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An official infographic from the White House that used a Toledo North Assembly Plant produced Jeep Wrangler as the central theme. Seems like President Obama is taking a ride on the meteoric rise of the Jeep brand in sales and quality. I don't blame him. The Jeep brand was, is, and will always be a true American success story. Kudos to Chrysler and the workers for making the current run the best ever.
This infographic was released when President Obama visited the Toledo Assembly Plant - where they produce Jeep Wrangler, Wrangler Unlimited, Liberty and Dodge Nitro.
www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/03/infographic-resurgence...
The huge, original portion of the factory (less than one half of the entire complex).
Just to the left of this photo, a number of large additional buildings were demolished in 1999. Yes, the place was even bigger.
This portion built in segments, 1901-1911.
Packard Motor Car Company Plant. Detroit, Michigan. January 3, 2007.
It's been a rough winter for the Packard Plant. A heavy snowfall caused a building to collapse at the Packard Motor Car Company Plant.
Also, the bottom floor of the two-story bridge that spans the alley has collapsed.
As it turns out, the snow was not the only thing that brought this building down. Scrappers, known for extracting semi-valuable metals from abandoned buildings (sometimes called Copper Thieves on the East coast, but this is Detroit so they don't just steal copper here), removed several steel H-bar supports from under this large open warehouse roof. The snow piled up, the stress was too great, and the building fell.
A similar collapse happened at the opposite end of the Packard plant.
Detroit, Michigan
GAZ AA. Die cast by Hongwell ("Our autoindustry" series). Scale 1:43.
GAZ AA is a copy of Ford AA produced under license in Soviet Russia since 1932. The original Ford was modified by Soviet engineers for more severe operating conditions. In 1938 he was still an upgrade, the truck has a more powerful 50-horsepower engine, enhanced suspension, new driveshaft and steering. Under the name GAZ MM truck produced until 1950. From 1932 to 1950, was built more than a million of these trucks.
I bought a new 1981 305 4-speed Trans Am right off the showroom floor here in 1981. The step-father of my girlfriend at the time owned a home in Orlando and we used to visit for weekends once in a while. I saw the car at McNamara while roaming around Orlando with her one day. It was Bright Blue Metallic with no bird and I immediately wanted it. Hard to believe that McNamara went out of business. Of course, now GM is shutting down Pontiac altogether. Don't see many of these old Indian signs anymore.
This is an interesting counterpoint to the contrast-enhanced clouds shot I posted earlier that shows off how dirty the sensor actually is. In this it's tough to see any dirt at all and this was shot at f/8. The "real world" is frequently a lot different than test shots, huh?
“That’s why we stood by the American auto industry. It was about you—your families, your jobs, your lives, your dreams.”
Photo by Christopher Dilts for Obama for America
In 1988, Youngstown entrepreneur, JJ Caffaro purchased the commanding shares of Avanti Motors, which was renamed the Avanti Automotive Corporation. Cafaro's family at the time owned the 7th largest real estate company in the country.
Cafaro saw Avanti as becoming the alternative to high class cars like Jaguar and BMW. Some saw Avanti as the industry that would start an economic comeback for Youngstown. However, marketing problems, problems with the car bodies, and massive start up costs helped sink Avanti. The plant was already idled by 1991 when a fire broke out that put the seal on Avanti's doom.
As Verna Wilson and Robert Cuthrell stood side-by-side at a rally in Pontiac, Michigan, they shared the same concern: Would their pensions be safe?
Robert Cuthrell worked at the GMC Orion plant for 32 years. He started on the assembly line and retired in 1993. Verna Wilson's husband worked at the same plant as Cuthrell. Now a widow, Wilson relies on the pension her husband earned at the Orion plant, and she can't afford to lose it.
GAZ AA. Die cast by Hongwell ("Our autoindustry" series). Scale 1:43.
GAZ AA is a copy of Ford AA produced under license in Soviet Russia since 1932. The original Ford was modified by Soviet engineers for more severe operating conditions. In 1938 he was still an upgrade, the truck has a more powerful 50-horsepower engine, enhanced suspension, new driveshaft and steering. Under the name GAZ MM truck produced until 1950. From 1932 to 1950, was built more than a million of these trucks.
Seriously, they actually unveiled a new "green" HUMMER at the auto show. A little ethanol does not an environmentally friendly monster SUV make.
Dialogue: GM Unveils the New Hummer's Revolutionary Green Features at the Detroit Auto Show!
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Mikhaela B. Reid * Angry Cartoonist
cartoons@mikhaela.net * www.mikhaela.net
• Out now! | “ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT MIKHAELA!” by Mikhaela Reid, with foreword by Ted Rall. See why Fun Home author Alison Bechdel says "Mikhaela Reid's cartoons are right *$%@ing on!" Buy now at: www.lulu.com/content/781402
Michigan Assembly Plant
Wayne, Michigan
March 8, 2011
Formerly Michigan Truck Plant, building Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators, truck production moved to Louisville, Kentucky to make room for the new C346 Ford Focus. Ford will build several vehicles based on the Focus platform at this plant and the adjacent Wayne Assembly and Stamping Plant.
© 2011 Michael Lavander. All rights reserved.
No usage without written permission.
Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the air,
and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes.
~The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Times were tough and getting tougher, no doubt
Banks closing left and right. Auto industry in demise and seeking a bail out. Gotta do it, no? Thousands of American workers out of jobs if not done, right?
What year was it again?
Gas prices at their lowest in years, but so are housing prices. Global inflation. Increased unemployment. Excesses of big business causing an unstable bubble-like economy.
Does that bubble pop? Can it not? How many market corrections can we take?
We've seen it all before, we'll see it again, but this is the here and now. Is what once was here again? Is it a recession or a depression?
Christmastime, but was it really? Stores crowded, people seemingly to be shopping, but were they? Were they feeling the crunch or no?
The page turns, the calendar flips. Time for change is here, they say.
Whomever "they" is.
The highway is alive tonight...Nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes...
It's time for.... something. Let's hope it happens soon.
© Mark V. Krajnak 2008 | All Rights Reserved
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report: www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-286
WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION PROGRAM: Opportunities Exist for OSHA and DOT to Strengthen Collaborative Mechanisms
Today was the closure of GM in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Took this relatively poignant shot at a park on the Windsor side of the Detroit River which kind of looks like the elephants are charging the GM World Headquarters towers in Detroit. 7.28.2010
GAZ AA. Die cast by Hongwell ("Our autoindustry" series). Scale 1:43.
GAZ AA is a copy of Ford AA produced under license in Soviet Russia since 1932. The original Ford was modified by Soviet engineers for more severe operating conditions. In 1938 he was still an upgrade, the truck has a more powerful 50-horsepower engine, enhanced suspension, new driveshaft and steering. Under the name GAZ MM truck produced until 1950. From 1932 to 1950, was built more than a million of these trucks.
Sometimes it rains so hard your shelter fails to provide shelter. Years ago we were camping out along the Colorado River in Moab, Utah. This is July in a place that gets less than 7 inches of rain in a typical year. That night the heat and the Rocky Mountains to our east cooked up a nasty cloudburst that dumped over 2 inches of rain on our campsite. Sleep was fitful as we took turns pushing the rain off our collapsing tent roof. The next morning when we surveyed the damage, our tent was wrecked. The rain was so strong and heavy it twisted all the tent poles into an abstract sculptured mess.
This city once found shelter in these great structures. Thousands of workers found shelter from the Depression, wars recession and inflation. Then one day an economic storm blew into town and crushed the roofs holding back the storms.
"If I don't get some shelter
Oh, Yeah I'm gonna fade away..."
Michigan Assembly Plant
Wayne, Michigan
March 8, 2011
Formerly Michigan Truck Plant, building Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators, truck production moved to Louisville, Kentucky to make room for the new C346 Ford Focus. Ford will build several vehicles based on the Focus platform at this plant and the adjacent Wayne Assembly and Stamping Plant.
© 2011 Michael Lavander. All rights reserved.
No usage without written permission.
In GM's early history the company stared down the abyss several times. GM's founder was responsible for pushing it to the edge in those days. Twice Wall Street and the DuPont's came to the company's rescue. Once Billy Durant went away for good GM began a run of unprecedented success. The company became a colossus. With Alfred Sloan at the helm, GM ground out profits during the Depression, switched to making arms during the War, and came out of the War with a 50% market share. They simply crushed all of their rivals. The wonder of today’s Toyota pales in comparison to the dominance GM once held.
This history all begs the question how did they suddenly get it all wrong? I’ve thought about this a great deal. Did secret corporate agents in Germany and Japan spike the water in Detroit with stupid pills? Actually, GM became a victim of human nature. Understand that corporations and businesses are man’s creation and therefore they behave much like their creators. That means they are prone to greed and fear, passion and arrogance- all of those basic human emotions.
When GM was perched on top, a toxic brew of arrogance and paranoia set in on the 14th Floor on West Grand Boulevard. I figure all those CEO’s after Engine Charlie figured at once- they could do no wrong and worried about losing it all. Passion and innovation was buried and they fought to keep the status quo. They stopped playing to win. Any coach will tell you the surest way to lose is to play not to lose. Maybe now that the road ahead is uncertain they, along with the folks in Dearborn and Auburn Hills, will get after it and start playing to win. Given their stock price they don’t have as much to lose these days.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a press conference June 10, “Two Sunday’s ago I was on a phone call with the White House who was helping us make our policy effective and I asked them, what money does it save the manufacturing General Motors or Chrysler if you shut down a dealership? Answer…zero.”
I have often wondered if Hollywood has it right in their portrayals of the Motor City. Films like Robocop paint a bleak picture of the Detroit and many times us local folks take offense. “It’s not true!” we protest. I agree it is not true, but sadly this image is based on threads of reality. The recent buy out of hourly workers for the Big 3 is a clear indication that our economic heart is truly ailing. It is time we put the old companies to rest and find a way to reenergize the entrepreneurial spirit that built such a wonderful industry so long ago. Can we ignite the passion?
“I didn’t run for President to get into the auto business—I’ve got more than enough to do. I ran for President because too many Americans felt their dreams slipping away from them.”
Photo by Christopher Dilts for Obama for America