebz]

The Espee always put a lot of power on their trains to get them over the mountains. They even used mid train and end of train helpers

[@godoftheinterwebz]

@@apolloniaaskew9487 but the Aerotrain was a piece of junk. They never sold one

[@cmadden3364]

These are souther pacific sd45’s

[@TS-ev1bl]

My grandparents lived out in the country along one of the main north-south rail routes in the SE US where I used to spend at least a week visiting them every summer in the late '60s and early '70s. I was already a car guy as a kid so I loved watching the southbound trains carrying 100's of new cars and trucks go by their house every day, but I was surprised at how wide open the new car transporters were. It's a miracle that any of them arrived without at least some rock dings, if not worse.

[@dknowles60]

They had some damage they is why they went to enclosed. Car carrier

[@norcaldeemichaels]

Most of this story was from a retired railroad employee off a railroad employee chat room...:There was a car parts theft ring that would target train No. 373, a train of new autos that would leave Los Angeles area headed northward, in the 1970’s. Everything had been checked leaving LA and rolled by the railroad security at Oxnard, Santa Barb and coming into San Louis Obispo. They never found anything, but when the train would arrive at the next crew change spot 100 mi. away, it was starting to get light out and you could see hoods up, etc and the cars stripped, even some transmissions. Well this went on and they couldn't figure it out. Well, one Friday night they had a ball game at Cal-Poly and the stadium was at the corner of Foothills Blvd. And the railroad tracks. Well they had the nice big bright lights on and here comes #373. As it went by, the lights showed the train up like a drive in movie. Here were about 10 to 12 guys leaning over into engine compartments with hoods and trunks open doing their best to get what they wanted. There were a couple of Sheriffs at the game and they called the railroad. They had the train slow down a bit and got enough cops together to meet about 40 miles down the track. They had the engineer stop the cars involved right where they were set up. Busy night at the lock up. It turned out what they did was strip the parts they wanted and then throw them off in a few places they could get a car or truck into. Then they would kick back inside the cars until the train made a stop. They would de-train and a member of the gang would be following the train with a CB radio and would pick them up. Well, when they were stopped, they didn't have any tools or parts on them. But, "Film At 11:00" got great pictures of them auditioning for their staring role during the ball game. They were finally charged and deported back to Mexico.

[@okeanakidd5118]

lol are you feeling guilty ???

[@keithdukes5990]

@@norcaldeemichaels just about sums it up with our friends across the Boarder!!!🙄🤨🧐😠

[@JeffersonMartinSynfluent]

Somehow, being concerned about the condition of a Vega at the end of route was ironic given the intrinsic and designed-in flaws of the car.

[@okeanakidd5118]

now we know why they were junk and always falling on ther face

[@steveevans4093]

Loved my '74 Vega. Only got about 25 mpg. Not very good for a "small" car. Totaled it with over 200,000 miles. Never a breakdown. No doubt however, the beginning of the end for Detroit. Then we moved on to Chevettes, Citations, Omnis, Horizons and Fiestas. American engineering at it's finest. An interesting side note .When the Vega was discontinued the leftover frames were used in the Chevy Luv pickup.

[@winchesterz]

LOL

[@edwardpate6128]

@@steveevans4093 The LUV a Isuzu product. The Vega a unibody car and no frame. But agree with your other comments. A lot of Vega's had long lives.

[@scottweatherman3266]

@@steveevans4093 YOu forgot the Monza. Also Camaros were built in CANADUH.

[@thyslop1737]

1970 General Motors the largest private employer in the U.S. with 600,000 employees. I think the starting wage for union employees was $17.00 an hour. Look how far this country has fallen and GM.

[@harrybriscoe7948]

i started for $6 an hour in 1978

[@thyslop1737]

@@harrybriscoe7948 Assembly line? Union?

[@harrybriscoe7948]

@@thyslop1737 UAW Union machine operator making parts for assemblies to be shipped to assembly plants , that was enough for a house or new car . back then , Are you old enough to remember the new Pinto advertised as a starting price of $1919.00 ?

[@dougschaf495]

T Hyslop 1973, started at 3.65 hour

[@brandedmcgowan9414]

And Southern Pacific is now exists as Union Pacific railroad i hope GM doesn't fall like the good ol eSPee.

[@GranpaTruck]

Great look at logistics and the evolution of transportation.

[@pdxrailtransit]

If you didn't already know that this was from the Seventies, you could tell by the length of the sideburns.

[@SillyPutty3700]

and the polyesters suits.

[@saxongreen78]

The sideburn is an accurate 1970s identifier...they even receded with the end of the decade.

[@russgifford519]

My parents bought a new 1971 Chevelle wagon, 307, 3 on the tree, antique green with the phony wood sides. I learned to drive in it. We picked it up at the dealer, driving home and were 2 blocks from the dealer and the oil light came on, major oil leak. We got back to the dealer and it was another 2 weeks before we saw it again. Guess the dealer had to finish the assembly job that should have been done at the factory, BUT, it somehow passed all those strict GM quality checks.

[@dknowles60]

Gm never had any strick checks

@@dknowles60 Neither do skools.

[@okeanakidd5118]

yeah the guy with the suit on on the train car should have noticed that

[@okeanakidd5118]

or it was on the speical vega train car and the oil ran out the fill tube ????

[@MillerVanDotTV]

GM has always been junk

[@deltaray3]

Look at all those nice cars on the train waiting to have rocks dropped on them by teenagers from overpasses.

[@godoftheinterwebz]

Thry used to transport cars in boxcars. When trucks started hauling them, railroads switched to autoracks. The truckers did not like the loss in business so they would go to isolated spots and shoot the windows out of cars

[@lukestrawwalker]

Plus all the stolen batteries and parts... strip them en route then hop off the trains with the goods... or while they were sitting on sidings easy pickings... OL J R :)

[@georgewilson1184]

those new Pontiac grand prixs make me drool and want to jump in a time machine if one was invented

[@stepheng3667]

Makes we want to go on Ebay Motors and start looking for one!!

[@663rainmaker]

george wilson my nephew has one ! 1976 Pontiac Gran Prix... fixxxed up a tad! Spanks those ?? 455 olds Rocket under the hood ! Modified!!

[@georgewilson1184]

Super cool

[@edwardpate6128]

Man loving those computers! You have to hand it to GM for an amazing job of analytics of data using the technology of the time!

[@stantheman5350]

It is interesting looking at these ancient computers.

[@davidhughes4448]

You gotta love 1970. You gotta love the men’s sideburns. You gotta love the women’s hair styles. You gotta love the new cars being carried by train. You gotta hate the vandals that put all this expense and logistics into motion to necessitate this immense program. You gotta wonder who this film was created for and directed at. You gotta love all the thought, planning, filming, and scripting that went into this production. I love it! You gotta think for just one moment: nearly all the people seen in this film are now certainly, sadly long gone. We're next.

[@gotacallfromvishal]

my step dad worked on the line in the 1970s and he's still kicking it in retirement. so are a lot of his colleagues.

[@davidhughes4448]

@@gotacallfromvishal : Excellent! So glad to hear this! Tell him we all admire his service on the railroad.

[@brianw338]

David Hughes Santa Fe ?

[@Lousybarber]

GM logistics. They were the ones that scratched the roof on my new '78 Olds Cutlass. Someone left chains hanging from above while my car was being backed out underneath. They dented the trunk lid also. The dealer attempted to fix the damage. Their body shop did a poor job with over spray. Had red paint on the chrome pieces and dull spots in the finish. GM's commitment to the highest standards I guess.

[@bonkeydollocks1879]

Having worked at dealerships for 30 years out of all the mechanics I would trust to do any job is two, and one of them has now died. You would not believe how dealerships advertise trained staff but honestly apart from the two (now one) mechanics I mentioned I would not let any of the others even blow my tyres up.

[@MillerVanDotTV]

Why did you accept the car then?

[@bonkeydollocks1879]

@Gman 2060 it was when the car was new he is talking about😷

[@bonkeydollocks1879]

@Gman 2060 don't believe you, I've seen the undercover videos

[@markrickert9040]

all mechanics in US dealers are certified morons and about as ignorant and incompetent as Trump. Ive seen their "skills" first hand.

[@rickprusak9326]

These open panel railcars were targets for juveniles who would stand either at the rail crossings, or being in the train yard heaving rocks, or sometimes stray rail spikes unto the car bodies or through the cars windshields and door glass. That's why you see fully enclosed rail car haulers today. There were cases where when a car hauling train would stop, juveniles would get on the railcar, enter a new vehicle, turn on the ignition, shift the vehicle in drive or reverse, wedge a stick or place a brick on the accelerator, and watch the car smoke the rear tires, as the train slowly pulls away - heading down the tracks. A few times through the years, I actually saw a brand new car with flames coming out from under the hood on the railcars, as I patiently waited in my car behind the roadway railroad crossing gates. One day, I saw the interior of a new Cadillac that was fully consumed in flames, as the train hauled ass past me down the tracks, again waiting in my car behind the crossing gates. Wonder how many new vehicles had suffered body damage throughout the country, as new vehicles left the factory by train to their destination?

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

I got laid in a 85 Pontiac Parisienne on a auto rack back seat like a sofa.🤣

[@MindsEyeVisualGuitarMethods]

Video footage of the Vega's being loaded onto Vertipak cars! I love this thank you!

[@crlaw75]

The problem was all of the fluids travelled to the front, so they had to develop special baffles to contain it.

[@crownprinceofgroovy]

I'm surprised this movie was made by "GM Photographic" and not by Jam Handy.

[@pissbridge]

Wow I love this!!! Classic delivery of beautiful classic cars!!!! Very complicated computering back then lol

[@espeescotty]

7 nearly brand new GM-built EMD SD45's pumping out 25,200-horsepower....no damn way was the Southern Pacific going to be seen in this promo film not supporting one of their biggest customers and suppliers. Southern Railway with that Alco RS-3 switching the GM loading facility..."eh, F'-em!"

[@littlegp18]

The SD 45 series was awesome. The Alcos are boat anchors

[@lemairecarl]

My team when we mess things up: "We KNOW the problems, and we WILL resolve them."

[@rileycoyote4924]

Yep, and Toyota solved most of those problems by that time anyway by cutting out the middle steps that cost time and money.

[@speedspeed121]

Wow, that Vega looks great! Now that is a car that will be around for a long while

[@CEOkiller]

Just don’t start the engine…

[@jamesr2888]

I know right. Who'd want to buy a Datsun or Toyota?

[@toddbob55]

Dad had a Vega was the biggest piece of crap hes ever owned......engine blew up less than a year old

[@anthonynelson9136]

At the very least the gasoline had to run out of the carburetors on the Vegas being tipped up like that.

[@winchesterz]

The oil leaked out too.

[@donkmeister]

The need to move the cars in that position defined some design details so that the oil, petrol and battery acid didn't pour out, and they chocked the suspension and engine mounts so they didn't have to take loads in the wrong axis. It's really quite ingenious, but presumably there were disadvantages or they'd still do it.

[@gotacallfromvishal]

did you listen to what the narrator said? they designed the car around the shipping method.

[@hypercube33]

@@donkmeister Lots of extra labor, and you'd have to design for it. New cars dont leave enough room for an engine when they are designed let alone for any engineering like that :)

[@robertlee9395]

All they did was leave them a quart low on oil.

[@chinnu3388]

General Motors is a Pride in American automobile industry. "GENERAL MOTORS IS A BENZ OF AMERICA".

[@lindathrall5133]

MY UNCLE MEL WORKED AT GM HELPING TO BUILD CARS THANK YOU

[@sd90mac61]

What can I say but oh Wow!!!!! Now we've got mile long trains with strickly auto carriers, with only 2 locomitves, or if not 1 (dpu), extra engine in the tail end pushn, with NO engineer in that unit.👍👍👍 This was very interesting, from the 70s, I love it!!! Thanks for sharing this with us 😄

[@RichardBrown-bs5pg]

I have not the slightist idea why GM "carefully packed the Vega in a container" when in fact they started falling apart in transit. They might as well shipped them to the salvage yard!

[@gotacallfromvishal]

your hindsight is super useful. you should go tell the executives in 1976 about this.

[@crlaw75]

They just wanted it cheap as possible. Still prevails today.

[@jamesr2888]

My mother was dating a guy who had a friend that worked for GMAC. He over saw the insurance of GM vehicles once they were loaded on rail cars. Also, Look at 1:01. White Ford Econoline & station wagon. Fords at a GM holding lot unless it was an independent contractor.

[@663rainmaker]

I enjoy writing ✍️ and your posts inspire me … Thank You 😊

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Thanks very, very much. Love our channel? Get the inside scoop on Periscope Film! Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm

[@S.E.C-R]

The most fascinating part of all of this was the computer systems and electronics… now it’s all at the touch of your fingertip on a phone or tablet and each car could be equipped with its own monitoring camera.

[@derail14]

in a rail yard were i am a trainman i used to watch those guys drive the new cars off the rail cars and they beat the living shit out of those new cars.

[@brianw338]

derail14 Yes they did. Your comment made me laugh. Cause it’s true. I worked at a RR also and witnessed the same thing 😱

[@SantaFe19484]

Whenever I think of the Chevy Vega, I think of the Vertapac rail car.

[@jkanclark]

That’s a crap ton of Detroit iron rolling along at 3:30.

[@rollingtones1]

I’ll take a Camaro, a Coupe De Ville, and a Monte Carlo please. Oh, and a Bonneville sedan too.

[@mitchsalawine5420]

You picked four of the best!

[@okeanakidd5118]

i think that was a Gran vill lol any of them but the vega

[@carryclass6807]

you have good taste that would be a nice fleet to own. ad a suburban and a caprice and i'd be happy

[@MillerVanDotTV]

David Gold I’ll take a Honda S2000, Accord Sport, and a ridgeline

[@mauriceaskew4255]

You're talking my language. Give me a 1996 Caprice and Impala SS along with a 2006 Suburban LTZ, a 2013 black Suburban 2500 , a 2017 SS along with a Pontiac 6000 STE AWD, 1987 Buick GNX and a 1996 Olds LSS.

[@CardboardSliver]

1970s: Information goes from paper, to mail, to paper, to punch card, to teletape to Martha on her type writer, to another punch card, to Ralph in the computer room, who then feeds the info into the computer and saves it to magnetic tape. 2020: Sends a text to dispatch.

[@gotacallfromvishal]

text to dispatch? that's so 2015. now it's high speed cameras read the railcar numbers and relay that to the ai which will factor in whether any exception is within limits and then it's relayed to a human.

[@DrLumpy]

Martha's a hot typist. Faster than some of my early dot matrix printers. Plus she could carry her lunch in that hair doo!

[@crushingvanessa3277]

The trick now is to find the bill of lading from the rail company and find all the particular cars on the particular rail car. Restore all of them and make a display of it all.

[@gkachcivileng9234]

General Motors is a huge technological giant. Great cars have been produced and still does. Great American manufacturer.!!!!

[@mauricevonasek5919]

@@emem8516 ....and what have you done with your life that has been so great? GM was and still is a technological marvel.

[@toddbob55]

GM is junk dude the world knows it

[@mauricevonasek5919]

@jemimallah C8

[@IanR1205]

This would have been a great video for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 guys to riff on.

[@anthonyr1080]

In 1977 my brother bought a brand new Vega for Speed what a great car and it was fast to held it Shine didn't rot lasted forever if I could only go back to 1972 I would buy a fleet of for Speed Vegas I love them

[@DrLumpy]

1970s Vega in mint green, egg yolk yellow, or poo brown. Amazing what they convinced us was cool.

[@whiteknightcat]

Actually it was more like avocado green, from the decade that gave us avocado, mustard, and brown kitchen appliances.

[@DrLumpy]

@@whiteknightcat I'm sure you're right. We had an oven the same color as a Vega.

[@RTS222]

@14:49 that looks like a bunch of Mopars on the carrier! Guess the massive GM computer missed that one!

[@mathuetax]

Yep, looks like Furys

[@timpriddy349]

Polara C-bodies.......good eye

[@nepcov8]

Noticed the same thing! Came here to see if anyone else caught that...How could this ever happen in a “GM” production!?!?

[@afterhourshotrods6882]

Yep that's the Dodge Polara wagon. The car hauler is GM tho!!!! So that counts. Lol

[@kelvintorrence5994]

When this was made,a Vega cost about 10.000,it's 2023 so a normal new Chevy small car is about 25 000 plus financing,

[@staygreat3611]

they created a shipping schedule similar to a bus or airplane route. Today's average smartphone could handle the workload of 20 of those computers. Se still got those sideburns

[@myolox]

i feel sorry for the vega.

[@GenerallyGeneralLee]

What a GREAT film! But I don't think I'd want one of those Vertical Vegas.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Seems like they would have drained all the fluids before doing that ... but who knows??

[@AndrewNeilFalconer]

The VERT-A-PAK is from the "World of Tomorrow" even though it was over 40 years ago.

[@lukeWiz44]

Andrew Falconer hey hey!

[@bduff007]

2:00 long gone Pontiac Assembly

[@nxne75]

bduff007: I live several miles from Pontiac (Waterford, MI), East Coast native - had no idea there was ever an assembly plant in Pontiac.

[@bendover9411]

15 cars per tri-level in the 70's, could put 30 on one today !!

[@johnnymoran180]

I'll take one of those train cars full of Nova's!

[@crlaw75]

My buddy had a '77 Nova and loved it.

[@jimmycline4778]

2:01 I think that’s a Yenko Nova on that car hauler, the dark green with white stripe, very valuable car NOW!

[@joehnunya]

When a Vega is loaded for shipping it begins to rust.

[@pat5882]

Going off of the silver standard in ‘65 (Johnson) then the gold standard in ‘71(Nixon)was the beginning of the end of any type of big mfg. in the U.S.. When the so called oil crisis hit in Nov ‘73 the value of the dollar had plummeted, the price of a barrel of oil nearly tripled by ‘75, was never above $5.00/barrel going back to the end of WW2. the price of all raw materials spiked. Heavy mfg immediately could not afford the costs. This was the big take down of the middle class in America, they had built their wealth going back to 1946, many politicians on both sides didn’t like that. Hard to believe that just 50 years ago GM had nearly exclusive use of the railroads in certain geographical areas of the U.S.. Now they want to only build EV’s w/o little or no charging grid anywhere, no one will buy them. The Chevy bolt-less has a problem with the Korean made battery. Mary Barra is only finishing what Roger Smith started.

[@jeffmoss26]

Bud Taggart...the turboencabulator guy!

[@pmkleinp]

Oh wow, I'm 10 minutes into the video and you're right. I immediately recognized the voice after reading your comment.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

The "exception report" was from March 1971.

[@jaminova_1969]

I once had a job changing the data reels on a mainframe!

[@jimburig7064]

The Vega was one of the first production vehicles to be made from thinner gauge steel to save weight. Consequently, those in the rust belt didn't even last five years as they were structurally compromised by rust to the point of being undrivable. The vertical shipping was just a passing trend.

[@garysprandel1817]

Was a little unnerving for a car to start rusting in the showroom

[@jimburig7064]

@@garysprandel1817 The Vega was pretty much junk bumper to bumper. The engine that was developed for the Vega ceased production while they were still giving the body new names for a few more years.

[@garysprandel1817]

@@jimburig7064 oh I am intimately familiar with the ginormous clusterflop that was the Vega while I didn't own one several buddies of mine in high school did. Should have been a clue that when a lot of us were driving mid to late 60s beaters back then they were able to afford a 4 or 5 yo car for the same beater price.

[@gillesthibault429]

Yep. Saw rust spots on a brand new car IN THE SHOWROOM when I went with my dad to pick up his car from service in the early 70s... In those days, cars were almost biodegradable.

[@operator91210]

My neighbor worked for GM when I was a kid. Always saw the lastest and greatest gm had to offer in the driveway. however after retirement I noticed one day it switched to Ford's and Chryslers. I never asked about it

[@jerrysgardentractorsengine2243]

Say what you will about the Vega, but it’s a damn shame that not a single Vert-a-pack was set aside for preservation

[@pablorojas259]

Great film

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Glad you enjoyed it! Subscribe and consider becoming a channel member kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXWliGami8abi6c

[@w8lvradio]

Love the Teletype! Imagine someone wanting to steal a Vega...

[@DTD110865]

Teletypes have to be real collector's items. I'd almost consider buying one and putting it on display if I had the room.

[@kw900lkevin]

question ? wouldn't all the fluid in the cars in the Vertipack run out and spill and pool in the wrong spots in the engine and so forth?

[@Ghauster]

They were shipped with special seals to keep fluids in and very some even at the least amount possible to allow them to run enough to load and unload. Dealerships had to remove the extra seals and shipping blocks that held things like the Battery tighter in place. All this would be done before they could hit the showroom. GM spent time and money to make sure the vents in the Vega's were in a location that not only allowed normal function but also were high enough to not leak when being shipped.

[@gotacallfromvishal]

the narrator clearly said that the design and production of the car was centered on the method of shipping.

[@georgeandrews6454]

@@gotacallfromvishal Not all Vegas got the " rail transit " treatment; those that could be trucked to local area dealers had a " normal " battery and wiper fluid bottle, those by rail had the fill caps relocated so they wouldn't leak. Worth mentioning the REAL reason Vegas were shipped standing on end, was to SAVE Generous Motors MONEY -- Thirty cars per auto rack as opposed to 15 on a normal rack. Remember the Vega was the entry level ( i.e. = CHEAP ) Chevrolet.

[@crlaw75]

Those double stacked containers are better now than they were then.

[@Kallark26]

Id like a 1972 Buick Electra and 1989 Chevy Caprice. The ONLY GM vehicles I would ever buy! 😁

[@crushingvanessa3277]

Who's the cute one in the green dress at 10:38?

[@rustynail6819]

When we were kids, we used to shoot the windows out of the cars with BB guns as they speed by,. Not long after, they started using fully enclosed auto racks.

[@brandedmcgowan9414]

7 sd45s of SP pulling a cross country auto from the midwest to the Pacific non stop wow. And on TOP of that that's definitely a GM train (hence the GM cars and GM-EMD Locos) when they was at their peak same for Southern Pacific railroad.

[@randykroells8049]

I remember the bad boys throwing rocks at those open car carriers.

[@dbradley3]

Anarchy :) The Vegas weep... :)

[@garysprandel1817]

Remember seeing pictures in Trains magazine at the time of the open rack cars that had passed through areas where the cars in the middle were burnt out shells because the got hit with Molotov cocktails

[@pedalingthru2719]

No , we would never throw rocks at auto trains as kids. Would we ?

[@dbradley3]

This video feels like some obscure version of "The Matrix".

[@pieromontemaggioreschreibe2615]

dbradley3 More or less is what the obscure hands of truly bad dark elites,are doing whit us.

[@pwrfl2357]

I’ll take one of those Grand Prix

[@clydeferguson519]

The last scene showed a carrier hauling Chrysler wagons, I believe.

[@LewdCustomer]

This GM must be a top notch company. Everything's breaking their way.

[@asd36f]

10:10 - Gravity shunting used to create consists prior to departure.

[@godoftheinterwebz]

"switching" not "shunting" You English need to learn to speak English

[@billiebobbienorton2556]

In Iowa we would sit in the fields with our hunting rifles and shoot out as many car windows and tires as possible. Didn't matter if it was GM, Ford, Chrysler or AMC. That day's winner would get a Grape Knee High from "Farmer Bill" who let us play in his barn with his 16 year old daughter. Ah, the 70s ! !

[@peterhogan9537]

my brother Dick worked at Genauto shippers in Oshawa Ont. back then.

[@williambellamy6197]

back in the 1980s i worked for yellow i would deliver to gm it would take 4 hours to unload 6 skids so when they closed the plant i wasnt shocked

[@hgrorng]

Nice red SS Camaro at 14:04.

[@1940limited]

State dimply I don't think 1970 was a great year for the US Auto industry. But it was still a huge operation that provided a lot of good jobs for thousands of people. It's a shame it's all pretty much gone now.

[@ocsrc]

All of those plants are gone. So are the rails. Very sad.

[@pcz5233]

I had a Vega!

[@andyharman3022]

I still have one! A Cosworth.

[@Cleveland.Ironman]

Andy Harman Does it have the aluminum block engine? If it does, do you have the oil leakage problem common to Vega?

[@z06rcr]

Me too... believe it or not made it to100k miles

[@dwayneday2895]

There to be 51 thousand motor block order for production plants of oldsmobile an Pontiac with 51 crank lobed production for limited edition production

[@Mr_Chris77]

Here's hoping the car you ordered wasn't riding on the top level.

[@Justincasethompson]

1970 Chevy Van 1970 Chevy Vegas 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood (I think).

[@mrflamewars]

Huge Brough-hammy Malaise era barges with less than 200HP V8 engines. Yuck.

[@DTD110865]

The Malaise era didn't start until later in the decade.

[@theaj1994]

When gm is from another dimension🥺

[@andyballard5311]

It took 7 locomotives to pull that load of Novas.

[@crlaw75]

I believe quality then wasn't that great until they shaped up in the '90's.

[@21halvie]

How is there not damage to the transmission or the engine when you’re storing the vehicle vertical? Where are all the oil and the fluids going?

[@maplemanz]

They shipped them dry and lube was added at the destination.

[@mauricevonasek5919]

@@maplemanz No they werent shipped dry....they designed the oil pan(s) with baffles to curb the oil during verticle shipment. Do some research before posting simple thoughts.

[@bestamerica]

' never see that before cars on the hangup wall in trailertrain

[@milfordcivic6755]

Good thing they secured those Vegas from the non existent thieves. Meanwhile, the train cars with the DeVilles and Eldorados....

[@phuturephunk]

Was that an Alco switcher doing work at a GM plant at around 1:50? I don't have the best eye...

[@Golfing422]

GM used to be such a company. They were so good for America. Now look at them. Made in China and assembled in Mexico. Our country isn’t advancing doing things this way. We become less and less capable and more dependent on foreign countries.

[@whiteknightcat]

FALSE. While GM may have crappy quality cars, about 55% of their parts are manufactured in the US. About 20% and 15% originate in Japan and China. GM operates roughly 15 assembly plants in the US and only 4 in Mexico (Toluca, Ramos Arizpe, Silao, and San Luis Potosí).

[@Golfing422]

@@whiteknightcat 55 percent? That’s pretty sad.

[@wonniewarrior]

Those Vegas flat packed nose to tail upside down, were they shipped with all fluids removed ? Would worry the fuel, oil, trans fluid and diff fluid would leak out.

[@centredoorplugsthornton4112]

The Vega was designed to be shipped nose down in Vert a Pac railcars. The engines had baffles in them to limit oil flow and spills. Even the washer fluid containers were specially designed. Drawbacks were no other make or model could be shipped in these vert a pac cars. The rail cars were returned empty to the Vega assembly plant. As video intro says, Vega production ended and the railroad cars were rebuilt.

[@timkis64]

perhaps they need an updated version, how they tell us that they have refined the process even farther, to the point of being effiecently & confidently building great looking & handling cars, that have a 40% chance of making it thru warrenty without a major problem.& your on your own when your warrenty expires.but we will be happy to rob your wallet anytime we possibly can for a thousand different things that routinely go bad... truth in advertising is a lost art.

[@McCracken_9]

GM pulling GM

[@djcb4190]

Let's put GM on my PC!

[@ricardoberbe6223]

I Love the gm cars

[@jackjones3001]

A lot of motion for a dam jalopy . what hell .

[@Jgspeedshop]

jack jones nice spelling bro 😂

[@michaelcollins1899]

Car guy are you?