Bad day on the assembly line?

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circlepilot

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I've been in the process of restoring (rotisserie) an "un-molested" 1965 Barracuda. I've already replaced floor pans and the trunk well. During all of this, I'm amazed at some of the workmanship, or lack there of. The car has never been wrecked and has no body work done on it. I have found metal panels, stiffeners, etc., spot welded to nothing. Spot welds in a straight row, then one in the same row, clear over on the edge of the material. I have two 65 Barracudas, so I have the luxury of comparison. I've found brackets and clips welded in the same general location, but from a measurement stand point, as much as a 1/2 to 3/4 inch difference. Screws (factory) installed in one place on one car, but never installed on the other. Just wondering...is the result of "robotics," or someone having a bad day on the assembly line?
Norm
 
That's the way they were built back then. I worked at a GM dealer in the late 70's to almost 1990. I didn't see any quality until about 1985.
 
Best thing is when they came down the line, you would have an journeyman welder on one side, and a novice on the other. And boy you can tell!!! That is what seam filler is for, to cover up all the crap assembly...
 
Could be what day/time it was built. Ive heard there were more than a few liquid/smokey lunches taken lol
weed banana.gif
 
Back then my dad used to say you wouldn't want to buy a car built on a Friday or Monday.
 
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As now, if the Union was getting messed with by the OEM, quality would suffer, too.
 
My friends worked at the Ford plant in Northfield after we graduated school, they had to build X # of pinto quarter panels a day, they were supposed to get 8 spot welds, they got 4, got done in 1/2 the time then jumped the train road it down the street to the bar and drank the rest of the day. Oh the 70's.
 
The reason quality may have improved just a little bit because the Japs were showing what quality was all about. I bought a new Honda Civic in 80, went on an order list for 5 months. I received car in July and it was the first car I didn't have to go back to the dealer with a list of any problems. I bought an 83 Chrysler and boy was I sorry.
 
I think the 80's were the worst for all the U.S. cars
 
Best thing is when they came down the line, you would have an journeyman welder on one side, and a novice on the other. And boy you can tell!!! That is what seam filler is for, to cover up all the crap assembly...

Funny that you mentioned that...Exactly, almost all of these "anomalies," are all on the same side of the car.
Norm
 
Robotics? In the mid 60s? LOL
Your comment had me to do some research. I mentioned robotics, as I've seen early pictures of assembly lines, but never gave a thought about a timeline. So...I found this (pulled it out of a robotic article) about GM using robotics in 1961, however there was no mention of Chrysler. Interesting.

Mass Production and the Robotic Age

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, engineers around the world experimented with robotics as a means of industrial development. General Motors installed its own robotic arm to assist in the assembly line in 1961. In 1969, Stanford engineer Victor Scheinman created the Stanford Arm, a 6-axis robot that could move and assemble parts in a continuous repeated pattern. This invention expanded robot use in ways that continue to be applied in modern assembly. At Philips Electronics factory in the Netherlands, production is completed by a number of robot arms assigned to specific tasks.
 
My Dart has been wrecked at some point. I know the hood and truck lid are not original (blue paint showing through on the underside). The shock openings in the engine compartment are not centered and I always figured it was from a hack repair from the wreck. I ran into a guy at a car show that had a Dart with a very close VIN number to mine, built at the same Los Angeles plant and had the same hack arcing on the shock openings. Apparently, the factory used some kind of arcing device to center the openings on the assembly line...

arc1.JPG


arc2.JPG
 
I've been in the process of restoring (rotisserie) an "un-molested" 1965 Barracuda. I've already replaced floor pans and the trunk well. During all of this, I'm amazed at some of the workmanship, or lack there of. The car has never been wrecked and has no body work done on it. I have found metal panels, stiffeners, etc., spot welded to nothing. Spot welds in a straight row, then one in the same row, clear over on the edge of the material. I have two 65 Barracudas, so I have the luxury of comparison. I've found brackets and clips welded in the same general location, but from a measurement stand point, as much as a 1/2 to 3/4 inch difference. Screws (factory) installed in one place on one car, but never installed on the other. Just wondering...is the result of "robotics," or someone having a bad day on the assembly line?
Norm

That was before cnc design ,and robotics . Just think how kick *** these cars would be if they made them now , w/ all the technology , and computer generation!
 
My Dart has been wrecked at some point. I know the hood and truck lid are not original (blue paint showing through on the underside). The shock openings in the engine compartment are not centered and I always figured it was from a hack repair from the wreck. I ran into a guy at a car show that had a Dart with a very close VIN number to mine, built at the same Los Angeles plant and had the same hack arcing on the shock openings. Apparently, the factory used some kind of arcing device to center the openings on the assembly line...

View attachment 1715395034

View attachment 1715395036

That sure don't look stock factory to me , maybe a hack rebuilder out there did both .
 
My Dart has been wrecked at some point. I know the hood and truck lid are not original (blue paint showing through on the underside). The shock openings in the engine compartment are not centered and I always figured it was from a hack repair from the wreck. I ran into a guy at a car show that had a Dart with a very close VIN number to mine, built at the same Los Angeles plant and had the same hack arcing on the shock openings. Apparently, the factory used some kind of arcing device to center the openings on the assembly line...

View attachment 1715395034

View attachment 1715395036

As far as the "shock mount holes" being centered, the holes on my two Barracudas are not "dead nuts on," but are centered front to back, but favoring more towards the outside. There is about 3/32" of a gap between the shock mount structure and the fender well panel. Definitely no welds like in your pictures, just three spot welds to the mount.
 
In 86 a friend bought a new 5th ave, I followed him after he stopped by the shop to show it to me and noticed it was dog tracking. So he brought it in the shop and what I found was the spring hanger and rocker panel on the rt side was 5/8" forward. Chryslers fix was to add a stack of spacers between the spring hanger and the mount and call it good. Quality job one.
 
I worked for Oldsmobile in the early 90's and this 98 kept coming in with a noise when you take off or stop. Everyone worked on it and it made it over to me. I finally started taking the back seat out, side panels, and there it was a 1" steel ball bearing in the right side panel behind the door rolling up and down the rocker panel. Some smart a$$ on the assembly line LHAO.
 
i know this may not apply to the Chrysler workers :rolleyes:, but i grew up near the the Los Angeles GM plant in van nuys. and it was still open and making F bodies when i was working a block away. drove by there everyday for years. when the noon whistle blew, it looked like the entire plant went to the same place for lunch, the liquor store across the street. i also worked with a couple guys at different times that worked there. one started in the fifties right out of high school. they asked if he knew how to paint cars and he said "sure". guess how he actually learned... the other guy was there in the early 80's. he worked the end of the line where they loaded cars on the rail cars. he says him, and every one else that had that job, took every car at WOT out of that plant to the loading dock. robots are the best thing to ever happen to building cars. the guy i bought my first challenger from (my dad's neighbor) worked the Chrysler line in Los Angeles in the 60's and 70's. wish i'd talked to him more :(
 
Seen a lot of crap on cars from the factory working as a body man since 1970 something.
I worked at many port of entrees for even imports. The worse thing I saw was a new dodge truck with a 318 and 2 cylinders had no rings on the pistons.
Surprised it even made it on the rail car.
 
Seen a lot of crap on cars from the factory working as a body man since 1970 something.
I worked at many port of entrees for even imports. The worse thing I saw was a new dodge truck with a 318 and 2 cylinders had no rings on the pistons.
Surprised it even made it on the rail car.

I`ve posted this before , a master sgt. I knew in the A.F. ordered a new ford station wagon , before he came back from veit nam, picked it up at the factory, and drove it to the base. It always had a rattle in the drivers side door. He finally made the ford techs tear the door apart ( for the 4-5 time) w/ him watching, they found a coke bottle swinging on a string inside , wouldn't rattle w/ the window down, but drove him nuts w/ the window up. Inside the bottle was a note saying/"how long did it take u dumbasses to find this !" TRUE STORY!

By the way , my wifes 2017 ford w/50,000 on it is in the dealership for an engine replacement , WATER IN THE OIL!
 
I`ve posted this before , a master sgt. I knew in the A.F. ordered a new ford station wagon , before he came back from veit nam, picked it up at the factory, and drove it to the base. It always had a rattle in the drivers side door. He finally made the ford techs tear the door apart ( for the 4-5 time) w/ him watching, they found a coke bottle swinging on a string inside , wouldn't rattle w/ the window down, but drove him nuts w/ the window up. Inside the bottle was a note saying/"how long did it take u dumbasses to find this !" TRUE STORY!

By the way , my wifes 2017 ford w/50,000 on it is in the dealership for an engine replacement , WATER IN THE OIL!
I believe it Bob found dead fish in heater vents with a note like that.
Sorry to here about your wife's car that really sucks.
 
I believe it Bob found dead fish in heater vents with a note like that.
Sorry to here about your wife's car that really sucks.

They gave her a 2019 loaner, and told her if it gets close to 2,000 miles , bring it back for another one .
She is warranty nuts, and always buys the extended warranty on everything , even my 2014 RAM !--should be no biggie , $100 deductible ------
 
They gave her a 2019 loaner, and told her if it gets close to 2,000 miles , bring it back for another one .
She is warranty nuts, and always buys the extended warranty on everything , even my 2014 RAM !--should be no biggie , $100 deductible ------
The price of cars or trucks now cost more than my house did. I keep thinking that my daily driver should be an old 70 something so I can fix it myself.
Sure seems that not to far away our cars will even give us a speeding ticket or some stupid parking violation.
 
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