Sin,
When I hired into Wixom, in 77, there were 7000 people, on 3 shifts, building 32 cars per hour. When I went out to the GT building in 2004, the main plant was building 63 cars an hour with 700 people. The jobs were set up by the second. In order for a person to keep their job out of the hole, they had to be actually doing their part of the build for 56 seconds of every minute. (thus the aches and pains now LOL)
On the GTs, each team had to build 1.10 cars a day. Because there was so many operations to do on the GT, you had to work steady, but you never had to rush. That's why the quality was so high on the GT. To get on the GT program was a very special accomplishment. I don't recall anybody on the program, at least on my level, who went on the program for a easier job.
The office portion of the main plant had been pretty much unused for many years, but in the 70's it was full of people. I worked with a guy for a while that came to the Wixom plant when it opened in 1958. He was still there when I went on the GT build. He had come from the original Lincoln plant in Highland Park. Talk about seniority. (or lack of a real life)
Glad you and your son enjoyed your visit. Both my sons were in the GT building, and got a few rides in the shop car. (they can't fire me now, so I can say that my oldest boy had some left seat time in the shop GT) I know they too will remember their experience for many years.
