1969 Camaro Special Order Paint Process

[Woj]

Phil,

Thanks for all y,our information on this subject.

At our Chevelle show this past weekend, we had a gent there that worked on the Baltimore assembly line for decades. He did numerous jobs to include, assembly, supply and paint. His insight and knowledge were incredible. He brought, tools, pictures and clothing from the line. He talked about problems on the assembly line and how they were solved. Worker turnover was very high. For every 100 GM would hire, only 5 would last within a week or so. It was grueling work and the line rarely stopped. Plenty of mistakes were made during the assembly process.

He remembers the COPO cars and other special oddball orders. He said there were approximately 50 build sheets per car for all the components (two Baltimore cars and I have none), normal procedure was to throw them away when done. If you find one folded up under the dash, that car had an assembly problem that had to be fixed off the line and the defect was noted or circled on the build sheet.

I know this wasn't a Norwood rep, but I'm guessing the production environment was similar. His time on the paint line was short. He said it was miserable. They had to cover their faces with Vaseline and the bottom of their boots with grease to keep their masks from sticking to their faces and boots from sticking to the floor.

Phil Woj.

[Mr70]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Woj</div><div class="ubbcode-body">...His time on the paint line was short.He said it was miserable. They had to cover their faces with Vaseline and the bottom of their boots with grease to keep their masks from sticking to their faces and boots from sticking to the floor.</div></div>

I was just thinking about this.
Think about that,you're working for one of the 3 largest vehicle assemblers in the world @ that time.Painting them as well with lead based paint all day had to be one of the most undesirable environments in the world back then.

[70 copo]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Woj</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Phil,

Thanks for all y,our information on this subject.

At our Chevelle show this past weekend, we had a gent there that worked on the Baltimore assembly line for decades. He did numerous jobs to include, assembly, supply and paint. His insight and knowledge were incredible. He brought, tools, pictures and clothing from the line. He talked about problems on the assembly line and how they were solved. Worker turnover was very high. For every 100 GM would hire, only 5 would last within a week or so. It was grueling work and the line rarely stopped. Plenty of mistakes were made during the assembly process.

He remembers the COPO cars and other special oddball orders. He said there were approximately 50 build sheets per car for all the components (two Baltimore cars and I have none), normal procedure was to throw them away when done. If you find one folded up under the dash, that car had an assembly problem that had to be fixed off the line and the defect was noted or circled on the build sheet.

I know this wasn't a Norwood rep, but I'm guessing the production environment was similar. His time on the paint line was short. He said it was miserable. They had to cover their faces with Vaseline and the bottom of their boots with grease to keep their masks from sticking to their faces and boots from sticking to the floor.



Phil Woj.
</div></div>

Phil,

Norwood was pretty much the same. I am very glad that you reached out to a worker from Baltimore.... Did you know that Walt Gregonis left Norwood and went on to manage Baltimore Assembly?