The Last Aerostar
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 5,720
Likes: 5
From: Washington state
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 192
Likes: 0
From: Illinois, usa
Wow, that is the info that makes this forum work. I spent a night looking
for something like this a couple years ago, found nothing. We used to drive
through Stlouis with 3 kids and announce (at the arch) "look, the van was made here"
(they used to put a union sticker on the windshield, low and on passenger side, stating 'where' the product was from...so the arch was on the said sticker as a logo,
therefore the tikes believed us!)
But, hey, nowadays around here, the parents all have a brand-new toyota van,
and of course dvd screen for their spoiled brats. When they grow up, maybe dad will
explain where all the good jobs went.
That being said, i was in kansas city, MO. last year--the plant there (escape + F150)
was still busy, thank god. It seemed to me there was not a lot of imports around there, maybe wrong though.
for something like this a couple years ago, found nothing. We used to drive
through Stlouis with 3 kids and announce (at the arch) "look, the van was made here"
(they used to put a union sticker on the windshield, low and on passenger side, stating 'where' the product was from...so the arch was on the said sticker as a logo,
therefore the tikes believed us!)
But, hey, nowadays around here, the parents all have a brand-new toyota van,
and of course dvd screen for their spoiled brats. When they grow up, maybe dad will
explain where all the good jobs went.
That being said, i was in kansas city, MO. last year--the plant there (escape + F150)
was still busy, thank god. It seemed to me there was not a lot of imports around there, maybe wrong though.
Lead Driver
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,015
Likes: 208
From: SoCal
Everyday you can see people on the line drunk or stoned, and you wonder how they manage to get a single car assembled. There was instituted segregation between the blue collar and white collar workers. If I see something wrong, I'm not allowed to talk directly to the person causing the problem, but I would have to talk to his foreman. I worked with a tech at the end of the line testing the EEC-III system, and we saw some very high failure rates due to some poor assembly. The tech finally got fed up and went down the line and found the person causing the problem, and they duked it out in the parking lot.
On the other hand, I see the mind-numbing monotony of the work that an assembly worker has to do, and I can sort of understand why he spends his lunch time getting drunk or stoned.
This was not limited to the St. Louis plant of course. I also saw it at the Dearborn plant (Mustangs) and the Wixom plant (Lincolns). Working there made me swear off buying Fords for a very long time.
On the other hand, I see the mind-numbing monotony of the work that an assembly worker has to do, and I can sort of understand why he spends his lunch time getting drunk or stoned.
This was not limited to the St. Louis plant of course. I also saw it at the Dearborn plant (Mustangs) and the Wixom plant (Lincolns). Working there made me swear off buying Fords for a very long time.
Junior User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 68
Likes: 0
From: Chandler, AZ
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From the article:
'In 1990 the All Wheel Drive Aerostar was awarded the Motor Trend "Truck of the Year" award. Aerostars came off the line at the rate of 50 jobs per hour. With two shifts working 10 hours days each. 1,000 units a day were produced.'
Holy Shnikees!! "There goes one, there goes one, there goes one, DOH!! I missed that one, and another......."
Also from the article:
'As St. Louis Assembly's reputation for building a quality product grew, so did the plant itself. In March of 1956, ground breaking ceremonies were held for the first of many additions to the plant. This first addition added 258,000 square feet to the plant. Over the last 50 years there have been numerous additions bringing the current building to over 3,000,000 square feet under one roof.'
Isn't that close to the size of Delaware or something?
Check out this aerial view of that plant.
http://maps.google.com/maps?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=Ford+Mot or+Company++Hazelwood,+Missouri&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
'In 1990 the All Wheel Drive Aerostar was awarded the Motor Trend "Truck of the Year" award. Aerostars came off the line at the rate of 50 jobs per hour. With two shifts working 10 hours days each. 1,000 units a day were produced.'
Holy Shnikees!! "There goes one, there goes one, there goes one, DOH!! I missed that one, and another......."
Also from the article:
'As St. Louis Assembly's reputation for building a quality product grew, so did the plant itself. In March of 1956, ground breaking ceremonies were held for the first of many additions to the plant. This first addition added 258,000 square feet to the plant. Over the last 50 years there have been numerous additions bringing the current building to over 3,000,000 square feet under one roof.'
Isn't that close to the size of Delaware or something?
Check out this aerial view of that plant.
http://maps.google.com/maps?num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=Ford+Mot or+Company++Hazelwood,+Missouri&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
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Tuned
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 348
Likes: 11
From: Longmont, CO
Never worked at an auto plant but the drug use doesn't surprise me one bit, and I can imagine with the unions they could 'get way with it' more than a non-union shop. The monotony is something that I can attest to as I used to work at a machine shop doing productions runs. The CNC program was less than a minute long and every order was about 8,000 pieces so it was grueling. You'd swear that the minute hand would stop at times as you would just stare at the clock. Only lasted a month and a half and then quit, because I could feel myself getting dumber by the day acting like a robot.....
~Justin
~Justin
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Elder User
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 830
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From: Kitchener,Ontario,Canada
Originally Posted by marty600
That being said, i was in kansas city, MO. last year--the plant there (ESCAPE + F150)
was still busy, thank god. It seemed to me there was not a lot of imports around there, maybe wrong though.
was still busy, thank god. It seemed to me there was not a lot of imports around there, maybe wrong though.
Pity the rest of the continent cannot think like us. Saw a good slogan the other day.......... Out of a job yet?...........KEEP buying foreign, you will be!!!
Post Fiend
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 13,873
Likes: 3
From: Atlanta GA
When Ford killed the Aerostar it was still selling well over 100,000 units a year I think. I know when I worked at Ford it was outselling the Chevy S-10. Nothing like killing a vehicle that sells over 100,000 units a year.
Posting Guru
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,036
Likes: 2
From: Portland, Oregon
i heard they killed it because they couldn't sell any wind stars. but hey, why kill a name of a vehicle? honda has been using the same name of a vehicle (civic for example) for well over 25 years, and for the most part they made engine changes that were "big" every 10 or so years, and body styles changed a smidge every year.
basicaly what's wrong with giving the people what they want for a long time, and just modifying it for the times?
basicaly what's wrong with giving the people what they want for a long time, and just modifying it for the times?
Thread Starter
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 5,720
Likes: 5
From: Washington state
the Aero was a high production cost low profit veh. to produce and market.
the American auto market has never been about supplying what customers want. it's all about marketing and bottom line profit.
that's why the American auto industry has had such high advertising costs compared to the Japanese over the years.
the American auto market has never been about supplying what customers want. it's all about marketing and bottom line profit.
that's why the American auto industry has had such high advertising costs compared to the Japanese over the years.
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 192
Likes: 0
From: Illinois, usa
DCRB is correct, they had both vans on the lot at the same time, and 1 needed to go.
That is a logical decision. The windstar did not rack up the numbers of aero, but then,
I think all the US van sales have creeped downward since late 90's. Some kind of stigma thing--our neighbor has 3 kids and a windstar, it was the dad who wanted it,
mom did not. That is the reverse of 10 years ago, no dad wanted one around here.
I think it's so shallow-if you're gonna move a lot of stuff, a van is the greatest, way better than a truck, IMHO. It does seen as if ford and gm have let the van market go to the japanese and chyrsler, why I cannot fathom..
That is a logical decision. The windstar did not rack up the numbers of aero, but then,
I think all the US van sales have creeped downward since late 90's. Some kind of stigma thing--our neighbor has 3 kids and a windstar, it was the dad who wanted it,
mom did not. That is the reverse of 10 years ago, no dad wanted one around here.
I think it's so shallow-if you're gonna move a lot of stuff, a van is the greatest, way better than a truck, IMHO. It does seen as if ford and gm have let the van market go to the japanese and chyrsler, why I cannot fathom..