Nowhere Man

No where. But since this is the C1/C2 section I thought the list was relevant to the generations.

Mailbu Beach

John Evans was the chief inspector at the corvette plant. He handled the move from Flint to St.Louis.

Ray Barnes started I believe in 1963 and finished in Wentzville.

Mailbu Beach

I think from memory Renny Diehl ended up with The Last St.Louis Corvette Sign...as pictured when the final car was photographed

Jeffthunbird

[QUOTE=Mailbu Beach;1596962132]I video tape interviewed Ray Barnes 25 years ago. Ray printed and installed trim tags and VIN tags. He knew plenty.


Another story about repaints ..colors that might bleed through were sanded down if not they were painted over the wrong color.

There was a recent thread here where a C2 owner had a car that had the wrong paint color from the factory. The answers came in that or was very race but did happen. Seems like this is proof of that.

jbmcrae

csherman

is Jack Gerbic still alive?

desertpilgrim

Phil Passon, RPE 1959-61, now gone.

gilbybarr

JohnZ

I doubt it - Jack was about 40 when he "led the parade" from St. Louis to Bowling Green in 1981, so he'd be almost 80 now if he was still with us; not many folks who spent their life in Production lived that long.

Edit: Did some more research, and Jack was 80 in 2010 when interviewed by a local magazine, so he'd be 88 now.

MOXIE62

Would of been neat to of worked there. But I guess to many it was just a job. Wonder how many of the old guys had lung issues with the air filled with fiberglass dust, when they were making the bodies there.

Larry P

The guys listed were supervisors and head of this or that.
There were many that worked there when in late teens or early 20's.
I know a few of them. Those are the guys to look to with questions.
One guy I know worked in the body shop and quit because he couldn't
handle the effects of the fiberglass.
I was 20 in 1965 and can remember pretty specifically what I was doing.
Also, we all know the memory loss is predictable.
My father-in-law got where he couldn't remember what he had for breakfast,
but told stories about his time in Guam I had never heard before.
Larry

RalphMont

Yes, Jack is still alive and living in Tennessee, talked to him recently

RalphMont

I hired into Corvette in 1968 for the start of the C3, knew everyone on the list plus many moore.

Phil Hawkins was a production supervisor at that time, most knowledgable of all on the Corvette
George Barlos passed away in 2000, was a process engineer & quality
Arlo Koonce was a quality supervisor on 2nd shift, unknown, heard he passed away
John Bruce was a quality supervisor on 1st shift & 2nd, alive retired, lives in Ky, talked to him last month
Ralph Montileone was a quality supervisor & production supervisor, still working in TN for GM
Jack Gerbic was the Chief Quality Engineer until he became production manager, still alive
John Wetzel, production superintendent, unknown,
Roy Johnson, production general supervisor, retired lives in St Charles
Ralph Koonce, production general supervisor, passed away
Ray Barnes, hears he passed away
Leo Lawrence, supervisor, retired, runs real estate office in Mo, talked to him last month
I could list many more but tired., I recently achieved 51 years working in GM plants, 20 years with Corvette

RalphMont

I started at the Corvette plant almost 51 years ago and pretty much remember how we built the cars, the names are getting vague only because I have traveled to most GM sites and worked in 7 plants. Names start getting hard to remember. But my 1st 20 years were with Corvette. Many are still living. I try to stay in contact with as many as I can. Yes we are getting old.

Robert61

Hello Ralph, welcome. I doubt you would have a lot of pics, it wasn't in the cell phone era and it was just work then. I for one would love to hear any stories or info you might want to offer

Powershift

Larry

Dan Hampton

John:

What, specifically, contributed to reduced life span by working in production. I would assume it was related to respiratory issues but there must have been others factors, as well.

Bluestripe67

I know this thread can expand subject wise, so I have questions. In post #28, the guy sitting line side, is he attaching the body to the chassis? Also, why would the bare chassis in that pic show an exhaust pipe having been painted black? Dennis

Powershift

Accidents, and just plain hard work in some cases. Certainly respiratory issues for body-men and painters.

I worked in the steel mills and chemical plants during this time............and am still alive at 72............but a lot of aches and pains. Safety equipment was essentially nil compared to today.

Larry

MOXIE62

Because they were painted black.