RICK YOUNG Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 HI ALL,DOES ANYBODY KNOW THE LOCATION OF THE BUICK/GM ASSEMBLY PLANT THAT WAS LOCATED IN KANSAS CITY, KS?I THINK IT OPENED IN 1947 AND RAN THROUGH THE 70'S???ANY HELP???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICK YOUNG Posted July 5, 2006 Author Share Posted July 5, 2006 OK BEFORE MR OBVIOUS ANSWERS IN KANSAS CITY, KS.I MEANT THE ACTUAL ADDRESS OR PART OF TOWN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centurion Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Others may have more information than I do, but the plant is often referred to as the "Fairfax" plant. I assume, then, that the plant was located in the Fairfax Industrial District of Kansas City, Kansas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shart Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 The plant started out at a B-25 bomber plant during WWII. GM took it over after the war and at one time they built airplanes and BOP cars next to each other on two separate assembly lines. I believe they did that again during the Korean war also. Car production began with the 1946 model year. They produced mostly full-sized BOP cars until the 80's or so. The new plant which replaced the original started model year production in 1986. GM tried to sell the old plant but wasn't successful. It eventually was razed. Yes, it's still called the Fairfax assembly plant and its located in Kansas City KS in the Fairfax industrial district close to the river. The current plant is on the former site of the old Fairfax Municipal Airport which dated from the 20's or 30's. The Malibu and Malibu Maxx are currently made there and soon the Saturn Aura sedan will be as well. My '65 Wildcat and '65 LeSabre were both assembled there. The plant has one of the highest quality ratings in the country among GM plants I understand. Anything else you'd like to know I'll try and answer it. BTW, they built their 1-millioninth Buick there on May 17, 1965. Check out this link:http://www.gmdynamic.com/company/gmabili...ary.php?fID=116 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 70 Electra Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 If I can use Steve's own words to elaborate.... (this is from a 2005 email he sent me on the same topic)"The original plant started out building B-25 bombers during WWII and was owned by North American Aviation. At various times postwar they produced airplanes and B-O-P's in the same plant! The old plant produced its last batch of cars on May 8, 1987. By this time construction of the new plant was well underway. If you picture an upside down "L," the old plant was located on an east-west street named Kindelberger (the bottom foot of the L) while the new plant was constructed on the old Fairfax Airport property which had been there since the 20's. It's located on the vertical part of the L on Fairfax Trafficway, a north-south street. FYI, from 1987 to 1989 GM tried in vain to sell the old plant, "as-is," with no luck. I believe it was just too big, too old and cumbersome for any kind of manufacturing or to be sub-divided into smaller sections. By some kind of dumb luck it caught fire on January 19, 1989 while it was being demolished and most of it burned. My brother works directly across the street from the old plant site and watched as it took them many months to cart off the debris." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICK YOUNG Posted July 8, 2006 Author Share Posted July 8, 2006 THANK'S SO MUCH FOR THE INFO. MY 63 LESABRE WAS BUILT THERE IN JULY OF 63.ANYONE GOING TO ROCHESTER? LOOK FOR MY RED B-63 IN THE "DRIVERS" SECTION THERE.RICK YOUNG JEWELL,IABCA #39207 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICK YOUNG Posted July 8, 2006 Author Share Posted July 8, 2006 DID ANYONE SAVE SOME BRICKS??RYBCA #39207 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shart Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 If you mean from the old plant, not that I know of. It wasn't made out of brick. It was very large and because it was empty for quite a long time they fenced it off so bums wouldn't go in there and folks wouldn't try to get in to take things from it. The neatest part was the entrance which I believe I have a photo of. In the meantime attached is a photo of my '49 Super Sedanet inside at an open house they had March 4, 1983. The celebrated the production of their 6 millionith car since 1946. The Governor of MO drove the 6,000,000th off the line, a 1983 LeSabre 4dr sedan. SteveP.S. See the next post for a jpg of the page about the open house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shart Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Here's the jpg of the first page they handed out at the open house in 1983. Gives a little history also. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICK YOUNG Posted July 10, 2006 Author Share Posted July 10, 2006 Great Info THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!RY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now