1959 Plymouth Maywood Assembly Line
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ก.ค. 2023
- 1959 Plymouth Maywood Assembly Line. Various portions of the 1959 Plymouth assembly line are highlighted. An amazing view of the insides of the 1950's automotive industry. From our old film, with music added for watchability.
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And everything was made right here in the United States. Amazing.
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I toured Pontiac Motor Division in 1968. I was 11, and I remember a few things about that place. Noisy and dirty. I got to see Iconic cars being built. LeMans, GTO's Bonnevilles, it was wild and a nice tour. I never forget it.
I'm jealous! The '68 GTO is my all time favorite car. My dad had a new '68 LeMans that he bought new in OK, $3000 when he separated from the USAF after 14 years. I'm close to your age as I turned 10 in '68.
Very cool!
I like the guard at the end checking for stolen parts! One piece at a time - Johnny Cash
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These cars were virtually hand made. No computers. What craftsmanship. All those people involved. Amazing.
and you wonder why robots are taking over the industry today.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks!
It is the Chrysler Los Angeles (Maywood) Assembly that closed in 1971. There was an actual Ford Maywood Assembly that was in operation for a decade.
A 1959 Plymouth Savoy was my first car. My big brother and a friend were at a Kansas City Athletics baseball game in 1966. It was automotive night and his friend won the second place car which ended up being my first car
I'm amazed at the amount of hand labor involved. Can't believe they were actually using gas torches and brazing parts of body together. How ancient!
Exactly you dont see that anymore.
Truly a team effort. Glad you enjoyed it.
Artisans at work
Back in the day before robotics. When people worked a hard honest living.🏆🇺🇸
It's still a hard job today, just not as dangerous. Thanks for watching, @1957kwick!
@@dstragand not for what they’re being paid.
@@dstragand People today in the automotive industry barely have to lift a finger. In this video it showed them lifting doors, probably all day long. Assemblers today have it so easy.
From a time when the men were Men and the women were happy to have them!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for posting. Nice to see the way they use to do it along with all the workers back in the day.
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@dstragand We had many Dodge / Plymouth produces throughout the 1960s till now. Still always seem to have a Dodge kicking around. Never had any 1950s or older though. Last Dodge car I had was a 2010 Charger in Tor red.
All put together and off to the lots for sale. Thank you for this share.
Thanks for this one! Really cool to see the assembly process and all of the subcontractors involved... Cheers from a happy 1959 Plymouth Fury driver!
Glad you enjoyed it!
OOH !! A Fury. Red? Christine. You still have it?
Welding the bodies was to me the most interesting, Chrysler cars built for1960 and later were uni bodies ,you can say cars back then were hand built.Also what was interesting is the outside supplied parts from many different companies, all USA of course.LOL.great video 👍Thanks for posting.
Glad you enjoyed it - thanks!
Great film! My '58 Belvedere was assembled at Maywood so this is really great to see. I have a copy of the original build document from Chrysler Historic. It's amazing how they assembled the cars from a kit of parts..very cool!
Absolutely amazing. I love this. Thank you. Fletch - Classic Restos TV Australia 👍
I always loved that red plad interior in the 59 Fury. I saw a Studebaker Truck delivering parts.
Thanks for watching, @plunkervillerr1529!
This was somewhat different than a regular assembly plant. This plant used "knock down kits" to assemble the vehicles. Notice how most items are coming in railroad cars on the same train from Detroit. Essentially, in this type of plant everything is kitted together in one location and shipped to the kitted plant for assembly. Some parts may even be partially assembled before being shipped to reduce operations in the kitted plant.
This differs from a regular assembly plant where materials are received in by suppliers and from other plants and coordinated. Since Los Angeles was an outpost kitted assembly was used for most customers in the west for the most popular models. This was because you could fit more cars on a train if they were in parts vs. shipping whole cars. This also relieved the strain on the plants in the Midwest. I believe that these types of plants were also smaller and less sophisticated than a regular assembly plant as well.
That also meant that if an order was received outside of the type of popular models and options that were handled by this plant for a West Coast customer, that order would have been fulfilled in one of the regular plants and the finished car would be shipped to the dealer from across the country.
As demand for American cars fell in the West Coast and manufacturing got more efficient, these kitted plants were phased out and all production was supplied by regular assembly plants in the system further away.
Very cool info, thanks for sharing that.
That is very , very cool! You wonder how they kept track of everything in those days without all the computers we have now! Even heavy equipment is tagged and tracked now to know it's location. There is so much inventory there.
Believe it or not, they did have some very basic computers controlling the builds & inventory.
Believe it or not people actually knew how to use paperwork at one time and actually read and do math not like today. They relied completely on a computer. I remember when everything was done with paper and it was much better because you know what the computer generates and uses more paperthan we did back in the day when we only used paper
So many piles of parts. No bins look at how they install a windshield just a gasket and that windshield was big
My dad had a '59 Chevy Impala. A great car ❤
Thanks for watching, @zurcherzurich213!
Somebody put me in a time machine and send me back.
Joe biden needs you here to suffer
313 or 318 poly motor those 318 poly motors were pure quality 👍🏻💯🇦🇺⛽️.
I really loved watching this thanks
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Wow! This is a cool video! A very good look at the 1959 model year materials handling of the in bound parts. And a very good look at just how labor intensive the whole build process was. There were people everywhere like ants at a picnic. And seeing a base model Plymouth going together, with the flathead inline six, 3 speed manual transmission and single exhaust with the base minimal chrome trim package. And of course seeing the top line plymouths with V8 motors, automatic transmissions and dual exhausts right in front of the 6 cylinder car. And the fitting, welding, brazing, leading the bodies before they were hand wiped down before the primer coats were sorta sprayed on. And the finish painting was not that uniform either. No wonder these cars did the instant rust thing. Seeing this assembly line and then the 1960 valiant assembly line video shows just how big of a technology, manufacturing process change and technology leap the unit body 1960 Plymouth Valiant was. Chrysler was really upping their game for 1960. And the changes from then to now are almost unbelievable.
Thanks for watching!
The rust thing was fixed by '59. It was mostly a '57 problem that drainage holes, sealant and primer fixed by end of '58s. 👀
Here's a tech tip, skip to the 8 minute mark if you want to see something more than an inventory control specialist stacking boxes of parts.
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I remember as a kid how commonplace Chrysler forward looks were. Plymouth being the most of
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My mom & dad owned a 1959 Plymouth Savoy .. dad bought it new off the lot for 2,700.00 !!
That was too much
@@user-wy1dl2me2p it was on the lot with : 318 V-8 , automatic push button 3speed transmission , AM push button radio , heater , defroster , 2 speed windshield wiper, backup lights. A lot of options for an entry level series.
Almost $29,000 in todays money.
@@ericbivins8014 and by 1959 both my mom and dad had it with manual shift !!!!! When he and mom went looking for a new car mom insisted on automatic transmission !!! Lol
If you listen closely, as those '59 Plymouths left the assembly line, you can hear them, beginning to rust away.
Folks always say, “they don’t make them like they used to”. True. Cars today can go 200k miles with no problems. Back then, over 50k was near being scrapped. Thanks for watching!
Excellent video! It is amazing how much work, so synchronized, went into the building of the Plymouth, and all American cars. From inception in 1928 up to and including the 1956 models, Plymouth had more innovations than GM or Ford combined! It was the Best Buy for price, reliability, durability, roadability, safety, practicality, and long-life. Beginning with the 1957 models, Virgil Exner's "Forward Look" designs, which were beautiful and caught the competition at GM and Ford off-guard, unfortunately superceded quality and reliability to the point that by 1959 Chrysler nearly went out of business! My family had such good luck with the 1949 Plymouth for 9 years, that in 1958 my parents upgraded to a factory ordered, mid-priced Dodge --- A REAL LEMON, having nothing but trouble with it. The first year of ownership, it was at the dealership service department every Monday morning for one thing or another! The dealer, Franklin Field Motors had no idea what was wrong with the new 1957 and 1958 models. Since I was a child, I do not know if the factory issued service bulletins back then, as they do today? The dealership went out of business in 1959! At 26,000 miles all the bearings in the engine of our car failed. That soured us on Chrysler products for the next three generations! We bought GM or Ford cars after that.
Some have argued that the Plymouth was not a very exciting design prior to 1957. I vehemently disagree! Chrysler Corp. was responsible for more innovations over the years, than GM and Ford combined! From inception in 1924 Chrysler cars came standard with an oil pump and filter, not available on a Chevrolet until 1955!, Ford until 1949! In 1924, it had a temperature gauge on the dashboard and hydraulic 4 wheel brakes, also not available on most GM and all Fords until 1939!
Whatever was standard on the most expensive Chrysler for safety and durability was also standard on the base, entry level Plymouths, Dodges, and DeSotos since inception of those models under Walter P. Chrysler in the 1920s. My parents' first brand new car was a top-of-the-line 1949 Plymouth Special Deluxe P18 Second Series 4 door sedan. They purchased it a few months before I was born in the Spring of 1949 for $1,629.00 excluding several options. It was the first year and first model of a low to mid- priced car built with the current style ignition key system, eliminating the starter button, still used on Chevrolets and Fords. That was the first and only year until 1973 that any car (including Cadillac, Lincoln, AND Packard) had a standard inside hood release. I would like to have that particular 1949 Plymouth today!
Cool story! Thanks for watching, @dr.kennethj.sacchetti2765!
The '49 Plymouth was a beautiful car with those ribbed bumpers, handsome grille, little fins housing the taillights, and wood grained dash. Very luxurious for a low-priced car.
Not a whole lot has changed. Amazing to see the dock operations, go to a modern assembly plant and you will see basically the same operation.
Thanks for watching, @normanfillmore3490!
So much hand labour and goods handling. So many small pieces being put together by hand. Cursory paint job and zero corrosion protection, no wonder they only lasted a few years. Ancient history now.
Thanks for watching, @nicholasmurphy8634!
🤠 what a great find...pretty well preserved too...thank you for sharing...❤
Thanks for watching!
I had an older client years back who hired personnel for the GM assembly plant in los angeles back in the mid fifties. He said many workers wouldn't last but a few weeks because the work was too much for them. As a result of high labor turnover, quality suffered. He told me too many cars weren't right so they needed to lease parking areas locally to store new cars until they could be fixed of whatever problems they had.
Thanks for watching! Factory work is always hard, no doubt.
TUTTO IL FASCINO DI UN PRESTIGIOSO MARCHIO AMERICANO.
Wow, when folks used to actually work
A good day's work for a good day's pay.
What a difference between this and Ford's River Rouge plant where iron ore came in one end and finished cars went out the other. Ford's philosophy was "Eliminate the middle man."
Very different philosophies -- "do it all" versus "do what you do best". Still the same question today with vertical integration.
Awesome looking cars, one of my favourite 50's cars. One of Christine's younger sisters at 14:27. Pity about the rushed development and rust problems in the earlier cars :(
Thanks for watching!
Each car probably gets hand tuned when it's finished. The good days.
Thanks for watching, @herbienbrian2!
I really like this film very much. So much information of the time I loved the 1959 Plymouth. I was 9 yo and my friend Greg's family bought a new 1959 Fury in a metallic brown. It was beautiful I'll never forget that car in the summer sun. How much u think $4K?
Thanks for watching!
My DAd bought Mom a Plymouth Savoy it was Red and White
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Great history , great cars 59 plymouth!
Glad you enjoyed it
May-Would sure be a really ugly car today! lol . . . .but I could watch these old assembly plant films back to back if only I could! Especially the first years of the car building days, fun to watch the evolution of this industry. Thanks for sharing our nations history that otherwise would be lost from memory. Great stuff!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Beautiful cars! Almost hand assembled back then. Not a safety glasses nor hard hat in sight! And the paint booth....no respirators.
Thanks for watching, @RivetGardener!
I think that Our '57 Plaza 4dr sedan came off of that assembly line!
Cool! Thanks for watching
The people in todays assembly plants should be ashamed compared to the people in the old days
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Very interesting to see the individual components being delivered into the plant. Compared to the assembly line that part seemed very labor-intensive and kind of leisurely.
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Many farm tractors are built from knockdown kits brought in from overseas and assembled here. AGCO does that for most of their tractors.
They had presence and style. Remembered with affection in N. Z.
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I had one, it was a Kick Start unit.
You had to get out and boot it behind the Front Tire Wheel Well.
It amazed passengers, but it managed to ground the Starter Solinoid.
Thanks for watching!
I toured the former Chevrolet plant in Janesville Wisconsin in 1972. The first thing they did was take my camera away and wouldn’t give it back until my tour was over. Sucked. A lot of the workers looked like they were strung out or drunk.
Well, the 1970's, man, you know... wild place. 😀 Thanks for watching!
Funny thing the last guy had to slam the trunk lid , for many years Chrysler cars trunk lids had to be slammed or they wouldnt lock .
Yup. The thick trunk seal requires a pretty hard slam.
WHEN FRAMES WERE FRAMES, AND NOT THIN TIN UNIBODY GARBAGE OF TODAY!!
Strange how these "thin tin unibody" cars always destroy the body on frame classics in real life accidents. Easy to find with google.
2 easy steps
1. Assemble
2. Drive
Thanks for watching, @chargerdave2046!
Interesting film. I was imagining the amount of damage to components as they were unloaded from railcars and restacked into pallet/dollies. Being in LA explains the amount of uncovered outdoor loading/unloading and the Southern Pacific cars.
Thanks for watching!
Same here! It is easy to underestimate the value of newer palletized and containerized transport in controlling waste and damage. Also think how much money is tied up in that inventory; Lean manufacturing certainly has benefits!
I'm guessing my late father's 1958 Plymouth Suburban was assembled the same way. 🤔 Playlist on my channel.
At the beginning of the video when they’re unloading frames, I kept thinking, “Well, that’s the last year they’ll be doing that.”
Unibody has advantages at times. 😀
Same! They’d be unloading sub-frames in a few months.
This is really amazing to watch how they put these cars together. Also, that car manufacturing was once very strong in Los Angeles. It helps explain the decline of Los Angeles with a large exodus of manufacturing jobs from Los Angeles county.
Glad you enjoyed the video
That was a very awesome video. Any for the 57?
Working on it!
@@dstragand awesome 👍
My father bought a new 1959 Plymouth Savoy. The damn thing burnt oil.
Not unusual for then, the tolerances weren't like today. At least a quart in a 1,000 miles was common.
I wonder are any of those Plymouths still around today? Im guessing the majority were rusted out by the late 60s and ended up being crushed. In 2024 some might be rusting into the ground where they were parked up decades ago.
There are still a good number of them around, but remember that 50k miles on any 1959 car was consider high mileage back then. They were made to be somewhat disposable.
THE REAL AMERICA LOVE IT😊😊😊
Thanks for watching, @ferenckovacs6728!
Missing the 'Bad to the Bone' music
Never thought of that, but yeah, that would have been a great choice, 😀
I think I spotted my dad's '59 Belvedere!
Always fun to see a car your family once owned.
Watch your fingers if there´s a red Fury on the line :D
🤘🤣
Back when Americans cared about where their cars were made.Not a Toyota in sight,and it’s beautiful.
Thanks for watching!
Gracias, que gran video, reviviendo el pasado. Hoy día se ven menos que Ford y GM porque se fabricaron y se vendieron menos. Menos concesionarios en su momento y también con el correr de los años, menos piezas mecánicas y de carroceria en oferta para reposición o restauración. Me alegro que pude verlos, aún con años de uso, en circulación. Slu2 desde Rivera, Uruguay 🇺🇾
Thanks for watching, @RafaelRodri66!
all american made,none of that over seas garbage nowadays
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Mom-and-pop carmaking
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The Plymouth fury
from 1957 to 1961
Were simply stunning cars
If I only had the money
I would have the full range (00==v==00) 😄👍
Agreed! Thanks for watching!
That wasn't Christine coming off at 14:22 was it?
Christine was a 1958 -- these are 1959's -- but they are very similar in appearance! Thanks for watching
At the end the security slamming that trunk😂 it was probably necessary right?
Actually, yes. They used a pretty thick trunk seal, so even on a restored car today it does take some effort.
Can you imagine them unloading vehicle frames 1 at a time today out of a rail car!!! The Supervisor would be going ballistic!😮😊
Thanks for watching!
When Cars were real and not woke or lap top 💩.
The birthplace of “Christine”
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Great video except for the doofus music, which I simply muted 😎
Yup. Royalty-free music can be a bit rough. Thanks for watching!
My grandparents lived in Maywood. Their cute neighborhood looks like a third world country now
Sorry to hear that. Thanks for watching!
I am no efficiency expert, but I have some idea of how the flow should be. I recently read a book, "The Arsenal of Democracy" which was mainly how Ford Motor Company built WWII Liberator bombers- Edsel Ford and his team starting with a farm field, was quickly setting up a system that was putting out a fully operational bomber every 55 minutes! From this film, I am watching so much wasted time.
I'll bet .50¢ injury every other day...way cool post👍👍
Yeah, but in those days you'd shake it off. Folks were tougher back then.
Chrysler used a primitive teletype card based production system by the 50’s
Chrysler Historical can get you copies of those cards for many of the years with all the original build information.
back than WE were the leaders in "industry"..!...& "quality"...!..!..how did it all change in 60+ years...!..!..wish i could say 4 the better..!..but id be lie'n..!..damn shame...!
Thanks for watching!
Because in places like Germany, Japan and Sweden management listened to the guys working the line about production problems, better ideas and suggestions. Good old American management cockiness about not listening to the 'little guy" brought them down...........................
@@ReynardTheFox-dm8py naaa...its more than that...!..corporate greed & goverment taxs,the e.p.a. ,drove big industry & "all" big bussenes over seas....
These cars actually had horrific build quality. Windshields would leak cause rust problems after only a few months. That’s why you see so few of these cars. Monday and Friday cars had problems. UAW contract talks affected quality.
Quality was not a high point for any manufacturer then. It was not unusual to see any manufacturer's 1950's cars scrapped at around 60k miles.
1957 models indeed had a whole bunch of problems resulting from being the first year for this body and chassis which would have benefitted from another year of refinement before production. The 1958 model year was quite a bit better. 1959 was the last year , and most problems had been solved. The primary exception was severe body rust damage , the worst in climates where roads were salted in the winter.
It’s a shame those cars were rust. Buckets because Chrysler was too cheap to use galvanized steel.
Thanks for watching
CHRISTINE
Christine was a 1958, but very similar.
Good UNION jobs gone 😮
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Union's are the problem unfortunately.
These guy had to a lot of hands on, back breaking worik back then.
They sure did. Thanks for watching, @bobtis!
Where the heck is Maywood? 😮
Los Angeles, CA. It operated from 1932 until 1971, at 5800 Eastern Avenue and Slauson Boulevard.
@@dstragand Thanks for the info 😀
Right next to Maywood-not. 😂
Mayfair
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Back when life was good. No left wing craziness.
Thanks for watching, @dougharding5231!
I never buy new cars they are expensive crap. I buy old classics that appreciate every year. In my stable now are a 1971 Cuda, 1969 Super Bee, 1970 Power wagon, 1969 Dart, 1969 AMX, 1968 Javelin, and the 1959 Plymouth Fury with the Golden Commando engine. I bough the 1971 Cuda for 3000 dollars from the original owner. My wife drives a 1969 Charger RT.
That's a great collection! Thanks for watching!
Those frames were made in America with American hands and American Steel, not China or Mexico, or do they even make cars with frames anymore or is it pressed tin foil
Very cars are 100% "American Made" anymore, because no one wants to pay $425,000 for an F150.
Most are unibody except on heavier trucks. Thanks for watching!
Flathead 6
"Flatheads forever!" 😀👍
Actually Plymouth is a town in England, and has been for hundreds of years...if you don't believe me do a search.
Very good video tho the music was sooooo annoying no need for it.
Thanks for watching
Car's made in America by company's all across America from Connecticut to California!!!😂😂😂😂😂
Thanks for watching, @billfeld5883!
Sadly were rust buckets in 6 months...
Rustproofing measures are a lot better today. Thanks for watching!
Wait, nothing made in China? Everything made here? Yep.
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“Christine’s” birth place……….😈
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The music sux
That’s why we have mute buttons . 😀 Thanks for watching?
That incessant music!😖
Yeah, but had to do something. Trust me, it's better than watching 15 minutes of silence though.
@@dstragand I was thinking a narration of the various processes going on, perhaps with some information on the model of car, life in the the factory etc? 🙂
Good engine but rusty junks.
Thanks for watching.
This was quite uninspiring.
Ok. I hope you can find inspiration somewhere...
1000's of suppliers. Chrysler made nothing. Just an assembly plant. Pretty ugly car. That 3-speed was the first thing to go.
Sounds like you might enjoy my Early Ford V8 Museum video more. It will be out next Sunday. Thanks for watching.
The LA Assembly plant wasn’t in Maywood it was at 5800 Eastern Ave. & Slauson Ave. in the City of Commerce,Ca. Maywood was west of there. I used to work at that plant putting in the engines 0:00 from the 225 cu. in. 6’s to the383’s