This one made me cry. My dear father owned the 1959 Chevrolet Parkwood station wagon. It was a beautiful blue. He had that thing until a year before he passed away. It still ran beautifully. It would still have been in perfect shape, but it was crashed into by a truck carrying fertilizer. Of all things! But I miss that old car. And it was so easy to work on - all that room under the hood. You felt so safe in it and it was so well made. Haven't ridden in anything better since. And by the way, I'm just about 5 ft tall and learned to drive on that great big car! Thank you so much for this video!
@Dan Jackson Chevy’s 283 was a magnificent little motor that you can actually get great gas mileage. The one in our 64 impala only had one rebuild because it was left outside without a hood and had gotten rain in it. In most cases reliability depends on how you hard you are on your vehicle.
@Dan Jackson damn son you don’t have to hate so much on a simple comment, of course they weren’t made as good as cars now a days but they sure did look a lot better then these ugly trucks and cars
Yes there wer many great body styles during the 50's and 60's era, but build quality and materials used improved greatly later on in the 90's to current.
That was absolutely wonderful. I loved the color images-seeing those 1959 masterpieces assembled. Thank you for putting that together with the beautiful voice of Dinah Shore.
I was a kid in Detroit at this time. I remember that at 7am the side street was packed with cars taking their owners to work. No foreign cars. Hey buy American AND support your neighborhood. Cool
It still is, as a Canadian your economy completely trumps us. Military expenditures for Canada in 2015-2016 are 14.42244 billion USD, the US allocated 580.3 BILLION USD....... So yah, how many nuclear-powered super aircraft carrier`s do you have about 8 of the bloody things.......
These fabulous cars were brand new when I was born & I remember when the 1959 Chevrolets were everywhere. My first car was a 59 2-dr Impala in 1977. Exciting car.
The man doing the commentary around 2:30 was a Canadian named Joel Aldred. He was a Squadron Leader in Lancaster bombers in WW II. He started with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation after the war and became the voice of many big, American TV shows including The Jack Benny Show and Bonanza. I met him about 10 years ago. He lived to be about 95.
Yes I fully agree with you! I had family that lived in Detroit and work at the auto plants there. Things really started turning bad during the late 60's and it never got any better up until now, sadly.
Such an UNSAFE vehicle. View the 59 Chevrolet crashing offset front end with a newer Malibu. The 59 crunches back into the front seat area, devastating design as to safety.
My first car in 1969 was a 59 Chevy Impala 283 great car for $100 dollars. :) as I watched this I was wondering if my 59 was in one of the photos, that would be cool, some 50 years later to see your first car being made!
North Tarrytown N.Y. assembly plant. 1896- 1996. My father was a nurse who worked here from 1961-1969. He told me that he had a golf cart. If someone got injured, he would get a phone call. He would use the cart and drive to the area in the plant to assess the injury and take necessary action. I remember him telling me that most of the injuries were cuts and impacts. He said that he would "stitch the guys up right at their work stations" or "put a splint on" then most would go right back to work. We had a Chevy when I was growing up that he knew was assembled in Tarrytown. These are photos from a LIFE magazine article, I wish I could see them all.
In the early '60s I got a pink Corgi Toy version of a 1959 Chevrolet and it immediately became my favorite of the model cars that I had. It made me pay more attention to the real '59 Chevys still being driving around. I still have it. I kept it in as good shape as possible and never intentionally banged it into anything to scratch it.
I agree. But honestly, they weren't built as well as cars are now for dependability, long life, and safety. But as its been said, they were selling us dreams back. And the public loved fawning after and obtaining these sheet metal dreams.
@@fleetwin1 surrending all of your ambitions just because he singled you out and made you feel bad for liking an older automobile. Don't pretend it isn't common to be insulted constantly for not liking Tesla's and modern SUVs. Anything past 2010 and people freak out. They are bunch of naive idiots, I drove these automobiles when they were brand new, not 1999 brand new I mean 1954 brand new (the first year of my first car). I have all my facts and experience of 70 automobiles from 1906 to 1970, I laugh when I see comments like these because I literally know all there is about them. I've driven a Ford LTD 1968, a Ford Thunderbird 1975, Cadillac 1961, Buick 1958, Nash 1941, Oldsmobile sedan 1906, Chevrolet Royal mail roadster 1913, Hudson sedan 1930, I spent one day in 1956 with a friend were we switched between all his Mustangs all brightly colored to 1950's paints such as Alpine blue to Matador red irid. He had one extremely wealthily painted by a talented Craftsman (most likely born around the 1870s) who painted one Champagne gold with a two tone of dark iridescent (metallic) sky blue. White wall tires and Cadillac hubcaps. It was prettier than a Imperial 1964 in that elegant signet Royal ruby color/hue. Now that people have tried driving these automobiles 40/50/60 years after their release, I'd like to give them the offer of driving them when they are brand new, instead of taking piles of beautiful now turned rusted ruined junk, and calling that a comparison to current cars.
Wow! Excellent retrospective! I have ton of respect for any guys who worked on these mass production lines, regardless of which company. They had a really tough job, especially since these lines could never stop moving, unless they broke down or in an emergency.
Yes it was a tough job but the pay was good,It started at 100 dollars a week which for 1957/was a very livable wage, if you were transferred to the night shift it was 105 dollars a week. Unless the “ line” broke down it did not stop, you had about 5 feet to complete your “ operation” one of my jobs was to put the rear shocks on the 1958 model think about it, 500 cars a shift, two shocks per car that’s 1,000 shocks a shift, I’m not making this up and the shocks had to be in an open position ,I was 19 years old when I got home I was barely able to eat dinner I was so tired I hit the sack and slept like death warmed over. But it was a good time of my life. I had my youth.
@@vitosanto3874 if a shift is 8 hours work thats every 50 seconds one schock...i believe you felt a sleep instant,you did a good job.I wish i can travel in time and visit your workplace of that time.I like old usa cars.In the 90s i had a impala sport coupe 59,now i have a bel air 56 convertible,good cars built by good man👌take care,grtz from Belgium
@@peterducodil9890 Thanks for the compliment, you are spot on with your estimate of timing to install the shocks,it took about two minutes to install both the rear shocks.Its hard to. Imagine that it could be done in that short period of time,and remember the line is moving. When you are first assigned the operation you can’t imagine how it can be done ,but after a week or so you don’t even think about it, you just do it. Add to the mix the constant noise of all the air powered impact hand tools. Sparks flying from the welding ,smoke in the air,guys yelling ,but as I said before the pay was good and after about a year or so of seniority your job was secure from a lay-off.
Amazing what we once built in this country. I suspect the buildings shown in the pictures are derelict and abandoned now if they still stand at all. Today it seems all we can do it take in laundry and turn out hamburgers.
You sure got that right! Having grown up around manufacturing and living in a General Motors family, what I see now is disgusting. I am so sick and tired of looking at ugly rec centers, parks, classrooms, and pregnancy clinics. I wish they would all close and turn into parking lots, just like our beloved factories did.
thanks for sharing one photo looked like the tarrytown ny plant with the railcar in the background. 59's are cool looking 66's are my favorite i drag race 2 of them
bought my first new car,.. a 1959 convertible, 4 speed on the floor, with a optional 348 engine rated at 250HP...it was a beautiful beige. a timeless design.
Wrong. These were junk at 100,000 miles even without the rust. In the 1970s they were $50jalopies and demolition derby cars. Today’s examples are rare and valuable because so few survived. They were painstakingly restored at several times their assessed value. And they are carefully trailered to events and driven only short distances on sunny days. In a frontal offset collision with a 2009 Chevy Malibu... the 1959 Impala was completely destroyed in an IIHS safety test.
Back when America was great the 59 Impala was my first car & my favorite year design it was so radical even for 1959. I love the 59' Chevy's. I had 3 of them in my time. Back then there was a thriving middle class & financing & credit cards were not as common & needed back then. My dad paid cash for property & built a house in 1958 for 20 grand. He & his brother paid cash for a new 1957 Chevrolet he later bought his bro out. I recall looking at my dads old bank accounts from 1955 to 1958 & he had anywhere from $9500 to 10 grand in his account. He wasn't rich just a working man as he would always say. The only time he financed a new car was when he bought his first new Chevrolet in 1951 to establish credit. I worked at a new car store in 2015 & about 90% of all new & used car sales are financed & rarely is there ever a cash sale. I remember the cash sale for $20,000 in cold cash. Today there is too much financing & too many people in debt & bankruptcy's are all too common now .
For those curious, these photos were NOT taken in Detroit; they were instead taken in Tarrytown New York. Tarrytown is on the Hudson River in Westchester County north of NYC. This plant closed in 1996, the last vehicles assembled there were the 'dustbuster' vans. It's crazy to think that chevy had such a market share to the point where plants in Atlanta, Baltimore Janesville, St Louis, Flint, Oakland, Los Angeles, New York, and Cincinnati were building them.
Cincinnati would be the Norwood Assembly right? I was unaware this photo set was Tarrytown, it’s pretty hard to find any pictures of that plant in the 80d or 90s. What’s even more crazy is that a lot of those plants were also making trucks along side, some literally had the car and truck lines side by side, and at least two plants I can think of had 3 different product lines.
@@TheMW2informer Yes Cincinnati would be Norwood. The full photo set from Tarrytown is on a site called xframechevy, they're really cool to look at. I hear there is a video somewhere of the dustbuster van assembly. I would really like to see what Tarrytown looked like in the '90s and compare with the 1959 photos.
that's real cool, did you buy a new Chevrolet from '57 to '60 ? That must've been exciting. I bet you got a good deal, my dad bought a new '57 Bel Air & ordered it straight from GM because he said it's a better deal & cheaper than buying from the dealer.
Hard working Americans making great cars for their fellow Americans. See the U.S.A. in your new Chevrolet 1959 Impala, a V~8 for the price of a straight 6! Available in a rainbow of durability proven brilliant colors.
My late uncle's were engineers for GM /Chevy / Pontiac. This was the body that the Corvair came from and on the same assembly line if this was in Detroit
Worked in the GM North Tarrytown (now Sleepy Hollow) NY plant some 30 years after these pics were taken and a lot of it looked familiar. Plant closed in 1996 and was demolished shortly thereafter
I was raised on ranch in the 50s. It was a family effort so I never got paid, but on my 16th birthday my parents bought me a new '59 Impala. In those days folks bought new cars every 3 years so in 1962 (I was working in the business and getting paid) I bought another Impala. This one was fully loaded, big block 348, I swapped the four barrel for three-two carbs, four speed and posi-traction. By the time I was 22 or 23 muscle cars weren't as cool so I traded the Impala for a new VW. I think a new 64 or 65 VW was about $1,600. Today I still have a '64 double cab VW truck and it's my daily driver.
That's cool I was 17 in 1977 & my ma bought me a '59 2 dr Impala in mint condition. I regret to say I cracked it up & my dad bought me a '57 4 dr. Bel Air in 1978. You're right most buyers only kept a new car for 3 years they kept changing the style. However my dad bought a '57 Bel Air new & kept it for 11 years till he sold it cheap to a kid for $250.....& the car was still in mint condition. My dad was a sailor so the car would sit in the garage for half a year. My ma learned to drive in a '57 Chevy.
True, the '59 & "60 Chevy's didn't become desirable til 25 years later by that time most of them bit the dust. In 1972 I saw a '59 2 dr Impala for sale in mint condition for $800 & the '57 Chevy's were going for $3,000 & more. Because everyone wanted the tri-five Chevy's & the "61 to '64 Chevy's. my first car was a "59 2dr Impala in 1977 in mint condition for $1600 I wrecked it. My 2nd '59 2 dr Impala in mint condition in 1979 was $1375 & I passed on another '59 2 dr Impala in 1980 in mint condition for $1,200 I wanted it but I already had 2 before & it gets old buying the same car. i assumed the '59 Chevy's will always be cheap cars so I took the '59 Chevy's for granted. I've had many other old cars in the meantime I bought one more '59 2 dr Impala in mint condition in 1998 by this time the price was $11,500 i financed it. I used to go to classic car auctions in the 1970's & in 1978 a mint condition "58 Impala w/ 348 sold for $1,400 & in 1979 the same '58 Impala w/ 348 sold for $6,500, I think the movie "American Graffiti" in 1973 had a lot to do with it. Making the '58 Impala's desirable cash cows. But the '59 & '60 Impala's didn't become cash cows til about 1985 by that time they were very scarce. And lots of them were bought up by many foreign car buffs from Sweden, England & Japan & shipped back to their countries. I lived in England & worked in Sweden & I met a car buff who had a large collection of '60 Chevy Impala's he only liked the '60 Chevy's & no other year. Unlike the '55, '56 & '57 Chevy's popular & desirable since day one.
Yeah...Unions wanted robots to take away jobs. Seriously?? BTW,those guys you see on that line had HIGH paying jobs which for most meant a NEW home,wife didn't have to work etc because of Union wages.
Not exactly. I have family working at Honda in Indiana. It Takes 500 people five hours do an 868 different processes to make a Civic roll off every 60 seconds. And there are 238 civics online at one time between five assembly lines. It is also non union and they still make good money.
WOW!! This must have been back when America was great and lynchings in the south were at an all-time high. Many African Americans migrated north to work for GM. My uncle never made it. He was lynched in Dothan AL, 1955. Ubuntu Ma'at Ase'🙏🏿
My parents owned a white '59 Chevy 4-door with blue interior, in 1964. It crapped out on us somewhere in Indiana, on the way back to TN. I still remember mom and I getting on a bus and seeing it sitting there as we pulled off. I never did find out what went wrong with it... Dad apparently fixed the problem, since we still had it after my sister was born in '65. Damn was that a long time ago. lol
I'm just an admirer, aged 40 in England. My son who is 9 & I just adore American cars. May I make some observations? I believe these cars to have been produced from Fisher Body's #21 plant. You know, that vast, abused, burnt out, stripped (by scrappers), defunct eyesore, that hasn't had a caring hand in 30+ years. I studied this film, frame by frame, taking time to check all the details. The floor channels match, as do the paint booths, washing stations & floor textures. I noted the tinted blue window too. Lovely. To shade the natural light from those big windows. I saw another video today. "Master Hands" from 1936. Incredibly, it gave some stats. One stat was that America had "15,000,000 skilled workers." How times have changed... Now, the name GM may as well mean 'Gone to Mexico'.
It was so exciting to watch a brand new car or truck then. Today you see a Lincoln from the back and if you can't see the logo you think it's a hunday or kia. Wtf
You are so right I would know I've had 3 '59 2 dr Impala's & they are exciting. I want another batwing Chevy before I die I'll even settle for a 4 door.
The rear end of that thing looked like an alien insect of some sort. It inspired many a halloween costume... The music in this film is nauseatingly, wretchedly corny, but then it WAS the 1950's TV era. We've come a long way. A friend of mine in high school drove a '59 Biscayne in the early '70s. It was rusty and smelled funny, but crank up the 8-track with the Stones and open some sacks of burgers and donuts while dragging Main Street... Classic Saturday night in small town SC.
Okay, so I’ll take 2 of each build like off the first run (actually any run.) Then,10 black and red w/large block and standard shift. Then 10 any color combo. Then 10 with blems. Thank you.
Feeling kind of down these days? Filling empty inside? Having trouble filling that void in your heart?? You now have no excuse! Sing it, Dinah!..."Life is completer in a Chevy!"
One of the Fisher Body plants was in Euclid, Ohio. They would assemble the bodies there, load them in box cars and they would be shipped to Detroit? For final assembly to the frame and power train. From final assembly to trucks for shipping to your local dealership. Working at Fisher Body meant after 30 years you could retire with a pension.
Australia imported a few of these, my DAD had two of them and took them out to the trash, back in 1980, and now they are worth over 100K each, in original condition ? Also there were in Original condition at the time he thrown them out with the trah, all they needed was a little love and a polish and a little engine and transmission care and the things would drive, basically new oil's and battery and off you go driving a right hand drive 1959 chevy bel airs with rear indicator on each side of the large wings on the back, they were white and light blue in colour. :)
Yes that's right, I saw a right hand drive '59 Chevy Bel Air in England & I also saw a '60 Chevy Impala 4 dr flattop in England both cars from Australia. I lived in England & I'd love to own a right hand drive '59 or '60 Chevy.
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When America was a proud productive country! Real cool video , beautiful cars! 🇺🇸🇺🇸 wow Look at all the small blocks and look at all those 348s
From the steel, to the sparkplugs, to the tires. Every single part,.......was
MADE IN THE USA !! I wanna go back in time !!
This one made me cry. My dear father owned the 1959 Chevrolet Parkwood station wagon. It was a beautiful blue. He had that thing until a year before he passed away. It still ran beautifully. It would still have been in perfect shape, but it was crashed into by a truck carrying fertilizer. Of all things! But I miss that old car. And it was so easy to work on - all that room under the hood. You felt so safe in it and it was so well made. Haven't ridden in anything better since.
And by the way, I'm just about 5 ft tall and learned to drive on that great big car! Thank you so much for this video!
Old times when America really was great. The nation had it‘s own industry like this one with nice cars.
When the cars were works of art. Magnificence, greatness, bold design, colorful. A dreams factory.
@Dan Jackson Chevy’s 283 was a magnificent little motor that you can actually get great gas mileage. The one in our 64 impala only had one rebuild because it was left outside without a hood and had gotten rain in it. In most cases reliability depends on how you hard you are on your vehicle.
@Dan Jackson damn son you don’t have to hate so much on a simple comment, of course they weren’t made as good as cars now a days but they sure did look a lot better then these ugly trucks and cars
@Dan Jackson you could say the same thing about some cars of today. Some of them are just udder trash.
Dan Jackson ....awwwwwww...now run along and jump in your hybrid
Jobs galore for people,not robots.Worse for the product,but people could afford to buy one.
So many curves in metal, so many different body styles, so labor intensive and so little plastic. Wow! How I love old cars. Thanks for the video.
Just don't hit your head on that all metal dash!
Yes there wer many great body styles during the 50's and 60's era, but build quality and materials used improved greatly later on in the 90's to current.
The tail light lenses may have been the only plastic on this car.
@@bobjohnson205 would not dent it, the dash that is😊
That was absolutely wonderful. I loved the color images-seeing those 1959 masterpieces assembled. Thank you for putting that together with the beautiful voice of Dinah Shore.
I’m 63yrs old and when I was 5-7 yrs old my dad had a 59 Chevy Wagon two tone blue + white brings back memories 🤔👍😁
I bought a 1958 Buick as soon as I got out of Highschool. Jade irid.
I'm 64 and my dad bought a second hand torquois 4 door '59 Bel-Aire in '64 when I was five years old. Sure miss that car.
Chevrolet 1959 must be the most fantastic car of Chevrolet ever!!! 💯👍
One of the most popular years ever ! Every car was unique and out there with styling. GM had a great line up .
The BEST line up especially those fine El dorados
I was a kid in Detroit at this time. I remember that at 7am the side street was packed with cars taking their owners to work. No foreign cars. Hey buy American AND support your neighborhood. Cool
1959 Impala with the 348 engine beautiful American built American Steel at its finest .. U.S.A
Love the cat eye rear lights.
I'd love to go back to 59 and buy a new Chevrolet.
Definitely!!
So would I , my first car was a '59 Impala in 1977 I've had 3 of them I wished I
still had them.
God no. Buy a Studebaker if you're going to time travel. GM was actually crap.
@@uptoolate2793take that back
Back when America was great...
+CEOkiller When Detroit was great!
+CEOkiller And will be great again real soon! TRUMP 2016!
mrearlygold Make DETROIT Great Again!!!
TRUMP 2016!!!! :)
Make DETROIT Great Again.....TRUMP 2016!!
It still is, as a Canadian your economy completely trumps us. Military expenditures for Canada in 2015-2016 are 14.42244 billion USD, the US allocated 580.3 BILLION USD.......
So yah, how many nuclear-powered super aircraft carrier`s do you have about 8 of the bloody things.......
These fabulous cars were brand new when I was born & I remember when the 1959 Chevrolets were everywhere. My first car was a 59 2-dr Impala in 1977. Exciting car.
Well I guess I was better off than you as I had a 1967 Malibu SS with a 327 and qudra jet carb. Dark blue with black bucket seats.
My 59 Impala , Bronze with white top!
My 1st experience was a 1960 and 59 chevy's back in 1972. Love classics. Gr8 pieces of Art.
The man doing the commentary around 2:30 was a Canadian named Joel Aldred. He was a Squadron Leader in Lancaster bombers in WW II. He started with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation after the war and became the voice of many big, American TV shows including The Jack Benny Show and Bonanza. I met him about 10 years ago. He lived to be about 95.
Rob Mackenzie that is great info! :)
He did Matinee cigarete ads too.
Back when Detroit Michigan was great!
Without spelling it right out, it's pretty obvious why Detroit was a better place in the 1950s.
Yes I fully agree with you! I had family that lived in Detroit and work at the auto plants there. Things really started turning bad during the late 60's and it never got any better up until now, sadly.
Painting in an open room on a conveyor belt without respirators. Gotta love it.
Haha I too noticed that!
Americans were Proud of they're Jobs .
They probably allowed smoking while painting too.
I will always like the styling of the 59 Chevrolet.
I think her rear end is the sexiest of them all, as far as the 50s chevies go.
Bruce Bryant i love so many years of Chevrolet. Especially 58 belair or impala
When I was little someone in my neighborhood had one in their yard. I used to think the tail lights reminded me of an old Chinese dude lol
Such an UNSAFE vehicle. View the 59 Chevrolet crashing offset front end with a newer Malibu. The 59 crunches back into the front seat area, devastating design as to safety.
@@tapper701 Who would have thought a 60 year old car is not as safe as a new one?
Beautiful cars notting like classic
My first car in 1969 was a 59 Chevy Impala 283 great car for $100 dollars. :) as I watched this I was wondering if my 59 was in one of the photos, that would be cool, some 50 years later to see your first car being made!
And just think back in the 80s you used to have to pay junkyards to take these cars.
Love that old chevy metal!!!!!!!!!
North Tarrytown N.Y. assembly plant. 1896- 1996.
My father was a nurse who worked here from 1961-1969. He told me that he had a golf cart. If someone got injured, he would get a phone call. He would use the cart and drive to the area in the plant to assess the injury and take necessary action. I remember him telling me that most of the injuries were cuts and impacts. He said that he would "stitch the guys up right at their work stations" or "put a splint on" then most would go right back to work.
We had a Chevy when I was growing up that he knew was assembled in Tarrytown.
These are photos from a LIFE magazine article, I wish I could see them all.
I've had a '59 Impala 2 dr htp, a '59 El Camino and even a '59 2 door wagon over the years. Wish I had them now!! ;-)
In the early '60s I got a pink Corgi Toy version of a 1959 Chevrolet and it immediately became my favorite of the model cars that I had. It made me pay more attention to the real '59 Chevys still being driving around. I still have it. I kept it in as good shape as possible and never intentionally banged it into anything to scratch it.
1959 Chevrolets finest hour ;)
New cars were so much more exciting back then!
I agree. But honestly, they weren't built as well as cars are now for dependability, long life, and safety. But as its been said, they were selling us dreams back. And the public loved fawning after and obtaining these sheet metal dreams.
@@somersetdc I know you are right, today's cars really are much safer...
@@fleetwin1 what kind of proof is that?
@@WitchKing-Of-Angmar Proof of what buddy?
@@fleetwin1 surrending all of your ambitions just because he singled you out and made you feel bad for liking an older automobile. Don't pretend it isn't common to be insulted constantly for not liking Tesla's and modern SUVs. Anything past 2010 and people freak out. They are bunch of naive idiots, I drove these automobiles when they were brand new, not 1999 brand new I mean 1954 brand new (the first year of my first car). I have all my facts and experience of 70 automobiles from 1906 to 1970, I laugh when I see comments like these because I literally know all there is about them. I've driven a Ford LTD 1968, a Ford Thunderbird 1975, Cadillac 1961, Buick 1958, Nash 1941, Oldsmobile sedan 1906, Chevrolet Royal mail roadster 1913, Hudson sedan 1930, I spent one day in 1956 with a friend were we switched between all his Mustangs all brightly colored to 1950's paints such as Alpine blue to Matador red irid. He had one extremely wealthily painted by a talented Craftsman (most likely born around the 1870s) who painted one Champagne gold with a two tone of dark iridescent (metallic) sky blue. White wall tires and Cadillac hubcaps. It was prettier than a Imperial 1964 in that elegant signet Royal ruby color/hue. Now that people have tried driving these automobiles 40/50/60 years after their release, I'd like to give them the offer of driving them when they are brand new, instead of taking piles of beautiful now turned rusted ruined junk, and calling that a comparison to current cars.
"We love baseball. hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet".
"Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars" We had the ads with the same tune in Australia for Holden.
Holden??? What's that?
GM's marque in Australia
@ATCkeepsUsafe I use to own a Pontiac. It was the worst car I ever owned. Now I can relax, I have a Toyota and no more nightmares.
Dont forget the Cadillac.......America's Icon motor car
First year of the El Camino, they showed one near the end. We have a couple sweet ones cruising around the Knoxville TN area. Go Chevy!!!
It's remarkable to look at all these zillions of Chevys being built, and then to realize that not more than a tiny percentage still exist today.
The horrible car crusher
@@ghsgtnayhmd4792 new car lovers nightmare
Because we can't get them anymore, sadly
@hebneh Those "wonderful" Chevys went back to their "natural" state (RUST) in about 5years.....
But they still do exist.
I just sent this video to a friend who has a '59 Chevy pickup. I could see them in the background..Love these videos!
Wow! Excellent retrospective! I have ton of respect for any guys who worked on these mass production lines, regardless of which company. They had a really tough job, especially since these lines could never stop moving, unless they broke down or in an emergency.
retroolschool 😀🍿😀🍿😀🍿😀🍿
Yes it was a tough job but the pay was good,It started at 100 dollars a week which for 1957/was a very livable wage, if you were transferred to the night shift it was 105 dollars a week. Unless the “ line” broke down it did not stop, you had about 5 feet to complete your “ operation” one of my jobs was to put the rear shocks on the 1958 model think about it, 500 cars a shift, two shocks per car that’s 1,000 shocks a shift, I’m not making this up and the shocks had to be in an open position ,I was 19 years old when I got home I was barely able to eat dinner I was so tired I hit the sack and slept like death warmed over. But it was a good time of my life. I had my youth.
@@vitosanto3874 if a shift is 8 hours work thats every 50 seconds one schock...i believe you felt a sleep instant,you did a good job.I wish i can travel in time and visit your workplace of that time.I like old usa cars.In the 90s i had a impala sport coupe 59,now i have a bel air 56 convertible,good cars built by good man👌take care,grtz from Belgium
@@peterducodil9890 Thanks for the compliment, you are spot on with your estimate of timing to install the shocks,it took about two minutes to install both the rear shocks.Its hard to. Imagine that it could be done in that short period of time,and remember the line is moving. When you are first assigned the operation you can’t imagine how it can be done ,but after a week or so you don’t even think about it, you just do it. Add to the mix the constant noise of all the air powered impact hand tools. Sparks flying from the welding ,smoke in the air,guys yelling ,but as I said before the pay was good and after about a year or so of seniority your job was secure from a lay-off.
Amazing what we once built in this country. I suspect the buildings shown in the pictures are derelict and abandoned now if they still stand at all. Today it seems all we can do it take in laundry and turn out hamburgers.
You sure got that right! Having grown up around manufacturing and living in a General Motors family, what I see now is disgusting. I am so sick and tired of looking at ugly rec centers, parks, classrooms, and pregnancy clinics. I wish they would all close and turn into parking lots, just like our beloved factories did.
Don't forget fat kids..America builds great fat kids
That's globalism so much has been given up so that the globalist can have overall control!!!
thanks for sharing one photo looked like the tarrytown ny plant with the railcar in the background.
59's are cool looking 66's are my favorite i drag race 2 of them
Awesome video. and I believe that was Dinah shore singing The last song.
bought my first new car,.. a 1959 convertible, 4 speed on the floor, with a optional 348 engine rated at 250HP...it was a beautiful beige. a timeless design.
This Is Excellent ! Wonderful stuff.
A car you actually loved!
59 chevy was coolest design ever! I always admired 1960 buick too.
Good ol' Dinah Shore sings for Chevy.
I feel Pat Boone sang it better.
It's nice to see the building of my car :')
Célia H very nice! My first car was a 59 Impala 10 years old, hundred bucks and ran awesome. :)
Back in 1968 my first car was an 1960 Chevy. I've always thought the 1959/60 Chevrolet design was the beginning of the modern car era.
Walked passed 2 59s on the way to grade school in the 70s and would look inside everytime. Bought a 59 Impala 4 door in 01 and love it!!
Wow what a great collection of photos. A lot of stuff from well upstream of the final assembly line- which is usually all we see.
Wow, what amazing photos!
Thanks for posting a great video..
American made cars!
Beautiful cars made to last. If rust proofing was used back in the day,there would be still lots of these cars around.
Yes, if only more galvanized metal and aluminum were used on these classic's, there would be many more around as today's cars are.
Wrong.
These were junk at 100,000 miles even without the rust.
In the 1970s they were $50jalopies and demolition derby cars.
Today’s examples are rare and valuable because so few survived. They were painstakingly restored at several times their assessed value. And they are carefully trailered to events and driven only short distances on sunny days.
In a frontal offset collision with a 2009 Chevy Malibu... the 1959 Impala was completely destroyed in an IIHS safety test.
Bartonovich52 but that was a beautiful car.
I have probably watched this video 15 times and I still enjoy it.
Как бы я хотел жить в америке тех годов. Классные времена были.👍
Love the ‘59 Chevy. A guy here in Maryville, TN has one but it’s like an El Camino with the pick-up like bed in the back.
Back when America was great the 59 Impala was my first car & my favorite year design it was so radical even for 1959. I love the 59' Chevy's. I had 3 of them in my time. Back then there was a thriving middle class & financing & credit cards were not as common & needed back then. My dad paid cash for property & built a house in 1958 for 20 grand. He & his brother paid cash for a new 1957 Chevrolet he later bought his bro out. I recall looking at my dads old bank accounts from 1955 to 1958 & he had anywhere from $9500 to 10 grand in his account. He wasn't rich just a working man as he would always say. The only time he financed a new car was when he bought his first new Chevrolet in 1951 to establish credit. I worked at a new car store in 2015 & about 90% of all new & used car sales are financed & rarely is there ever a cash sale. I remember the cash sale for $20,000 in cold cash. Today there is too much financing & too many people in debt & bankruptcy's are all too common now .
When did our world go wrong? Orderly and disciplined, that was what drove society to be innovative and successful.
These are just yoo awesome to watch.Love it.Would be cool yo get on DVD.
solid cars
Not when they were involvled in a front end crash, crunches back into the front seat area ...
Those Fins ! Nothing in History like it .Nice video
For those curious, these photos were NOT taken in Detroit; they were instead taken in Tarrytown New York. Tarrytown is on the Hudson River in Westchester County north of NYC. This plant closed in 1996, the last vehicles assembled there were the 'dustbuster' vans. It's crazy to think that chevy had such a market share to the point where plants in Atlanta, Baltimore Janesville, St Louis, Flint, Oakland, Los Angeles, New York, and Cincinnati were building them.
Cincinnati would be the Norwood Assembly right? I was unaware this photo set was Tarrytown, it’s pretty hard to find any pictures of that plant in the 80d or 90s. What’s even more crazy is that a lot of those plants were also making trucks along side, some literally had the car and truck lines side by side, and at least two plants I can think of had 3 different product lines.
@@TheMW2informer Yes Cincinnati would be Norwood. The full photo set from Tarrytown is on a site called xframechevy, they're really cool to look at. I hear there is a video somewhere of the dustbuster van assembly. I would really like to see what Tarrytown looked like in the '90s and compare with the 1959 photos.
Great info! Didn't know that!
Had a 59 Biscayne, 6/stick, light green/white, plain Jane, great work car,,, worked at Lordstown, Ohio, 66-67, before goingi into the ARMY,,,
SAme, light green/white, 6, stick, ran great,,,,
The painters were not wearing any masks and they were painting in open booths. Crazy.
Yes, life (very short) was great back then for those workers..
I painted cars for 25 years, never without a respirator! R.I.P. Chevrolet painters! 😞
If it was made in the Tarrytown N.Y. Plant there is a 50-50 chance I helped build it,I worked there from 1957 to 1960 on the night shift.
That’s where the Life Magazine photos were taken.
that's real cool, did you buy a new Chevrolet from '57 to '60 ? That must've been
exciting. I bet you got a good deal, my dad bought a new '57 Bel Air & ordered it straight from GM because he said it's a better deal & cheaper than buying from the dealer.
Cars born the same year as me. Awesome video.
Hard working Americans making great cars for their fellow Americans.
See the U.S.A. in your new Chevrolet 1959 Impala, a V~8 for the price of a straight 6!
Available in a rainbow of durability proven brilliant colors.
The stove bolt sixes were dark blue while the 283 and 348 v8’s were bright orange
My late uncle's were engineers for GM /Chevy / Pontiac. This was the body that the Corvair came from and on the same assembly line if this was in Detroit
Worked in the GM North Tarrytown (now Sleepy Hollow) NY plant some 30 years after these pics were taken and a lot of it looked familiar. Plant closed in 1996 and was demolished shortly thereafter
I was raised on ranch in the 50s. It was a family effort so I never got paid, but on my 16th birthday my parents bought me a new '59 Impala. In those days folks bought new cars every 3 years so in 1962 (I was working in the business and getting paid) I bought another Impala. This one was fully loaded, big block 348, I swapped the four barrel for three-two carbs, four speed and posi-traction. By the time I was 22 or 23 muscle cars weren't as cool so I traded the Impala for a new VW. I think a new 64 or 65 VW was about $1,600. Today I still have a '64 double cab VW truck and it's my daily driver.
That's cool I was 17 in 1977 & my ma bought me a '59 2 dr Impala in mint condition. I regret to say I cracked it up & my dad bought me a '57 4 dr. Bel Air in 1978. You're right most buyers only kept a new car for 3 years they kept changing the style. However my dad bought a '57 Bel Air new & kept it for 11 years till he sold it cheap to a kid for $250.....& the car was still in mint condition. My dad was a sailor so the car would sit in the garage for half a year. My ma learned to drive in a '57 Chevy.
Thats car heaven....chevrolet did not know how it would be 50 plus years from them these cars are sought after like really bad
True, the '59 & "60 Chevy's didn't become desirable til 25 years later by that time most of them bit the dust. In 1972 I saw a '59 2 dr Impala for sale in mint condition for $800 & the '57 Chevy's were going for $3,000 & more. Because everyone wanted the tri-five Chevy's & the "61 to '64 Chevy's. my first car was a "59 2dr Impala in 1977 in mint condition for $1600 I wrecked it. My 2nd '59 2 dr Impala in mint condition in 1979 was $1375 & I passed on another '59 2 dr Impala in 1980 in mint condition for $1,200 I wanted it but I already had 2 before & it gets old buying the same car. i assumed the '59 Chevy's will always be cheap cars so I took the '59 Chevy's for granted.
I've had many other old cars in the meantime I bought one more '59 2 dr Impala in mint condition in 1998 by this time the price was $11,500 i financed it.
I used to go to classic car auctions in the 1970's & in 1978 a mint condition "58 Impala w/ 348 sold for $1,400 & in 1979 the same '58 Impala w/ 348 sold for $6,500, I think the movie "American Graffiti" in 1973 had a lot to do with it. Making the '58 Impala's desirable cash cows. But the '59 & '60 Impala's didn't become cash cows til about 1985 by that time they were very scarce. And lots of them were bought up by many foreign car buffs from Sweden, England & Japan & shipped back to their countries. I lived in England & worked in Sweden & I met a car buff who had a large collection of '60 Chevy Impala's he only liked the '60 Chevy's & no other year.
Unlike the '55, '56 & '57 Chevy's popular & desirable since day one.
Beautiful cars from a fantastic era in America.
I toured Chevrolet’s plant in Tarrytown NY before all the robots and it was amazing watching all the tech’s building cars.
I think it's amazing to watch the ROBOTS 'building cars now...
Look at how many men it took to build a car. Many men had a very good paying job then, now it just doesn't take that many people to build anything.
Robert Tiscione - YEAH! Thank you computers, Unions and Robots for that. ):
Their children invented the processes and computers to eliminate the jobs.
Yeah...Unions wanted robots to take away jobs. Seriously?? BTW,those guys you see on that line had HIGH paying jobs which for most meant a NEW home,wife didn't have to work etc because of Union wages.
Not exactly. I have family working at Honda in Indiana. It Takes 500 people five hours do an 868 different processes to make a Civic roll off every 60 seconds. And there are 238 civics online at one time between five assembly lines. It is also non union and they still make good money.
Try and get two tone paint today.
You can't even find a good place on today's cars to even draw the line for two tone
You could only in a New 2019 Chevy /GMC but you had to extra and wasn't cheap
@Dan Jackson In Europe there are several manufactures that produce cars with two tone paint jobs! And their liked a lot!
@@eozcompany9856 name them then Mr cryptic. I'm sure their nothing like what I'm hoping for.
@@WitchKing-Of-Angmar Renault, Škoda, Citroën and Toyota just to name a few.
1959 baby!!!
Now I know I'm old.
I remember hearing Dina Shore on the radio singing that jingle.
Might as well practice:
"You kids get off my lawn!"
love these
WOW!! This must have been back when America was great and lynchings in the south were at an all-time high. Many African Americans migrated north to work for GM. My uncle never made it. He was lynched in Dothan AL, 1955.
Ubuntu Ma'at Ase'🙏🏿
So cool!!!
My parents owned a white '59 Chevy 4-door with blue interior, in 1964.
It crapped out on us somewhere in Indiana, on the way back to TN.
I still remember mom and I getting on a bus and seeing it sitting there as we pulled off.
I never did find out what went wrong with it... Dad apparently fixed the problem, since we still had it after my sister was born in '65.
Damn was that a long time ago. lol
cool vid
... America at its zenith, respect for God, family and country!
I'm just an admirer, aged 40 in England. My son who is 9 & I just adore American cars. May I make some observations? I believe these cars to have been produced from Fisher Body's #21 plant. You know, that vast, abused, burnt out, stripped (by scrappers), defunct eyesore, that hasn't had a caring hand in 30+ years. I studied this film, frame by frame, taking time to check all the details. The floor channels match, as do the paint booths, washing stations & floor textures. I noted the tinted blue window too. Lovely. To shade the natural light from those big windows. I saw another video today. "Master Hands" from 1936. Incredibly, it gave some stats. One stat was that America had "15,000,000 skilled workers." How times have changed... Now, the name GM may as well mean 'Gone to Mexico'.
I wish American people remind importance of manufacturing.
the good ole days
The world needs more car fins!
need a time capsule with a lot of loading space to bring all this beauty's back Home
I would bring back a 59 El Camino.WOW!
Lets bring the whole assembly line !
Almost a hand built custom.
Amazing that no masks are worn in paint booth.
good quality photos
It was so exciting to watch a brand new car or truck then. Today you see a Lincoln from the back and if you can't see the logo you think it's a hunday or kia. Wtf
Nothing like a 59 Impala!
You are so right I would know I've had 3 '59 2 dr Impala's & they are exciting. I want another batwing Chevy before I die I'll even settle for a 4 door.
The rear end of that thing looked like an alien insect of some sort. It inspired many a halloween costume... The music in this film is nauseatingly, wretchedly corny, but then it WAS the 1950's TV era. We've come a long way. A friend of mine in high school drove a '59 Biscayne in the early '70s. It was rusty and smelled funny, but crank up the 8-track with the Stones and open some sacks of burgers and donuts while dragging Main Street... Classic Saturday night in small town SC.
no prob ..love doing it ....50s forever
Fun thinking my grandfather's '59 Impala sport coupe was built on those lines!
Okay, so I’ll take 2 of each build like off the first run (actually any run.) Then,10 black and red w/large block and standard shift. Then 10 any color combo. Then 10 with blems. Thank you.
The colors.😎
All that Glass in that year of production. The war effort improved glass technology for flawless vision in curved glass
Feeling kind of down these days? Filling empty inside? Having trouble filling that void in your heart?? You now have no excuse! Sing it, Dinah!..."Life is completer in a Chevy!"
MR Joe ...thanks
Sounds like Dinah shore
Yes she is. In the 1959 comercial where she sings on a Impala Convertible.
One of the Fisher Body plants was in Euclid, Ohio. They would assemble the bodies there, load them in box cars and they would be shipped to Detroit? For final assembly to the frame and power train. From final assembly to trucks for shipping to your local dealership. Working at Fisher Body meant after 30 years you could retire with a pension.
Think I saw my dad's blue Parkwood wagon. It came with one of those 348 mills.
Australia imported a few of these, my DAD had two of them and took them out to the trash, back in 1980, and now they are worth over 100K each, in original condition ? Also there were in Original condition at the time he thrown them out with the trah, all they needed was a little love and a polish and a little engine and transmission care and the things would drive, basically new oil's and battery and off you go driving a right hand drive 1959 chevy bel airs with rear indicator on each side of the large wings on the back, they were white and light blue in colour. :)
Yes that's right, I saw a right hand drive '59 Chevy Bel Air in England & I also saw
a '60 Chevy Impala 4 dr flattop in England both cars from Australia. I lived in England & I'd love to own a right hand drive '59 or '60 Chevy.
Ahh, The '50s, When TV was mostly black and white, But the CARS were in color!