1960 Imperial Assembly Plant Article

[RandalPark@xxxxxxx]

Bill,

I was chatting with another IML'er (Dave in the UK)a few days ago and I 
mentioned an article on the Imperial plant that appeared in an automotive 
industrial magazine in the summer of 1960. The article featured the 1960 
Imperial assembly line, and included several pictures of 1960 Imperials 
actually on the line. I had run across this article while I was looking in the 
archives at the University of Washington Engineering Library in the early 
1970's.

I don't recall the name of the magazine, but it may have been called Automotive 
Industries. The article was a couple of pages at least. The article may have 
been titled "Warren Avenue Imperial Plant Ends 1960 Imperial Production" or 
something to that effect as it featured the end run of cars before closing to 
tool up for the 1961 models.

I was curious if you might know of, or even perhaps have a copy of the srticle.

Paul

In a message dated 11/12/2003 1:30:14 PM Eastern Standard Time, "Bill Watson" 
<wwatson@xxxxxxxxx> writes:

>
>Chrysler didn't buy the stampings from Briggs in 1954.  Chrysler bought the
>whole American Briggs auto body outfit in 1953.
>
>I did a little digging through my files and came across an article printed
>in the February 1954 issue of "Automobile Topics".    Chrysler purchased the
>U.S. body-building operations of Briggs for $35 million.   What was Briggs
>became the Automobile Body Division of Chrysler Corporation.  Briggs built
>the bodies for Plymouth while Chrysler built the bodies for Dodge, DeSoto
>and Chrysler (the opposite of what I thought).  Thus no Imperial ever had a
>Briggs body, and neither did any 1950's Chrysler Imperial.
>
>Chrysler built Dodge bodies at the Hamtramck plant and DeSoto and Chrysler
>bodies at Kercheval until 1950 when DeSoto production was moved to the
>former Graham plant on Warren Avenue.   The Warren Avenue would built
>Imperial cars from 1959 to 1961   Chrysler had opened its first stamping
>plant. Nine Mile Press, in 1949.   Chrysler also had a body building plant
>in San Leandro which opened in late 1953.
>
>Chrysler thus acquired from Briggs ten Detroit-area plants, an automotive
>stamping plant in Youngstown, Ohio, and a body assembly plant in Evansville,
>Indiana.   The total floor space of these plants came to 6,544,584 square
>feet on 193.5 acres of land.   With the purchase of Briggs Chrysler became
>the largest single employer in Detroit.
>
>Briggs's defense work was not sold to Chrysler, with Briggs leasing part of
>now-Chrysler's Mound Road and Outer Drive plants.  Chrysler continued to
>build bodies for Packard and trim materials for Hudson, at least for a
>while.
>
>Bill
>Vancouver, BC
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: ChiPieAlandPaula@xxxxxxx
>To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxx club.com
>Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 11:47 PM
>Subject: IML: Quality Of 57 Imperials
>
>
>Hello All,
>I am offering this comment without sufficient data to back it up. I had
>always heard that the reason for Chrysler's poor body quality had to do with
>Chrysler's buying of The Briggs Company. In late 1954 Chrysler bought the
>outside supplier of it's main body stampings. Prior to this, Chrysler had
>bought main body assemblies from this fine old car body company. The first
>year of corporate cars to be affected were the 57's. I lived in the upper
>Midwest during this time. I vividly remember year old Chrysler products with
>the headlights nearly falling out of the fenders!
>As an aside, my family car was a 56 Imperial. At 200,000 miles it was traded
>on a 59 Imperial. The coachwork of the 56 was exemplary. The drivetrain, and
>all attendant systems still operated perfectly. The 59 was just the
>opposite. I do remember it feeling newer but at a price in overall quality.
>In my opinion, Chrysler never really was able to regain it's reputation for
>a producer of high quality automobiles. Everyone that was bought down to the
>last NYB had one problem after another. I hate to admit it, but GM really
>had it all over Chrysler in overall workmanship.
>Okay, I am ready for the "slings and arrows" of other IML members!
>
>                                                      Allan from Billings,
>Montana
>
>
>
>-----------------  http://www.imperialclub.com  -----------------
>This message was sent to you by the Imperial Mailing List. Please 
>reply to mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and your response will be 
>shared with everyone. Private messages (and attachments) for the
>Administrators should be sent to webmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To UN-SUBSCRIBE, go to http://imperialclub.com/unsubscribe.htm
>
>