1972 strike

[bcmiller]

Not completely related to 67-69 Camaros but interesting.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1LmVxf8XbB/?mibextid=wwXIfr

A UAW strike hit the Norwood, OH assembly plant in early April, 1972. The strike lasted 174 days, the longest strike in GM history up to that point, and not be resolved until September 1972. The walk out left hundreds of Camaros, Firebirds, and Novas, in various stages of assembly, stranded on the production line. By the time the strike ended, production for the 1973 model year had begun at other assembly plants.

New federal bumper regulations had been implemented for the 1973 model year, and General Motors decided it was too costly to update the 1,100 1972 models left on the Norwood assembly line to 1973 standards. They were all crushed (around 40 nearly completed cars were stripped of their VIN's and donated to vocational schools).

[Vince]

Thank you Bryon for that info.  I had been aware of the strike but didn't know what happened to all the cars that were left stranded.   

[fsc66]

See attached interesting:

From Oct 4, 1972:

[Vince]

Kind of surprising to me that the U.S. government refused GM's request to extend the period 60 days so the cars could be sold in the U.S.   

[GMAD_Van Nuys]

During production of the 3rd generation Camaros & Firebirds at the Van Nuys Assembly Plant, the temperature controls in the paint ovens malfunctioned, causing the sealers in approximately 700 cars to melt before the problem was discovered.  As these vehicles could not be sold, some were donated to local schools for auto shop classes.  There was an attempt to remove the engines & transmissions from these completed cars, but it was found to be too costly and the cars were sent to a local salvage yard and crushed.  Plant security was present at the yard as they removed the VIN tags before the cars were crushed. The owner of the salvage yard couldn't stand seeing all those new Carmaros & Firebirds being destroyed and left before the work was completed.  At least the 1972 vehicles at Norwood were assembled and then sold in Canada.