Pictures from inside spring hill saturn plant

[nate_03Ion]

These are some pictures I took from inside the plant on the last two days we worked.

General assembly (this was the line I worked on)


Windshield robots and the hoist used to install the windsheild ( one of my jobs was installing glass)


Another shot up the line, the cars have no windshield, no back glass, no seats and no body panels at this point.


This is the gate where the cars exit this line and go to another.


Front end of the car and the sequence paper ( this has various codes for wiring, interior and exterior colors, wheels, etc.


Thats when the last one starting coming down. ( the orange racks you see in the picture is where the A-B-C pillars were installed thats another one of my jobs)


Vue line in general assembly.







give me a second while I get the pictures all posted.. so the thread looks empty now accidently he post before adding the pics

[nate_03Ion]

Second round of pictures.

Ion final line ( you will notice all the cars are white thats somthing they do at the beginning and the end of production, it has somthing to do with being an cheaper and easier color to produce.


Another shot from final line.


Ion engine dyno test. Every car gets the test before moving on, all you can smell is burnt rubber in this area.


This is where they park the cars before shipping them out, sorry about the pic being dark.


Vues parked outside for shipping, as you can see there is literaly a field of Vues and Ions as far as you can see.


Vue about to roll of the final line.


Ion being repaired.



Well thats about it everyone.. There is alot more to see than what I showed you but I didnt have a lot of time to take pictures everywhere. It was alot of fun working there and seeing how our Ions and Vues are built.

[Citation84]

WOW !! Charlie: this ought to be a sticky.
Thanks. That was really impressive coverage. Truly an historic moment and you captured it. I can't say enough in appreciation. Easy to imagine my own white ION 4 door coming down that same line. Funny, I thought they were nose to tail all this time. What a trip.

[Chevy_Rules]

What did that lazy POS UAW worker do to that Ion that was being repaired right off of assembly?

Seriously, good pics. I love to see pics/movies of cars on the assembly line. Love to see how our babies get assembled.

[BobbyP]

Thanks for the pics! I haven't been to the plant since the VUE and ION started production.

It would have been nice it they could have printed the dymo results and left it in the car for the owners...

[nate_03Ion]

Your very welcome guys. I had a good time taking the pics.. And the whole plant looks totaly different than I thought the first time I seen it. lol as far as that repair goes on the ion, I have no idea what happend to it, but you'd be suprised. Twice while I worked there we had two back glass explode from stress and the whole car had to be taken apart to clean the glass out. And yeah it would have been cool if they would have left the dyno sheet in it. My dad actually took some video out at the plant so if possible I will try to get some of it up.

[mkuz13]

Thanks alot for the pics! It would be interesting to see the videos
Now Ive seen parts of the Spring Hill Plant as well as the Mitsubishi Plant in Normal,Ill. and the Hyundai Plant in Alabama.

[10974]

GREAT PIC's!!! I only wish I've could been there.(for a tour)....

[Low Saturn]

One of these days I should upload the couple hours of video I have from inside the plant.

[Nuke-Em]

Very cool

Matt

[Spanky]

Originally Posted by Citation84

Funny, I thought they were nose to tail all this time. What a trip.

Yeah, I've been to quite a few assembly plants, and they have always been nose to tail. I've never seen cars going down the line side by side. Good pics.

[Spazie]

Sometimes they're nose to tail, sometimes they are side to side... Just depends on what section of the spring hill plant they are in.

in his last picture you see the VUEs nose to tail on the line. It just depends on what area of the plant you're in as to how they are.

[piney]

Great pics - thanks for posting. Neat to see them for sure.

So the new Saturn workers can understand: Gran pics - gracias por fijar. Aseado para verlas para seguro.

[Greenhornet]

Originally Posted by piney

Great pics - thanks for posting. Neat to see them for sure.

So the new Saturn workers can understand: Gran pics - gracias por fijar. Aseado para verlas para seguro.

Great photos to be sure, so why are tears welling in my eyes and why do I feel so empty and sad?

Hornet

[wolfman]

Ah..memories. Though I never saw the VUE or ION being produced, it still looks (looked) very similiar. And it is good to see that it is (was) still kept remarkably clean considering what was being done on a daily basis. I was always impressed watching the robots doing their various tasks. And the "bad robot" room where one would occasionally wind up when it went a little nuts for some unknown reason after getting its job right a few hundred thousand times. (LOL) I can still remeber also, as I met various people in the plant, how everyone always seemed to have a very positive attitude and a genuine smile on their faces...of course that was in 1996....

[irish56]

Makes me sad. I hope they make Saturns in Spring Hill again.

[red96]

Originally Posted by irish56

Makes me sad. I hope they make Saturns in Spring Hill again.

They could someday

[nate_03Ion]

Yeah I wish they would, we can only hope.

[wei_]

*cries over all the memories of Homecoming '99* Thank you for sharing.

[DesertPuma]

Originally Posted by irish56

Makes me sad. I hope they make Saturns in Spring Hill again.

I have a sinking feeling that they won't, if they were, I don't think they would have shifted the VUE to Mexico (unless it was due to the polymer sides being eliminated), as the VUE is not changing platforms (but everything else is )