What’s left of the Ford St. Thomas Assembly Plant

St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada - my friend Ashley and I got to see where the Ford St. Thomas Assembly Plant was only to be replaced with an Amazon distribution facility which takes up 1/4th of the actual factory area. This planet was built in 1957 and was famously known for building cars like the Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis and Town Car. The last Panther rolls off the line September 15, 2011 and since then, the plant had closed. It met its fate Feb 2016.

[@theunkowntravellers3167]

i was a conductor at one time at tablotville during the 90's, truly amazing place, wish it was still there.

[@darryl2154]

Thanks for doing a video about the old plant location. It is missed for sure. Though it was named the Ford St. Thomas Assembly Plant, it is closest to the community of Talbotville at the intersection of what was then provincial Highways 3 and 4. As locals, we usually referred to the plant as being in Talbotville. At the time the plant was built, it was not adjacent to the City of London but now the location is very close to the border with London due to annexation. The rail yard behind the plant had been operated by CN. Towards the end of his career my father worked in the 2-story CN yard office behind the plant (which I doubt is still standing though I haven't been close enough lately to see). My dad did drive a Grand Marquis but that was not an easy car to buy new. After 1999, there were no Mercury dealers left in Canada. And at the same time the Crown Vic was only available to fleet customers. For my dad to buy a Grand Marquis, the dealer had to re-import one back from the US. There was strange irony in seeing a car exported to somewhere in the US only to be brought back just a short distance from where it was built!

[@jongibbons730]

Great that jobs have come by way of Amazon, but Ford packing up another Factory and moving to the U.S. hurts far more. Those jobs offered much more than just three times the wages as Amazon.

[@darryl2154]

It was also clear that Ford prioritized Oakville for retooling and new product.