From stamped steel to finished product in under 10 minutes.
It's always fun seeing old videos of car commercials, factory promotions or even stuff like Classic Car Club of America CARavans, but watching pre-war automobile production footage is a real peek back in time. What we found here is a look back at Chevrolet's assembly plant located in Flint, Michigan cranking out Master Deluxe two-door sedans in 1936.
The video starts from rolls of steel that are stamped and welded together to form the car's frame. After the frame is together, the suspension components, gas tank and axles are added on, and then engine, grille, fenders and running boards installed before he body is finally married to the chassis. There sure wasn't a lot of finesse going on with automobile production back then, but there was quality control as workers can be seen checking for fit and finish in the body and any defects in the paint and metal work.
Keeping in mind that the idea of assembly line production was still only about 20 years old at this point, it's amazing to see the level of automation that there was back then especially in regards to the welding machines. The high camera angle gives a good perspective as to the sheer size of the massive presses used to stamp the body parts, and these machines dwarf the workers operation them and vehicle components being made.
The video lasts a little under 10 minutes, but it manages to show the car's full production from stamped steel to finished product. It's definitely really cool to see how automobile production took place back in the 1930s as well as to see how far assembly line technology and automation has come. Perhaps even more impressive is the video quality, which is incredible considering that the footage is almost 90 years old!
