Audio Interview with Ford Assembly Line Worker who worked there in 1972/3

I stumbled across this website and thought this was interesting. I have not listend to all of the interview yet but found it interesting as he talks about life on the assembly line. He didn't work on Mustangs but Pintos and Commercial vehicles.

http://www.deadnutsoncars.com/interviews_stories/isnav.html

Ford San Jose Plant Assembly Line Worker Interview

Tim didn’t build Mustangs at the San Jose Plant but you will get a real taste of what it was like to work on a Ford assembly line. Ed Meyer and myself interviewed Tim for two hours. I’ve edited it down and cut it up into four sections each lasting 15-20 minutes. Thank you Tim for sharing your memories with us. -Jack

Interview part 1 (audio)

Hiring and Training

Job description

Model year change over

Installing seat belts in 56 cars an hour

What happens when you need to go the bathroom

What happens when you can’t finish your installing your parts?

Build-sheets

Pink Pinto story

Installing jack instructions

Pay & hours

Lots and lots of drugs

Interview part 2 (audio)

Working the Commercial Line (F250 and larger trucks)

Painting red oxide primer and applying sealer on truck cabs

Axle assemblies

Lunch pail parts

Inconsistencies in assembly methods

What would happen when a tool failed

Paint dabs etc

Quality control inspectors

Painting process

Layoffs & working conditions

Interview part 3 (audio)

Miscellaneous questions start

Axle assembly

Door and hood alignment methods

Assembly mistakes, who fixes it?

Communicating with other workers down the line

The Teletype machine told you what to install

Anticipating what parts to install on the next car coming down the line

Job training

Model year change over

Interview part 4 (audio)

Miscellaneous questions continued

560 cars per 10 hour shift

The thought of using uppers to keep up with your job

Senior union workers getting easy jobs

Why they build them the way they did?

Not sure if they still do it but Ford use to allow you to watch your car being built on the line. Of course you could not years ago see it all because it did not take place in one continuous flow. I have some of the old forms you filled out for back in the 50's to go watch your car being built and drive it home. They had a name for it just cannot remember it. You still had to pay shipping because of the unions.

The sign in the car on the line that says BOSS is a pretty common thing. I have been in plant for model year change and had to follow my parts through the assembly. They had special laser cut panels that they hung in the windshield opening for the vehicle I was watching. I also purchased a 1984 Mustang 20 th. anniversary. Of course my now gone for good wife crashed it. When I pulled the rubber nose off written in paint marker on the bumper reinforcement it said ANN.

My son works at BMW and he is the last one on the line. He pulls the tracking device off the hood puts on the BMW emblem and pulls it into the test room. There he takes it to a minimum of 152 mph the first time the engine is started. He then drives outside. Oh by the way he says he will never buy a BMW that everyone that he sees has something wrong with it, lol. He has an F-150 and the 20th. ann mustang that I rebuilt the front end on twice because of the darn wife that could not drive.

David