Master Hands - Chevrolet Manufacturing (1936)
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- Опубликовано: 10 июн 2010
- Classic "capitalist realist" drama showing the manufacture of Chevrolets from foundry to finished vehicles. Though ostensibly a tribute to the "master hands" of the assembly line workers, it seems more of a paean to the designers of this impressive mass production system. Filmed in Flint, Michigan, just months before the United Auto Workers won union recognition with their famous sitdown strikes.
Selected for the 1999 National Film Registry of "artistically, culturally, and socially significant" films. 
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I worked as a Mill Wright mechanic for most of my career and those huge presses would be a real challenge to do major repairs on. Cool film to see!
The guys doing the crankshaft are some bad tough dudes man, hard-core looking work very impressive
Crazy how they made those crankshafts. Thank you workers of days past for making my '37 Chevy. Neat to see how it was made and the work and effort put into it.
Cool that you own one. We are rebuilding an inline 6 for one at work soon. Yeah. Forged cranks on a 50 hp engine.😁
No problem
Yes Johnny, that's right, America used to make, not just assemble, things.
Gee golly dad! That's swell! Can i do that when i grow up?
@Carl Ferrigno but but but i really wanna program multi axis cnc machines! And i really don't wanna eat my dog either. He's my frand.
🤣👍 all your comments are great!👏
My company makes $2M semiconductor inspection machines, and a large number are sold to China.
Thanks democrats
Fantastic. These are images I've waited a lifetime to see. Body mold presses. As a machinist and engineer, this is fascinating to watch. Imagine the strength some of those guys had, wrestling with slugs of steel all day. Some rough conditions there.
The best gym is a job like this
Для панелей кузова применяют не пресс формы,а штампы.
Old infomercials are historic gems.
Wow it’s so amazing to watch. Theses are the kind of men that built America 🇺🇸 and made it strong. How disappointed they would be in today’s standards.
LOL The technology of today would make those workers look silly.
What blows my mind is this-this is 1936, less than 50 years before people were getting around on horses. Machines like this were never even dreamed of. It just amazes me how fast and far technology has advanced since 1900.
Ya well it's been four years since your comment . technology has came a long way even since then.
I agree the engineering was incredible with how they make them machines to work.
i was born in 1959 . I never dreamed of the internet.The basics for the internet were there with telephone lines and TV. The basics for this film were in place by 1800.Some trades used here go back before writing.
zudemaster Unfortunately wars drive technology to new heights . Look at the technology at the beginning of WW1 and compare it to just four years later when hostilities ceased in 1918. Same for WW2. It basically started with leftover WW1 technology and ended a few years later with the Atomic Bomb. Man’s instinct of personal preservation is the strongest instinct that we have and it drives man to think and create . There’s no blessing that comes from war but at least the technology that was created to destroy has been used in many ways to make our lives better, more convenient, and safe.
It's amazing to me too,
Amazing to see so much physical energy going into the building by humans.
Wow, people today have no clue what a days work really is.
People today are smart enough not to have to work like slaves.
It amazes me that the orchestra can play perfectly despite the high temperatures
Jaja yea you are right.
Thats a great point.Hahaha…
This is an excellent classic auto manufaturing video. I am glad it has been preserved for internet browser to see.
As a former Navy and retired Merchant Marine engineer who loves all things mechanical especially steam powered equipment, having this show up in my feed today was awesome! Thank you
Never imagined that back in the days were such sophisticated machines and tools, that made the construction of the car so easy
And see what we have now. Really impressive how technology progress. Kudos to the engineer out there!
Indeed my friend just amazing
They had more than you might think . Example. The automatic screw machine was invented in the 1800s that was an improvement on the lathe that was invented over 5,000 years ago.
Modern car parts are still made on some type of lathe. Keep in mind they were mass producing stationary steam engines by 1800 and railroad steam engines by 1840. .....Edited in .....The Automatic screw machine can make all types of small round parts . not just screws .
The second industrial revolution started in the early 1800s.
CHEVROLET IS MY FAVORITE CAR.
The mass moving assembly lines for the frames is a mechanical marvel, looks really complex
Video's on RUclips and elsewhere for that matter, just don't get any better than this. Thanks so much for posting!
When the middle class had a say in America. It's sad to see it all gone. These guys worked hard for or a living.
Now they busy doing swinger party
The workers at the Chevrolet plant in Flint, MI staged a sit down strike in 1936 that lasted until 1937. The strike started in the Chevrolet plant quickly spread to other GM plants.
We gave away our manufacturing abilities to China in the name of globalism (vs. protectionism) and super cheap crap (that we could do well with less of).
@@swesleyc7 Yep, began with Reagan. He was president when we had our first negative trade deficit, and it's been negative ever since.
@@wiscgaloot At first I argued we were a knowledge based economy (design vs manufacture), but I see now we need a more diverse economy that includes manufacturing. Bluntly, there are a lot of people here that would be better suited to a trade or a low-skill mfr. job than becoming an engineer and so we need to deny ourselves the cheap goods from China and make them here.
That foundry work must have felt like hell, literally..the heat, the heat, the sheer physical labour, and the danger of molten iron...
Retired machinist here. I used to make up excuses to do heat treating room on cold days.
@@harrybriscoe7948 yep it sure gets cold in the great lake states.
I was in a Foundry once, in the middle of Summer. You couldn’t pay me enough.
And there's not a Gen-Zer today who would last 10 minutes in the environment.
Very impressive that era was Amazing to see everyone working together and the machines was Awesome the presses the line putting it all together truly a orchestra of people working running the machines .
Beautiful. I love how it is described as a drama, it absolutely is. And a complex symphony carried out in order to achieve life serving values. Bless the men who built these cars from the assembly workers, designers to the tool makers and yes the capitalists who brought it all together. I tried to Shazam the music about 10 minutes from the end, no match found sadly.
Amen, amen, amen !!!
Absolutely astounding what hard working people can and do accomplish. 👍🏻
Then the government comes along and try’s to make it better and screws it all up !
Just think what could have been accomplished with some diversity hires!
@@jackandsusangerstner1369 As always, muck up everything they put their grubby little hands on.
This is the era in which my father lived, wow... I had no idea they were so advanced. Sad to see that it's almost all gone today, what have we done?!
Every one of the people in that film, even the youngest I saw, maybe 20 yrs old, is dead now. One guy in there was at least 60, that would have put his birth date about 1875.. !!. He had seen some changes.
I say that a lot .
We added fuel injection... that's about it
What if we can bring them all back for good?
Back when America took pride in production and highest quality of craftsmanship. We need to revive the skills of these "Master hands" and apply them to the 21st century!
So much "pride" that the workers at the Chevrolet plant in Flint, MI staged a sit down strike in 1936 that lasted until 1937. The strike started in the Chevrolet plant quickly spread to other GM plants.
Very true it’s so awesome to see this video of the master hands
What a bizarre comment, no innovation in the industrial labour process decimated the notion of craftsmanship more than the assembly line!
yeah then the globalists came and wanted more money
Wow, this is amazing - the level of automation isn't that different from a modern factory!
The next year, 1937, the Chevrolet 6 went to four main bearings. Imagine the retooling required in that crankshaft forging department!
Your right this was the last year of the 207.
Imagine the precision woodworking that was done by the pattern makers. every cast part was first made of wood, and the forms made around those pieces. The entire engine was made of wood to incredibly fine tolerance out of the best, most stable hardwoods. My step-grandfather was a pattern maker. The precision of his work put that of my cabinet maker Great-grandfather to shame.
@@michaeltutty1540 wonder whatever happened to those wood engine molds ?
Incredible film...thanks for sharing. I watched to see if I could spot my grandfather, who worked there for 25 yrs. ...1928-1953. Quite the eye opener. Those men worked their tails off in incredibly harsh conditions. Grandpa Sid kept all his digits, but was deaf from all the mechanized noises. On a funny note, he always drove a Rambler...ha! No, I didn't see him in the film.
I love watching this video every time it pops up. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing some of these machines in real life, and even worked on a couple. They were all worn out by the time I got to work with them.
Amazing video ! All that work, with so many people involved... and you could buy a new car for around $2,500. Also, that's when Americans took pride in craftsmanship.
And we blew it such industrial might we sadly thrown away.
Man that was an amazing video; the time, effort and amount of team work required to make such a masterpiece! And now the automakers just pump out crap. It sad to see how much heart and soul went into automobiles compared to what we have nowadays
That self destructs within one month or one week whichever comes first.
Library of Congress description: Master Hands (1936)
Henry Jamison "Jam" Handy pioneered the corporate promotional film in the early 1920s, and his Jam Handy Organization, officed in Detroit, claimed General Motors among its chief clients. Handy originally created "Master Hands" to promote Chevrolet products to existing and prospective stock holders, but its success lasted for decades, including a stint as a wartime morale booster and later as a training film. It portrays factory workers as masters over the raw materials they bend to their will, as emphasized by Samuel Benavie's score and cinematographer Gordon Avril's artsy lighting and composition. The Jam Handy Organization continued producing films into the 1960s, amassing some 7,000 films over 40 years.
When i remember what i see in car factorys today there were great efforts. Roboter for the hard work and so on. But this guys were very skilled and did a great job.
Love these old films, great collection
What a technology. Men effort with efficiency.. great dedication and perfection.. luv it..
hard working Americans. thanks for the upload.
A dime a dozen back then, today, priceless! I wonder what those boys would think if they saw their cars are STILL on the road! My 2 daily drivers are 51 years and counting.
simply amazing. Documentation of a revolution that changed this country forever.
So cool!!... Back when car making was a proud American heritage!
Anyone that wonder why the US turned WWll needs to see this. These men were beastly!
This is the manufacturing and production might that retooled almost overnight and started producing the equipment and weapons of war 5 years later in 1941 and continued nonstop for the duration of the war.
And then started making cars again when it was over.
Love this and this was the American way
What incredibly dangerous work environments! Beautiful fit and finish by these craftsmen.
Just use your brain and you’ll be fine…
If part of you happened to be in the way, you'd risk becoming part of the car.
automated frame welding line in 1936 !!! this is some amazing stuff !
Lmao what are rivets
@@jamess3417 saw that...amazing to see in this era all the same!!
Sebelum alat2 produksi canggih, orang2 ini cara berfikirnya sudah canggih. Betul2 mengutamakan kualitas dari hasil yang di kerjakan nya.
Interesting. I am quite impressed over the advanced techinc they have so early.
Thanks for sharing!
exactly my thoughts!!
Great video, but OSHA would have a collective cow over the lack of machine guards and hearing protection. The proximity of the rivet setters to the riveting heads on the frame line could just not be done today. But this film is one that GM paid Jam Handy to produce, so they were not ashamed of any of the working conditions in the plant, and put the film out for public viewing. By the standards of the day, working conditions were better than most places one could work.
Yeah now do the pay inflation and pp adjusted
Biden’s inflation is out of control.
Conditions were sufficiently bad that the workers struck and got the UAW to represent them in 1937.
This makes me proud to have a Chevrolet small-block engine in my Opel Diplomat :-) Great movie !
The background music reminds me of watching black and white TV back in the early 60's. Oh, the drama.
It's a selection of Wagner and Mendelssohn + others. Good old classical.
Pretty much all these jobs were manual that’s why their products were solid
That is so cool I've always wanted to see how crankshafts were forged..
Building classic cars was real craftmanship!
They were not considered classics back then
Wie gefähtlich und stumpf eintönige Arbeit, ich hätte nach einer Woche wahrscheinlich meinen ersten Finger verloren...
Greetings from southern Ontario Canada my family owns an original 1940 maclaughlin Buick I'm 50 years old and it passed onto me at age 25 after a family member passed away
Amazing how everything was in sync despite the lack of computers to automate it
A slide rule, a T-square, some triangles and a pocket full of pencils.
Chevroley był pierwszyą marką produkującą seryjnie samochody w Polsce dziękuje za film ;)
One of the coolest videos I've seen on You Tube, Awesome!
I watch this and DEW line videos over and over never gets old
I'm surprised how good the engine castings were back then.
In some ways this is way more advanced than what we have today. Raw materials went in one end and cars came out the other. We can't do that anymore.
I'm not surprised. They did castings for a lot of work before the automobile.
That’s because human hands and eyes were making sure there were no core shifts or voids. Automation can’t do that !
And a lot purer iron back then. Now it has tocontain a percentage of recycled scrap
@@michaelvrooman5681 It doesn't need to contain recycled metal, they use it because it saves them up to 30% in the energy needed to make new from raw materials. There's no requirement here in the US for it to contain recycled metal, they do it for the cost. Approximately 80% of steel in North America is recycled. The fact that it only makes up~30% of the ingredients in new steel is because the demand for steel is so high.
If only cars could still be built like this
Why? They'd be horrifically expensive with all the extra labor you see here.
While astounding to see cars made, even more astounding is who designed and built all of the automated machinery!!
Elegant design of the introduction and captions!
A man did not want to go to work in that day with a bad hangover. He would be eaten by the machinery! It's amazing how little protection those dudes wore. I can also see why there was so much labor strife in the 30's even though good jobs were scarce.
you would be surprised how little has changed between then and now.
@@jc3496 and we act as though we are above everything today, that we have standards? pathetic how little we've progressed because we are still using what they built for us, and never giving them the credit they deserve..everyday, they deserve all our Respect, yet all we can do is sit on our computers and talk about how racist and pointless the past was and that we are better off today.
Excelente trabajo con la mano de obra humana muy bien gracias
it's nice to see the skills they had then. Something we are sadly missing with the technology of today
This is one of the best videos I've seen in a long time
Seriously: AMAZING.
12:44 Fascinating watching those guys jostle that metal around in that forging machine. Tremendous forearm strength and overall body strength and coordination. The old guy could probably weave rebar into a basket
Hot, dirty, hard work that must be done! A tribute to the industrious American!
It's really cool watching them make the cranks
the sit down strike started in Dec. 1936.
Wow really?
In the depths of the great depression?
Yes. Working conditions were that bad. The strike started at Fisher Body 1 in Flint, spread to Fisher 2 in Flint, and GM finally capitulated after the workers struck Chevy Plant 4 in Flint, which made many of the Chevrolet engines.
How did they manage to pull that "Sobel edge detection" effect between 1:08 and 1:32?? That's pretty advanced for the time!!!
cool video --- I never really thought about how 'hand made' the cars were at that time.
our first new car was a Chevrolet 210 4 door black sedan with Powerglide. In 1936, they did pretty good for the day.
Those engines had 79 hp if you wanted to know
Your right. A man of fifty hears old in 1900 looked like 70. I have noticed that too.
So beautiful amazing video of good Old days ❤
I worked for the Budd co. in the Red LIon plant stamping out frame parts while layed off from the rail car division, those people WORKED HARD. I was always happy to return to building trains!
Moi aussi en Belgique, mais on fabriquer des aiguillages de chemin de fer
Extremely skilled men back in 1936 , a bygone era with true craftsman like pattern makers , foundry men and tool and die makers designing master tool stamping dies and jigs. Check out the forged Crankshafts being stamped from the die plates made with tolerances of just a few thousands of an inch, by hand using only vernier calipers and slide rules ! This was long before the introduction of CAD drawings or computer modeling , Very Impressive ! 👍
OHV Sixes...a Chevy trademark for generations!
Anyone watching in 2052? 😁😁😁
wow, those presses are huge, as amazing as it is to watch, someone had to design then build these monsters
Сделали, руки-ноги никому не оторвало - и слава Богу!
Muy bueno. Excelente film......cuanta historia y cuanta habilidad habia
great video love these old factory video. One of the best I have seen
me too!!
My dad, Ford man, said that General Motors was in the Bible, so that’s why I’m here. He said they were the masters of creeping things on earth, so that’s my curiosity here. And I agree with zudmaster about technology and look where we are now. If the Japanese had not hit our shores, we’d still be getting crap out of Detroit. Remember the misaligned chrome, rattles, etc!
OMG body on frame, rear leaf springs, cast iron engines, I want one!😍
One big accident waiting to happen...must've been a lot of missing fingers and thumbs around Michigan in those days....the foundry operation is just scary to watch....
industrial work less dangerous today, but it still claims victims
The stamping plants are dangerous too. Sometimes a guy ends up thinner than a pancake.
So interesting to see the casting of iron. Thx!
Omg just awesome video feeling like must needed a time traveling machine need to drive those cars..... my god super video thanks to the uploader 😀
wow it's amazing how things have improve it's amazing how things continue to improve.
Estes são verdadeiros artistas!!!
No computers to aid with production, everything is analog and no components made of plastic. What a time.
Unglaublich wie viele Menschen damals in den Fabriken gearbeitet haben und welche jobs jeder einzelne stunden lang am tag machen musste, meist scheinbar nur ein handgriff und das den ganzen tag. Aber sehr spektakulär, ich bin fasziniert
America love you ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Easiest job in the world award goes to.........Narrator for this film.Two fucking lines!
wow, pretty amazing !
Cars built by mechanics rather than assemblers, pretty amazing to watch.
Grazie pur le video , es una JOYA DE ENZEÑANSA , estos hombres tenían mucha fuerza y eran sabios , y asían los vehículos para toda la vida , ahora puro desechable , ( pura bazura de vehículos. ) saludos desde el NORTE DE MEJICO , ( EUMA ) TKS , 22,10,22. EN DIOS SANTO CONFIAMOS .
Awsome !
This video is like time traveling.
It takes 1000 machines to build 1 machine (the car). Imagine the plans for building this assembly-line-factory. Making sure it takes the same amount of time to make 1 engine, 1 chassis, 1 rear axle assembly, 1 front axle assembly. Each part and each sub-assembly takes the same amount of time to make so they can all join up on the main line. Mindblowing!
It is not just the machines making the car. You need a whole country capable of supplying them and the materials. How many different tools do you think are involved from raw materials to finished car ?
Respect to the braves workers...
✝️🇺🇸👍 truly amazes me every time I watch one of these thanks for the video