A customers view of the GM Product Historically

[Chief Brody]

I just started a thread about the proper placement of factory decals on my 1974 Blazer. I have gotten some very interesting feedback, and the GM c/k series in particular is something I have developed a bit of a fever to find out more about so that I can get a real picture of the GM product in the day that my favorite trucks were created.

There must be enough members on this forum with the age (wisdom) that were around when these were manufactured and sold, and some of you are the sons of those men who may have inherited those truck who may also have rich memories of them.

I want to first bring across this comment from my other thread:

454SUB
The attention to detail back then wasnt on par with newer vehicles. My dads 70 Chevelle SS has crooked factory stickers all over, and the hood/trunk hinges were never painted from the factory. An easy way to spot a repaint actually.

This is very interesting to me...what was going on, what was the reason that attention to detail wasn't a big deal then? Can somebody refute that?

Was GM putting out a high quality product in the 1968 to 1977 range?

Was this a good era....or were we already behind Japan in quality?

What are your memories from real people at the time...somebody who bought, purchased and drove a GM?

Was there "patriotic pride" in owning a GM at that time?

Man I hope some of you guys who never post chime in on this....I am trying to fill in the blanks on a picture of what GM was like at the factories and from the factories to the end customer.

Hope some of you share my interest in this subject.

 

[tRustyK5]

There was little robotics, or automated assembly back then. Stickers (for example) were placed by hand by a guy on the line. If the guy was hungover, pissed off, or tired you got crooked decals. It really did make a difference if your vehicle was built mid-week vs. a Monday or Friday...

The Japanese stuff of the same era was "cheap and cheerful" at best. thinner body steel, single layer where domestic would have double wall, much less sound insulating stuff. They sounded like tin cans and were often compared to them.

Check out this old movie if you get the chance. It does a fair good job of showing the attitudes and practices of the early 80's.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091159/

 

[Mark1968]

There's a guy over on the other truck board who worked the factory back in those days, he has a thread dedicated to it.

These cars were built by men who get off at a certain time on friday. Things like what you describe are not out of the ordinary, fit and finish, crooked stripes etc.

 

[snowdriver]

i was involved in a ground up resto of a 1954 corvette,we did far too good of job restoring this car,and actually had too screw up some of the stuff so it would be a 100 point car,two of the things that really stand out was we had to paint the door hinges in place and get overspray all over the jam,just like gm did,also there was a wave in the left rear fender behind the wheel,we smoothed it out real nice before we found out it needed to be there,a factory flaw in the mold,our expectations are much highger today,so when it comes to our old trucks,they were not great,but very functional

 

[wheeler]

I cannot speak of what went on in those days, as I wasn't quite around yet lol, however I think that the human "imperfections" give a vehicle more character. I have and currently own an older American truck, and a new foreign car, and yes the fit and finish is a lot better on my car but there is no uniqueness to it whatsoever. Idk just though I'd chime in, keep the stories coming.

 

[ryoken]

I really don't have anything to say on quality control per se, but I will say the late 70's was when sheetmetal really started to take a hit in quality... no where near the quality of 60's, early 70's...