Thread: 1936 Chevy assemblyline - Family Woodworking

Unbelievable boredom. Hold the rivieter in place...zap. Next car frame comes up...do it again...and again...and again. And I have read (and heard) that it was one of the noisiest places around. Notice: No safety glasses, No hearing protection, Wonder if they had safety shoes, etc. The good ole' days?

Did you notice that the men feeling for defects in the body parts were wearing fairly heavy gloves. They must have had a fantastic sense of feel. And I wonder about the guys working in the pit, up over their head, all day, to work on the bottom of the cars. They must have ruined their backs and shoulders at an early age.

In the long shots where many men were in view at one time: their movements were just as automated as the machinery; reminds me of an old Harold Lloyd movie where he worked in a factory. The machinery got a bit out of synch so it fed nuts (the steel kind) to him every iteration.

I had forgotten the lap robe bars on the backs of the front seats. Cars of 1936 did not come with heaters. Heaters were an expensive luxury that you had to buy in addition to the automobile itself. I think they cost about $20.oo so most cars did not have them. You had lap robes, one for each member of the family in order to stay warm on a cold night, while sitting on the ice cold leather seats. DAMHIKT! The robes always seemed to be made of wool and they had the subtle finish of 60 grit sandpaper. They always seemed to have a fringe to get into things and make them more difficult to clean.

Cleanliness was relative in that era. The upper and upper middle class took a bath every Saturday night---whether they needed one or not. Deodorants and perfumes were popular items at that time too.

I'll bet the entire car cost less than a thousand bucks. I had been a doctor for several years when the last, less than $2,000.oo cars were sold. It was a Datsun, one of the earlier Japanese imports. You could actually buy an air-conditioner for it (they did not come standard). Every hot day you had to go out to your car, get down on your knees and say a prayer or face the mecca and say a prayer; if there was no prayer, there was no cool.

You never want to get an old goat remembering the late 20's and early 30's.

Enjoy,

JimB

Source: http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?28027-1936-Chevy-assemblyline

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