antique film from GM

[nearchoclatetown]

looking through the 68 Buick owner's manual there's an ad in back for a "positive 35mm" film available from the General. has anyone seen, own, know of this film? has anyone converted it to vhs? the Dodge Brothers club converted some old factory film and made it available to members. it's a great look at how these cars were really built. it sounds as if the Buick film is just tech info, does anyone know for sure? it says it goes back to 1910. thanks

[Guest 70 Electra]

I think this is simply referring to the service manuals being available on (35mm) microfilm. This format was more for libraries than for dealerships. The reference to 1910, I believe, simply meant that at the time of publication (1968 in your case), the microfilm manuals were available for years back to 1910.

[WillBilly53]

this reminds me,

i'm really into film as in super-8, regular 8, 16mm and also the old 35mm positive film as well as their respective projectors. One day while doing my normal search for "1953 Buick" and/or "53 Buick" (thanks Tom!) i found 4 rolls of the 35mm positive film and the vinyl records that go with them all about a 1953 on ebay for i think around 30-40 dollars. i can't remember exactly. I viewed some of them. I love it. it's totally classic. The set i got were on power brakes, how to be a good salesman, and such. They seemed to be mainly for dealers. It's great though. I'm gonna scan the film and capture the vinyls on to my iBook and make a video cd out of them.

.

[palbuick]

I was going to list my films next month on E-Bay, but if you are into Buick Films. I have a set of 10 Original Buick films for the 1970 Buicks. All are stillin their original boxes. There is a short film and a record in each box. I don't have the player. I am not sure what subjects are covered. All are different subjects. I will have a reserve of $300 for the set, sounds high but finding the set is very hard and these are rare.

Greg: did you read this.

[nearchoclatetown]

thanks for the answers. does the buick club have a library?could the club use these for everyone's benifit?

[NTX5467]

I suspect the films you mention would have been dealer training films. There probably should be some accompanying booklets for them too, possibly with some short tests in the back. In the earlier times, they might have had some specific player of sorts for them, but I'm not sure. Somewhere in the middle or later '60s, these instructional programs were transitioned into video tapes. Much easier to deal with plus they played through a regular television.

The later videos came in a packet with workbooks, a leader's instruction guide, and the tape. These would cover new models and how to work on them, new model updates and improvements, specific vehicle systems, and even some "Curbside Chats" that Buick brass (as in Ed Mertz, for example) did for the dealers. Most of those videos were about 30 minutes long.

Even the more modern videos have become somewhat obsolete with the new Individual Distance Learning program that GM has. Satellite broadcasts of new model information, interactive classes and testing, web-based programs and testing that can be taken by the employees via the Internet. There are still some hands-on training/testing situations at the regional training centers, but bringing "factory training" to more people in the dealerships is much easier to do now than ever before, with less intrusion on their work place activities.

Enjoy!

NTX5467

[Guest my3buicks]

I have both 67 & 69 Sets, both of which still use filmstrips