Video: Clark Street Assembly Plant's Last Days of Operation.

[TJ Hopland]

How many plants were doing that body style before it was down to just the one model?   And I presume one of those is who continued?  Was it the same plant that then made the round bodies those last couple years? 

Did Cadillac plants ever make non cads?  Or other GM's make Cads?   Like those last years of the Brougham/Fleetwood?  I would assume there was decent numbers of Caprice made but not that many Roadmaster and Fleetwood so did one plant do runs of those lesser selling models?  Or was there a whole plant/line at Buick and at Chev and at Cadillac for those models?   How about stuff like the Escalade?  Were those made at a Cadillac plant or just a special run at another GM plant? 

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

How many plants were doing that body style before it was down to just the one model?   And I presume one of those is who continued?  Was it the same plant that then made the round bodies those last couple years? 

Did Cadillac plants ever make non cads?  Or other GM's make Cads?   Like those last years of the Brougham/Fleetwood?  I would assume there was decent numbers of Caprice made but not that many Roadmaster and Fleetwood so did one plant do runs of those lesser selling models?  Or was there a whole plant/line at Buick and at Chev and at Cadillac for those models?   How about stuff like the Escalade?  Were those made at a Cadillac plant or just a special run at another GM plant? 

If we're addressing final assembly operations only- Clark Avenue (Street?) produced Cadillacs exclusively since it opened in 1921. In the early 1970s, additional production capacity was done at the Linden, NJ plant which had been in operation decades earlier for other GM divisions. For 1979 model year, the Southgate CA plant was added for the manufacture of DeVilles (presumably for the CA market w/CA emissions equipment) which like Linden, had been in operation since the '30s producing other GM makes.

I don't know whether Cadillacs and non-Cadillacs were produced simultaneously at the Linden & Southgate facilities, or if they had separate assembly lines in the same building. However, I can say that Fleetwood Broughams, Limousines and Sevilles were exclusively assembled in Detroit.

The VIN# chart (and plant locations) noted in the CLC Directory ends in the model year 1980 so I can't say how much longer Cadillacs were produced in Linden/Southgate but I think the days were numbered after 1980.

Going back much earlier to the custom body era, there was also the Fisher 21 plant where Limousines and Commercial Chassis were built until April 1, 1984. It also handled production of certain "first year" all-new models from time to time.

Escalade production is presently at Arlington TX where the Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban is produced.  Previously, Arlington had also produced full size RWD GM sedans which took over Brougham production sometime in the 1988 model year.

[TJ Hopland]

Do we know at least near the end at Clark if any of those sub assemblies were assembled there or did they come from other plants?   Like I would imagine the engines/trans came from somewhere else but how about the main bodies?

I also wonder about things like the Olds engines and 200 4r transmissions.  At that exact time there were still a few G bodies that used those and then I think Buick, Olds, and the Chev wagons got that drive line so maybe the numbers were still decent.  I suppose there could have been some production capacity freed up at the Olds plant with the diesel being discontinued but they were still likely cranking out replacement engines and parts for them so I guess that line/factory would have still been fairly busy at that time. 

[Barry M Wheeler #2189]

I was on that tour that went through Clark Street. Two things stand out in my memory. The first was near the spot where the cars were driven off. One driver decided to "show off," and clipped at least one other completed car before he got his "floor-boarded" car stopped.

We all applauded as he was marched off the floor between two shop stewards to contemplate his last day at Cadillac.

When were were through, we were seated on a bleacher where they took cars that needed attention. There was one of the new Sevilles in the "melted chocolate ice cream" color, that was literally covered with yellow grease pencil from front to back with defects found on it. Talk about having a "bad hair day."

(That was the color I picked out for Gay on the '95 SDV that I ordered the year end that they gave salespeople a really, really good deal to lease a Cadillac (to beat Lincoln in sales.) But they put it on the floor before I could take it, and a customer wanted it, so we were happy with one of the blue/green ones that was in stock. They knocked off the price of the sun-roof as I hadn't ordered one. I think we used it maybe once in the eighteen months she drove it. The original lease term was twelve months and I called to extend it six months. The lady at GMAC asked me why, and I told her I couldn't afford not to drive it as long as possible for what I was paying.)

[TJ Hopland]

From looking at the video of what we saw of that plant and knowing a little about that model at the time it doesn't look like there was much for options in what we saw.  The options mostly look like they were related to the body like colors, sunroof, that sort of thing.  The chassis part didn't seem to have too many if any options.   Maybe a different rear end if it had a towing package?  So that rear end got placed in the line so it would sync up with that specific body that had the other options on it?

[TJ Hopland]

More questions that perhaps no one here would know the answers too...

What would have been different if the same thing had been shot in say 77?  I'm thinking it may have looked pretty similar?  They were basically building the same cars so I would think overall the process and equipment was similar?  Maybe the 'gun' used to put the wheels on didn't have 5 sockets built in?  Or did it and we would go back to 67 to have a single socket gun requiring 5 actions for each wheel?  What else would have been different at least as far as the processes we saw in the video? 

And if we go back to 67?  How much different?  57?  Maybe even 47 would be pretty similar?  I'm thinking that would likely be about the time that general layout and sequence would have started.  And was that sequence something that came from war production or was it more or less already in place when the plant was converted to war production.  Do we know what was being built there during the war?

[J. Skelly]

TJ,

Cadillac engines were produced at Livonia Engine (suburban Detroit) starting in the early 1970s.  The transmissions would have likely come from one of the regional HydraMatic plants in Warren, Willow Run (both in the greater Detroit area) or Toledo. 

[TJ Hopland]

So since engines and transmissions came from different places they were likely bolted together and wires and plumbing added at the Clark plant in this case?

[J. Skelly]

yes

[TJ Hopland]

So most of the sub assemblies came from other GM plants or long time partners like a Bendix or Kelsey Hayes?  Was Clark still doing body stamping at the end?

And I presume like most factories on that scale and in those eras the primary way materials came in and cars went out was by rail?  Seems like there were a few shots in that video where there were rails and maybe a rail car in view.

It is really interesting to think about the logistics and what you may want to produce on site vs bring it in assembled.  Take something like a gas tank.  As a stack of sheet metal you have a lot of tanks worth in a fairly small space and they don't require any special packing to be transported around.  But if you bring them in assembled they take up a lot more space and need special packing.  Is that packing like wooden pallets that have to be built for every batch then discarded or more likely its custom metal racking that fits specifically into a truck or train car that when emptied get back into the empty trucks or trains and sent back to that factory for more.  Maybe the area where you could have or did have the shear, press, and seam welder now just is empty and where you store those racks as they are cycled through the plant? This would be a consideration and apply to just about any and every assembly that it takes to make a car.    

[Eric DeVirgilis CLC# 8621]

Bodies were produced at the Fisher plant before being transported to Clark for final assembly. I don't know where the chasses were made which I believe were made at another plant.

These are all good questions but it would be difficult to list all the vendors from which various components, parts, assemblies, sub-assemblies, trim items and other materials originated. Even back in the day, there probably wasn't more than a handful of people who could've answered for everything that went into a finished car.

[TJ Hopland]

So the way I'm imagining it worked is the point where a car started to become a specific car is at the Fisher body plant.  That would seem to be where the custom stuff starts?  When the body leaves there its got the paint color, the interior type, and other options. 

That train car arrives at Clark with a list of the 10 or how ever many there are in that car and those bodies get placed literally in line.  Each slot then has to to sync up with all the other options in the plant.  So now each department with their train car or truck load of parts knows what order they need to load stuff in.  Lets say 'our' car is in slot 237 and its gold paint and towing package.  The fender department knows they have to load gold fenders into slot 237 so when those meet the rest of the assembly they got the right color.  In the rear end department slot 237 gets the towing rear end instead of the usual one.  Slot 237 gets the bigger radiator.  Eventually all the slot 237 from the various departments meet up and make up our unique car.     

[J. Skelly]

I seem to recall a chassis manufacturer in what's called Downriver, in suburban Detroit.  Cadillac acquired a former Hudson Motor Car Company stamping plant on the east side of Detroit.  I think that was around 1956.  Hudson ceased production in Detroit after the 1954 model year.  That building was razed a year or so ago and replaced by a new building for another company. 

There was a rail system that went to/from the Clark Street complex.  I also recall seeing car bodies being trucked over to Clark from the Fleetwood plant on a few occasions.

The logistics in planning the purchase of raw materials and finished components, coordinating the delivery and storage of the items, sequencing for paint, convertible or vinyl top and interior at another plant, delivery to the final assembly plant, then painting, assembling and sequencing the front clip for final assembly on the car, was incredibly complicated.  Computer technology really helped as car production increased.     

[TJ Hopland]

Here is another video about Fisher/Fleetwood and Clark Street.  Highly scripted and edited and full of what I assume is stock like footage so not nearly as neat as the amateur one that started the thread.   They video mentions 1985 at one point and there is a shot of a new way downsized FWD car so sometime in 85 or maybe 86?  One odd thing is there are several shots where you see an Olds logo on the wall but it really looks like they are working on a Brougham like car.  Other shots are for sure not Cadillacs, some look like maybe a Caprice? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7FoRdtvTDw 

[TJ Hopland]

Another Fisher video according to the poster from 1970.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-7ZmsBXBOk

Robo welders were apparently a thing by that time.   There are also some shots of a front bench seat being installed and a view of the grabber hook thingy that holds onto the seat so it can be swung into place.  Just that grabber hooky thing alone had to take a team a long time to get working and I would imagine every time a slight change is made to a seat possibly needing a slight to complete redesign. 

[TJ Hopland]

GM rail logistics, again roughly 1970.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTtcPxSag50

I knew about the 'vertipack' Vega shipping but never heard about the 'container pack'. I didn't know that theft and vandalism was that big of a deal back then but I guess just like today there are just some people..... Obviously that didn't work out and I don't really see why they thought there would be an advantage to it.  Seems like a lot of extra handling.  The 'screened' auto carriers obviously turned out to be the way they went.

[billyoung]

I was inside the Clark Plant in 1992 when the Cadillac collection was not yet moved. I wanted to see it before it was destroyed. Glad I did.

[TJ Hopland]

In the 1970ish videos they mention the number 23 plants a few times.   Is/was that just Detroit metro or was that Michigan that included Flint and Pontiac sorts of places?

[TJ Hopland]

Here is a video from 1990, apparently closing day for the Lakewood plant.  Lakewood is apparently an Atlanta suburb.  Looks like that plant was similar age to Clark although there was a small part of Clark that was much older.  Doesn't look like Lakewood ever built Cadillacs but I think is still an interesting comparison to the Clark video being that both were shot by an amateur on closing day just a couple years apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnzWAPvb-LU 

[TJ Hopland]

Looks like Leeds plant in Kansas City was another plant that had an almost identical run as Clark and Lakewood.   All mid 20's and shut down in the late 80's.  How many plants did GM have like these?  I get why they would have started in the 20's but how did apparently so many die about the same time?   It kinda looks like they were all building a pretty outdated car at the end.