longtooth

Not sure where i'd first read of this, but the idea was to have the next gen impala, the camaro, and a gto come off of the same line in oshawa. wish i'd have saved the link. sounds feasible. camaro and gto bow first. 12 to 18 mos. later'd come the impala. all potential fire-breathers. do it. of course, it'd take a "manhattan project" type push beginning very soon to have the first camaros and "goats" on the road two years from now. but if GM management doesn't realize the public's desire for this class of vehicle now, they never will. but i think they do. also think that 100,000 units for just the camaro is about 30,000 too ambitious. so what'd be wrong with satisfying the true believers, supplying 80,000 to 100,000 combined camaro and gto sales, then 2 or 3 grades of impala selling 250,000 units per year?thought i had read oshawa could be upgraded to "flex" and bear the load. would also satisfy the requirement of 100% plant utilization decreed by r. wagoner and co.. oshawa already demonstrates enviable quality scores. morale and quality of build would in theory escalate as they'd have 3 prestige products to present to interested, discerning customers. :AH-HA_wink:

The Golden Goose is Dead! Long Live the Golden Goose! Yeah, to be sure, there's alot of pecking, posturing going on. I wonder if the upper echelon of the UAW is getting paid some sort of commission on each "sale" (i.e. every one who signs on to the "Special Attrition Plan") I feel that they're not interested in supporting the workers who've buoyed them up all these years. Just interested in continuing the featherbedding and protecting their cozy little sinecures.I'd feel easier about it all, perhaps even amused. except that it all comes down to selling out one's integrity. To Quote Faust, and even more recently, Hugo Weaving the actor, as the title character "V" in the film "V for Vendetta"; "Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici" from latin to english "I Through the Power of Truth While Living Have Conquered the Universe" ...I think we can bend that concept to fit this situation as well as others. thank you.

The end is looming too for the UAW. I work in a UAW repped facility. Kinda' reminds me of the 1999 movie thriller "The Sixth Sense". To paraphrase the film's young star, Haley Joel Osmont, every day when i'm at work, i think to myself "I See Irrelevant People" when i see a union rep. This'll stop just short of the yawning abyss that is a strike.

I sent this e-mail to Mark Phelan, writer for the Detroit Free Press, in response to his "Build the Camaro" article on the newspapers website. As i tell him near the end of the e-mail, i have put much of myself into the letter, and i humbly submit it for your perusal; Mr. Phelan, I am a thirty year vet of the General Motors Corporation. Started back in '76 with Fisher Body in Trenton, New Jersey. I was a nineteen year-old kid in wide-eyed awe at the manufacturing might of the automaker. Back then, GM controlled an unwieldy fifty percent of the US market. Specifically, what i was introduced to, and later became proficient in was roll forming. My department made all types of decorative and functional roll-formed moldings and structural items. Every summer, around the end of May, we'd receive the new tooling for the parts that'd be going on the models in the fall. It was definitely a great time in the plant, in the industry. Our facility in Trenton was sprawling, in excess of 1.2 million square feet. A sizeable village, if not a city, under one roof. Coming down the stairs from the locker room, there hung a sign. It Stated: Have Pride In Yourself Have Pride In Your Work ....And In GM! And for me at least, therein lay (or lies) the problem. I took this advice to heart. I embraced the concept. I forged an identity that was for better or worse derived from my employment with General Motors. I married young, two months after my employment started. My wife's name was Diane. She died in June of 2002, from complications of breast cancer at the too young age of 44. During the course of my employment, my wife and I also raised a strong, beautiful and now married daughter named Christa. All of this, and much more, made possible by the good job and benefits I had because of GM. They certainly had my allegiance and devotion. You, as well as I are aware of the changes that've swept through the auto-industry, indeed throughout manufacturing America over the past decades. Sometime in '94 I believe it was, our plant manager in Trenton gave us a presentation which extolled the virtues of something we later learned was "Delphi". We'd already gone through identity makeovers from Fisher Body begetting Inland Fisher Guide ad nauseum. So we were again morphing into another entity. Our factory payroll was shrinking. Jobs were being sourced to other Delphi facilities across the land and I thought one thing; "Spin-Off". I made my move in '97, to a nearby GM Parts Division Warehouse. I preferred to stay with the parent company. Leaving Trenton was the most difficult decision I had to make up until that time. I really came to miss the Big Tent family atmosphere of my home plant. I can recall in 1995 one hot, humid summer's day in the plant as I worked on a job that nine months hence would be in production in Grand Rapids, MI. I found myself growing increasingly aware of what was later to become a rarity to me and countless other souls. The awareness that I would never see the likes of all this, ever again. I stood tall, upon the wooden platform on which I was working at the time, taking in all the sights, the sounds, the smell of the place. A living breathing entity. As of then, still primarily intact. Row after row of 24 pass heavy duty Tishken Roll Forming Mills. Production lines spitting out finished seat adjuster mechanisms destined to underpin drivers and passengers alike in thousands upon thousands of GM vehicles as yet unborn. High-speed 500 ton stamping presses mindlessly, remorselessly spitting out dozens of seat component pieces every minute. I stood there, taking it all in. A faithful scribe, witnessing the moment. I loved it then, and the memory remains. A keening, living memory to treasure... ...brings me back to the present day. I now am an employe of GM North American Operations at the Doraville, GA assembly plant. We're laid-off this week. The scheduled De-Rate at the plant is being implemented by managerial, engineering, and essential hourly staff as I write this. Our slow selling cross-over-sport-vans will be produced at a rate that management feels is closer to actual demand. Were that it were so. I personally feel that resources allocated to this endeavor would be better spent elsewhere. But my voice in the matter is as a mouse-squeak in a windstorm. Morale at our plant is low. Many of the hourly, if not the majority are pondering the merits of the "Special Attrition Program". So far, 733 out of approximately 2800 active hourly have signed on, are locked in, having passed the 7 day threshold for backing out. The deadline for the program's been extended, in my opinion, to allow for more time for the psychology to work. This is a sad place now. No espirit de corps to speak of. A sad place dying a slow, ugly, gut churning death. I will remain with GM. I hope to finish on top. Riding the crest of the wave with a resurgent, yet increasingly impersonal GM. Because I personally need to validate myself. Validate at least two of those principles that I embraced some 30 years ago. From the sign: Have Pride In Yourself Have Pride In Your Work... Mister Phelan, as to your Camaro article; Two weeks ago, may Heaven love them for this, Management saw fit to bring to Doraville, inside the plant, in the executive parking garage...The Camaro Concept Vehicle! The sight of it was breath-taking! We were allowed to take pictures of it. The vehicle was to be displayed at the auto show in Atlanta. "Build It" you stated. Indeed. This thing outclasses the Corvette in my opinion. Talk about a "Halo" vehicle. I heard about the now defunct Chevy SSR while it was in the pipeline. Heard about it's coming for nearly 3 years until it belly-flopped onto the market. Same thing with the much ballyhooed Pontiac Aztek. The Camaro must be built. It must be meticulously faithful to the concept. I view it as a test of the Corporation's vision, resolve, logistics handling. As I stood there looking at it, I actually began to believe again. I could feel a sense impending validation, even though it betray the shallowness of my being. If "We" could pull this off! "Oh What a Feeling", to borrow from our competitor. Mister Phelan, I have put much of myself into this message to you. I thank you for having taken the time to read it.

Read this last week right off the Forbes site. Jerry's got the voice, heard across the country, but he says what i've been thinking now for some time. I wonder if he is speaking for the majority as well.

yes, yes, yes!!! the ad copy would show it sipping at the fuel pump as would a hummingbird at a flower.

given. that said, aggressive wheel tire option'd make this thing sing.

built at the flex capable oshawa complex no doubt. they've put the spurs to this, and it is gaining momentum daily. hail Lutz.

Impala, GTO, Camaro will be built together at the reviving Oshawa assembly complex. expect to see a "manhattan project" type push to make this happen beginning (what time is it?)...shortly.

When we speak of the "Union", i think we should differentiate between the top 1000 or so upper echelon officials (elected and appointed) who use the larger body of the membership as leverage to secure the affluence and perks they enjoy. The business model upon which this decades old fuedal type system is based is long dead. Both leadership cadres (GM and UAW) are aware of this. In my opinion, the grasping, covetous, conniving element atop the UAW, loathe to give up their cozy sinecures are positioning themselves to remain glutted and sated while the average "rank and file" (have always despised that term) suffer for the short-sighted machinations of those to whom they've entrusted their livelihoods and welfare. In the popular vernacular, "they be playin' us". I don't wish to see General Motors go in bankruptcy, or relegated to some type of court supervised receivership. Home-grown industry is vital to the survival of this nation. We've squandered too much in this race-to-the-bottom-global-economy-giveaway as it is. The debate swirling around illegal immigration is as a smokescreen to obscure the fact that even white collar service type jobs are flying overseas and that the "illegals" are doing the work that our complacent children won't do. or doing the jobs we can't outsource to India. If we the people allow this to continue, just so the top two percent of this population can live in splendor then we need but look in the mirror if we want to know whom to blame.

I should know. as an assembly technician at GMAD Doraville (GA) Assembly i've witnessed appalling miscues on a daily basis watching those perennial also ran vans being snapped together. they are however, just vestiges of the "old GM" mindset. we at Doraville have been ordered to hold the "Alamo" while replacement product being made "up north" can gel, come together. also, since management (oh -so- cozily embedded with our union reps) couldn't figure a way to manage us into a more quality oriented mood, they've decided to close this plant, pull the rug out from underneath those of us which feel the greatest sense of entitlement. good, i say! hurrah for GM. now, those who're really motivated to work'll have to consider a move 'cross country to work (oh yes indeed) in a more rigidly regimented environment. we'll have to consider if it's worth the anxiety and upheaval to go into a new region with families who'd be loath to uproot and leave the southern comfort of their home state. tough choice. these're tough times. tough love.

NO NO NO!

just logged on to see what was going on. tired from work. i bought it hook line and sinker. the line where lutz says " f**k it" got me. very clever.

Decka; really like your concept/version of this vehicle. an observation, not a criticism, nor a swipe at your fine rendering...the front looks so "chevy" to me. i think it captures the essence of the "chevy" soul so well that the the divisional design team would be well advised to try to disect it... ...then again it could just be me. thank you, and congrats on your win.