1947 GM "MY JOB" Contest

[Guest South_paw]

Anyone have any info about this contest from 1947? I found a bunch of pictures of the winners, have a look.

Award ceremony,

and the car winners

You would think this guy could muster up a smile

[Guest Xprefix28truck]

The last guy is just thinking about how his wife is never gonna let him drive it......

[Jim Rohn]

the last guy is just trying to match the look of that grille ...

[30 Hupp]

the last guy is just trying to match the look of that grille ...

.....and doing a good job of it!!

[Shop Rat]

Or wondering where he will be able to get the money to pay the taxes on the new car. :eek:

[Jim Rohn]

or unhappy because he got the white wheels with dog dish caps instead of full wheel covers ...

[auburnseeker]

The guy that won the Cadillac looks pretty happy. Must have done better than the others to score a Caddy!.

[Guest South_paw]

Oops, I missed one

The Cadillac winner sure is a happy camper.

Here's what I found out about this contest,

In September and October, 1947, General Motors held

a contest for its employes. It was based on the state-

ment MY JOB AND WHY I LIKE IT, and rapidly be-

came known around General Motors as the My Job

Contest, or MJC.

The contest was open to all hourly rate employes and

some salaried employes. All they had to do was write

a letter any length explaining why they liked their

jobs. The winners were picked by independent judges

on the basis of sincerity, originality and subject mat-

ter, without consideration of writing ability.

A total of 174,854 entries were received. More than

5,000 prizes, all GM products, were offered, the 40

top prizes being automobiles. This book contains the

letters of these 40 top winners, entirely unedited and

unchanged.

Winner of a

Cadillac

Series 62

Convertible

Thomas B. Anslow

BUICK MOTOR DIVISION

Thomas B. Anslow works in the Buick Motor Division's Plar

3 at Flint, Mich., the Forge Plant. He is a forging machine ope:

ator, pounding hot metal down into dies to forge gears that g

into Buick transmissions.

Born in Pennsylvania on April 29, 1905, Mr. Anslow attende

high school for three years before enlisting in the Navy in 192:

He came to Buick in 1925, just 22 years ago.

Mr. Anslow is married and has a daughter, Janet, 14.

His main hobby is hunting, even though, for two years in su

cession, he has been a victim of accidents in a boat and cano

used to get to good hunting spots. Both accidents resulted i

Mr. Anslow's being "ducked" in ice-cold water. He lists as othe

hobbies carpentry, boating, fishing and dogs. Mr. Anslow als

has been a participant in the GM Suggestion Plan, receiving a

award of $306 for his idea.

Following is Mr. Anslow's letter which won him the highest

award in the "My Job and Why I Like It" Contest:

JVlv JOB is in the Drop Forge Plant, Buick Motor Co. A Dro

Forge is an industry in itself, and altho it is a highly paid wort

it is of such nature that it automatically eliminates the lazy, the

work requires thinking ability, physical endurance and good

judgement. Because . . .

A Drop Forge is a place with many roaring fires, blast fur-

naces that heat bars of steel of all sizes & lengths to tempera-

tures up to 2300 Fahrenheit. Machines that cut cold steel, like

so much cord wood . Overhead cranes that can lift 50 tons without

effort. It is a place with giant steam hammers powerful forging

presses, forging machines, machines of all types and sizes.

Pounding, pushing, squeezing, white hot steel into die im-

pressions, to form crank shafts cam shafts, rods, steering

knuckles, gears, axles and all those odd shaped parts of an

automobile, that you so often wondered how they got that

way. A Forge is the place that rattles the windows in buildings

for blocks around. It is hot and dirty and it is noisy. It has a

smell of heat and sweat, and burning gases. It is a place with

rhythm. The rhythm of production you understand, because

you do it, you see it, you feel it. It is a place with individual

know how. To we who work here it is a place of fascination, it is

a way of life. To a person seeing it for the first time, when the

temperature is in the nineties, he would probably think of the

place he had been warned about in his Sunday school days.

A Drop Forge worker is a peculiar sort of Joe, he has a tough

job, and he is proud of it. He makes forgings eight, nine, or ten

hours a shift, after work he makes them in the tavern, he makes

them at the dinner table, in fact he makes them wherever &

whenever he can get anyone to listen and he always makes

them better than the other guy. He is a guy that is always

going to quit just as soon as he gets that 40 or 80 paid for. He

gets it paid for O.K. He then hires someone to work it or lets

his wife do it. As a rule he never quits the forge until old age

makes it too tough and when the boss gives him an easy job,

he thinks he is being pushed around. Yes, I am one of these

Joes, with 23 yrs in this plant, my dad has 32 yrs, and my kid

brother 13 yrs.

My job is forging machine operator. I forge the various

gears that go in the Buick transmission. As an operator my job

is to set the dies, and operate the machine. Other than the

general atmosphere of the forge I have personal reasons for

liking my job, mostly selfish I suppose. My job allows me to

operate as an individual, rather than just one of a group. Since

all transmission gears are different in shape and size they re-

quire different dies. To set these dies in a machine, that is

constantly changing due to wear and intense heat, in the

shortest time possible, is proof of my ability. To take care of the

dies, to get the maximum amount of production, is also a

challenge to me. To operate my machine over a longer period

of time (without major repairs) than the other guy is a record

that I am proud of. Since I am paid on a piece work basis it

goes without saying that effort is its own reward. All these

things together give me the satisfaction of personal achiev-

ment. Most of the supervision in a forge plant are people that

at one time .were forging machine operators, therefore any

problems that arise are mutual therefore there is less chance for

friction and the operation of the plant is on a personal basis

rather than impersonal. Last of all my job, along with my

efforts, has allowed me to stand on my own feet thru all the

years, the lean as well as the fat. It has made it possible for me

to own my home, to own a second home at a nearby lake where

we spend all our summers and many weekends in fall and

winter. It has allowed me to accumalate a substantial amount

in savings, Bonds and paid up insurance for future security.

It has also made it possible for me to perform the duties of a

citizen in the community in which I live. There are more

reasons, but I think this letter is long enough now. Yet any

shorter an explanation would be an injustice to the job which

I am proud of.

The rest of the list of winners can be found here,

Full text of "My job and why I like it"