Dodge Main - Erik Smith

Рет қаралды 9,525

Erik Smith

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 35

@jivepatrol6833 2 ай бұрын

Mr. Smith - this is excellent and a fine example of your great reporting over the years! Thank You!

@mcparla1 11 жыл бұрын

Dodge Main, Lynch Road, the old Jefferson Avenue Assembly, Cadillac at Michigan & Clark, Fisher Body (Fleetwood). They were all iconic.

@danielsweeney6742 Жыл бұрын

I worked at Detroit Axle just to the south was the forge to the west was Lynch Road. Now all leveled.

@tomboone201 9 күн бұрын

@@danielsweeney6742My family worked at dodge main then the hammer shop off lynch

@dcxdanny 8 жыл бұрын

I knew quite a lot of guys at Chrysler that worked decades without missing a day. I started at Lynch Road assembly in 1967 and ended my time at Warren Stamping in 1998. Since that time, I have explored a number of abandoned factories like the Packard plant to the Fisher Body Plant 21. Amazing how many of the old factories are still around in Detroit.

@TheKyrbster 13 жыл бұрын

I was raised on Chrysler money. My father started working at Dodge Main in January 1952. He retired in October 1989 from the Jefferson Plant. After seeing the Eminem commercial yesterday during the Super Bowl XLV, I thought about the old Dodge Main Plant. It was good to see film footage on her.

@JerrlEvans 3 жыл бұрын

Me too

@guyfromkcmo 6 жыл бұрын

Thank You for posting this. There's such little footage or even just still photos of these places that were/are, so integral to history of Detroit, the automobile, wartime, and labor.

@TexasMan77 Жыл бұрын

Read about this place, it was absolutely massive.

@baronoflivonia.3512 7 жыл бұрын

I worked for DWSD and we moved from Erskine in Eastern Market to old Dodge Engine Plant behind Lynch Rd. Plant that Mayor Young bought from Lee Iaccoca for $1 on Huber Avenue.

@shawnp6744 6 жыл бұрын

Great piece.

@RADIUMGLASS 6 жыл бұрын

I wish Erik would come back. Vince (interviewee) died December 1994.

@shawnp6744 3 жыл бұрын

Sad.

@gdhanley 2 ай бұрын

My dad worked at Chrysler headquarters in Highland Park and got me in at Dodge Main about 77 work summer vacation relief. Then I got in at Ford in Sterling Heights. Worked there 2 years and was laid off. Just retired from Kroger in Galveston Tx after 43 years. Michigan is my mother and Texas is my best friend

@MrSteverwise 7 жыл бұрын

I was know more then a kid back then, this is where my dad work until he got transfers to st,louis

@danielsweeney6742 5 жыл бұрын

Old Dodge Main was torn down and replaced by Hamtramck or Pol town plant now scheduled to be closed by General Motors.

@georgelouis9360 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, I spent time in Dodge Main or Hamtramck Assembly Plant my time started Nov 22, 1972, working for Group Production Control which was on the Fourth Floor of the front building which housed the offices for the Hamtramck Plant activities, Group Production Control, and the Truck Production Control Activities moved to Hamtramck around 1975. Our activity was one of the last departments to mve out of the old girl in December 1980. The Plant had stopped production of vehicles on the first Friday of January 1980. I remember the last six vehicles to come off the assembly line were six Dark Green Dodge Aspens. I got acquainted with "DODGE MAIN" as a kid as my father worked there from 1947 until the last Friday, January 1980. I remember going to the Family Day Celebrations that they had usually held in August where the employees could bring their family and walk thru the plant, get something to eat, and get some souvenirs celebrating the day. My father worked in the "TRIM SHOP" and did several different jobs while employed, I remember he would build up steering columns, built up consoles prior to installing in the cars, and he also did A/C line build up as there were different configurations for six-cylinder engine versusV8 engine applications. My brother also worked at Hamtramck after he returned from Army Duty, March 1971 until June of 1973. His job was pushing bodies as they came out of the paint shop and loading up the body bank before the car bodies were put on the trim line to go thru the trim shop where the glass was installed in the bodies, the taillights, the side glass then thru water test, installing carpets seat belts. instrument panel which came by conveyor coming off a small assembly line where the I/Ps were built. Air conditioning components were installed on the right side fender if the car was ordered with A/C. front and rear bumpers were installed along with the fuel tank, the fuel line s and brake line tubing, the front grille, A/C Lines were installed on the passenger front fender if the car was ordered with A/C. Factory undercoating was sprayed on the bottom of the floor pan on the third floor before it went to the body drop operation on the second floor. I worked both first shift and second shift while at Group Production Control. Sometimes we would end our shift at 3:00AM and would report for duty at 4:00 PM the next day. My first car was a 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger that was Gunmetal gray with a blue houndstooth cloth interior with the fold-down center armrest. It had the 3i8 V8, automatic transmission, Electronic Ignition a $35.00 option, power front disc brakes heavy-duty suspension, battery, shocks, and all the exterior moldings that could be ordered. No vinyl top, Tinted windshield,rear window defogger, D 78 X14 Black sidewall tires, and full wheel covers. The car started on the first leg of the trim line on the second shift on the first Thursday of March and rolled off the end of the final line on Friday, March 2,1972 at 1:30 Pm The car was shipped to Garrity Motors in Hamtramck, Mi on Saturday, March 3, 1972, it was unloaded and put in the building by 10:00AM Saturday. I was able to pick the car up on Monday, March 5, 1972, at 5:00PM. We also ordered a 1977 Dodge Aspen SE four-door sedan. 225 super six-cylinder engine, automatic transmission.A/C, and blue vinyl interior. This car was built in May of 1977, so we had two vehicles that came out of Hamtramck. Tes I can say Dodge Main was good to us, sure there were some lean years but there were also some good years as well. What a lot of people do not know is that Hamtramck had two assembly lines in the place and each operated as separate lines. For the Production year 1973, the production records show the Hamtramck Assembly Plant produced and shipped over 550.000 vehicles.

@redkap5816 3 жыл бұрын

@@georgelouis9360 awesome story thanks

@shawnp6744 Жыл бұрын

It has been saved. Ironically Chrysler desperately wanted her back.

@PrimeTransport 13 жыл бұрын

The Dodge Boys From North East Ohio Miss You DODGE MAIN

@MontrealMan1970 3 жыл бұрын

where many of the 68-70 chargers were built, others at st. louis

@6828oaklawn Жыл бұрын

I own a 1969 Dodge Charger RT/SE that was built at Dodge Main in Hamtramck. In October of 1998, I made the three day round trip from my home in Minneapolis to the site of Dodge Main in my Charger. When the Charger and I arrived in Hamtramck, I had to go into a local bar to ask some older guys where the plant used to be. They told me, and I then drove the Charger over there and fastened a laminated plaque to the fence surrounding the site. On the plaque was a simple message to whomever may come by to read it, expressing my thanks and admiration to all who worked there and built my car which had returned home for its thirtieth birthday. I used original 18 gauge wire salvaged from my car during the restoration process to fasten the plaque to the fence, then left the cold and deserted site and made my way home to Minneapolis. I would like to sincerely thank the men and women of the Chrysler Corporation who created the finest realization of performance and styling in the history of the American automobile: The 1969 Dodge Charger. God Bless you all!