How Many Companies Were Involved In Making The Corvette Body??

[Viet Nam Vett]

I was car taking with a buddy of mine and we were on the subject of the Corvette Body. Ok..how many different companies were there that produced the body. He mentioned AO Smith...and.. North American Rockwell ...AO Smith sounds right but what about North American Rockwell...And who else..??

 

[Ron Miller]

Depending on how you look at it, there were probably several. Somebody had to produce the fibreglass, another the bonding material, another the birdcage, probably another the data plates, etc., etc. . . .

Also, the following is from another quote:

Bodies from A.O. arrived at the St. Louis plant completely finished, painted and with a finished interior, and the complete body had also been tested on possible water leaks. At the St. Louis plant the interior was removed during the assembly process. If the supply from Ionia was to big the bodies were transported to the basement were they were stacked onto eachother, waiting for final assembly.

And finally, at least a couple (GM and A.O. Smith) to assemble all of these.

 

[Viet Nam Vett]

Depending on how you look at it, there were probably several. Somebody had to produce the fibreglass, another the bonding material, another the birdcage, probably another the data plates, etc., etc. . . .

Also, the following is from another quote:

Bodies from A.O. arrived at the St. Louis plant completely finished, painted and with a finished interior, and the complete body had also been tested on possible water leaks. At the St. Louis plant the interior was removed during the assembly process. If the supply from Ionia was to big the bodies were transported to the basement were they were stacked onto eachother, waiting for final assembly.

And finally, at least a couple (GM and A.O. Smith) to assemble all of these.

Thanks Ron,

But where does "Rockwell" Come in here?? What was there function. It has been said that they just made panels for AO..

 

[RugHead]

...and don't forget General Tire & Rubber. We are counting GM service replacement panels too, right?

-k

 

[RugHead]

When you say body, do you mean the complete body assembly? Then it would be Flint, then St. Louis, then add AO Smith, then back to St. Louis only, then BG. Right?

For panels, that gets a little complicated. Someone correct me if I'm all wet here. I think it would go MFG; then Mitchell plastics Owosso, then add Ionia, which all got gobbled up into AO Smith, which was sold to Rockwell. But somewhere in the late 60's then General Tire came on with the SMC stuff. Did they buy out Rockwell's stuff? No, I think they bought MFG. Rockwell and General supplied the GM service panels later, didn't they? Heck, I don't know...

All I know is now I have to choose between Image and Shermersheim and I'm glad I don't have a production quota to meet.

 

[JohnZ]

Bodies from A.O. arrived at the St. Louis plant completely finished, painted and with a finished interior, and the complete body had also been tested on possible water leaks. At the St. Louis plant the interior was removed during the assembly process. If the supply from Ionia was to big the bodies were transported to the basement were they were stacked onto eachother, waiting for final assembly.

I responded to this same issue over on Corvetteforum.com, because it's incorrect - came from some website, I guess.

A.O. Smith bodies were finished on the outside (paint, glass and moldings, emblems, headlights and motors, taillights, and weatherstrips, soft tops, hardtops - so they could water-test them prior to shipping). They had almost nothing on the inside - just rear window and windshield garnish moldings, headliner, inside mirror, and "halo" moldings; everything else was installed at St. Louis (the interior was NOT removed at St. Louis - it wasn't there to begin with).

They weren't "stacked in the basement" if the supply was too big; all A.O. Smith bodies were unloaded from bi-level rail cars still on their build trucks and were accumulated on a conveyor that led into the basement, then came up on an elevator and were introduced into the Trim Line and processed just like a St. Louis-built body. The empty build trucks were returned to A.O. Smith on the same rail cars that delivered the bodies.