Spark Plug: (Satellite)
GM still has a manufacturing complex on the southwest side of town, which includes an assembly plant. Evidently, they make pickup trucks there.
 |
| The Ryan Eashoo Show posted On June 29, 1999, Buick City, the large auto manufacturing complex, closed in Flint, Michigan. Buicks were manufactured at the Flint site since 1904, although it wouldn't earn its famous name until more than 80 years later. When William Durant took an ownership in Buick, sales of the brand soared, and Durant incorporated Buick as a base for his new company, General Motors. As time went on, the complex became the largest American auto factory in the world, with over a half-dozen factories consolidating into the huge facility. As Buick sales dwindled in the late 1970s and early 80s, GM had to lay off many workers at the massive complex. In an effort to revitalize the Buick brand, GM began renovating the Flint site, pouring in millions of dollars and dubbing it “Buick City” in 1985. Unfortunately, Buick was not able to generate the sales it hoped for, and GM announced the closure of Buick City in 1997. Two years later, the plant that once employed tens of thousands of people shut down. Jerry Bancroft: It did not shut down till 2007 . I know this because i retired out of there in 2007. Rj Gilbert: Jerry Bancroft Buick City was just what they called the assembly plant. The rest of the complex just adopted it. The assembly plant shut down in 1999. Buick did not shutdown in 2007, heck we hired a bunch of permanent people that year. I was still in plant 10 then. Don't think that closed till 2012 or so. Thomas Droste: Now Buick is a Chinese company. Dale Church: I never thought I would see Buick and AC gone from Flint My grandfather, Clayton Menear , was labor relations director for 40 yrs, retired in 1976. Charles Geletzke Jr. shared Charles Geletzke Jr.: Really a PM-C&O customer; but the GTW did a huge interchange business with them for this plant! Chris Paciocco: It was insane how many trains and traffic CSX had during the 90s for Flint, now it’s all LSRC, they brought back Buick City as a logistics center a few years ago. Bob Cerri: It was sad to see the demise of the auto industry, but when competition came along, they were asleep at the switch. Toyota ate their lunch (along with breakfast & dinner). I'd like to know how many car loads (including frame flats & parts) went away? Just in my memory...east & west yellow cab, PMC, Orion, Flint (including the AC plant), Lansing, Kalamazoo and Detroit plants. The GT people went over & above to provide top notch service, but couldn't make up for the auto companies ineptitude. If you met with Ford on their Heritage project or GM's Delta project, you'd never want to buy a single share of these basket cases. I'd wager we lost 600 - 800 cars daily, and thats a lot of revenue. Charles Geletzke Jr.: Bob Cerri: This should give you an idea...When I started on the railroad we had 49 yard jobs on the GTW, just in Detroit! Today there are NONE! Then look at Pontiac, Flint, Saginaw, Bay City, Lansing, Grand Blanc, etc. and the other industries too. Just pray the foreign countries never flip OFF the switch! Jeff Branch: I don't think a lot of people realize that Buick Motor Division ceased to exist in 1984 with the creation of BOC (Buick-Oldsmobile-Cadillac Group), and in subsequent GM Corporate reorganizations "Buick" became an empty brand name with no substance behind it other than a centralized, conglomerated, generic GM Corporate. |
 |
| Sean Brady posted Factory #12 at Buick City, Flint, Michigan. Large press used to produce the hood panel for the 1958 Buick. Patrick Kirtley: The car is in the press to create a press release. |
No comments:
Post a Comment