Another Wixom Lineman Contacted!

[YellowRose]

I just finished talking with another Wixom lineman! I hope to have his story up later on tonight after I get permission to do so. I forgot to ask him. He adds a few more things to the story!

[trim code 76]

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL! No fat lady with this topic yet!!!
Greg

[Anders]

A busy day today. First the absoloute final touch on my garage
Then Formula 1 from Monaco, Indy 500 & Coca Cola 600, all live, and round up it with the most exciting things of all, the "real story behind the doors of Wixom" by Ray Clark.

[Coral]

CONGRATS Anders!

That garage has been a long journey for you, Im thrilled there are rainbows and sunshine at last!

Golly Ray, hurry up....

[YellowRose]

Another Wixom Lineman Contacted!

The other person to contact the Oakland Press regarding the newspaper article about Greg Prince's '60 Tbird was Carl Travis. I spoke with Carl on the 23rd of May, 2009 and again this morning, to get his permission to use his name and comments. Carl is 61 years old and worked in the Trim section of the Wixom production line from 1973-2007 with a break in between. Although not working there during the Squarebird era, things were pretty much still the same. He was able to fill in a few more details.

Several things had changed. No longer were Tbirds and Lincolns built on the same line. Lincolns now had their own line. Bodies were no longer being built by the Budd Body Company. Ford had built their own body shop and was making them in house close by the production line. Now it was only taking them about two days to build a car from start to finish, instead of the seven days it used to take. He also confirmed that VIN # stamping took place before the paint process. He confirmed some of the places in the car that we know about, where they used to put the production sheet (ROT/Build Sheet to us) as they called it when he was there. He did say to check the door or back panels because they also sometimes put them there.

He also said that the date next to the ROT # on the form was the date that the car was "ordered" to be made, not the date the form was printed out. He said the Sched Date on the form was the date that it was scheduled for production, but that did not mean that it actually was built on that day. Anything, such as an equipment problem on the line, a defect in the car, any accidental damage to the car, could sideline it to be finished on another date. He was not able to give me any further information on the various boxes on the ROT Sheet except to say that they were used to indicate parts that needed to be put on a particular car. He said that most line personnel concentrated only on the section of the form that applied to the stage they were assigned to (in his case, the Trim stage) and did not pay much attention to other aspects of it.

He also said that during the time he was there, there was a special tag on each car. The number on that tag (VIN # I think) could be entered into a computer and it would tell them exactly where that car was and in what stage of finishing it was in. He did give me a contact regarding possibly finding the production records for our Squarebirds. I will follow up on that next week. If they exist still, he said they are probably at their Detroit headquarters.

He is sending me a book that they were given when Wixom closed down. In it will be a lot of pictures and information about the plant that I might be able to use in future postings. Overall, though not having worked there in the Squarebirds era, he was able to provide me with some more insight on how things were done and the changes that had come about since the '50's and '60's.

[Coral]

I've got goosebumps!

Ray, its been said already a million times...YOU ARE DA MAN!!

I'm going to sew you a super hero cape to wear...Yellow, BTW...