The last Cavalier
October 6, 2004
LORDSTOWN - The historic run of Chevrolet Cavalier small cars ended with mixed emotions about 11 a.m. Wednesday when a black LS coupe rolled off the General Motors Corp.'s Lordstown Complex East assembly line.
"Everyone's sad. Another phase of life has gone by us. But everyone is anticipating the Cobalt,'' Jim Graham, president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, said, referring to the new, premium small car the Lordstown complex will start building later this month.
" There's kind of a letdown because it's been our bread-and-butter for 20 years, but we're going into a quality car that we know is going to sell,'' echoed Jim Kaster, president of UAW Local 1714 at the Complex West metal fabricating center that stamps steel parts for the cars.
The last Cavalier, which is headed to a dealership in Mount Holly, N.J., was number 4,596,283 built at the plant since the 1982 model went into production in the summer of 1981, GM said.
Chevrolet built and sold about 7 million Cavaliers in North America, including those made in the early days at GM's Janesville, Wis., assembly plant, and in later years at Mexico's Ramos Arizpe plant.
The total ranks the car among the best-selling models in world automotive history, GM said. And the nameplate won't disappear from the nation's highways anytime soon; there were more than 3.3 million still registered at the end of 2003, the automaker said.
The Cavalier's finale followed its cousin - the Pontiac Sunfire small car - which ended production at Lordstown in May at 827,830 units.
The owner of Diane Sauer Chevrolet, Trumbull County's largest Chevrolet dealership, remembered the Cavalier as a true "get 'em, grow 'em'' car.
"The first car many people bought was a Cavalier, then they came back sometimes and bought another Cavalier and sometimes a bigger model or van as the family grew,'' Diane Sauer said.
Sauer said the car also has been a great seller on her used-car lot, where it attracted high school students spending their graduation money on a car or buying transportation for a summer job.
"It's bittersweet,'' said Sauer, whose dealership is awaiting the Cobalt's arrival. "It's great to have a new car, but the Cavalier was a true workhorse for us. It's like saying goodbye to a good friend.''
The Lordstown Complex's 6,500 workers won't be able to dwell on the Cavalier's end for long as preparations to launch the Cobalt hit the final stretch.
Complex spokesman Tom Mock said as soon as the last Cavalier went by on the assembly line, crews were dismantling certain areas, such as workers' platforms, support posts and material racks that are no longer needed.
"We're retooling and reprocessing the entire operation. A lot of stuff is being taken out and new equipment and work stations are put in,'' he said.
Mock said team members in general assembly won't be back until Tuesday, although team leaders and body and paint shops are still running.
Worker training to build the new car will continue through Monday, followed by a gradual "system fill'' of Cobalts, Mock said.
"We'll build one, then there'll be 10 spaces, then build another, then 10 spaces,'' he said. "We hope to begin filling the system the week of Oct. 18.''
The plant already has made a combination of about 500 salable and nonsalable Cobalts, Mock said. The first car designated for delivery to a dealership will be built later this month, he said.
No goal for the rampup to full production is being given because the key is quality, Mock added.
"If it means we only build such-and-such so we learn, that's what we have to do. You can't ship that to a customer until it's done right,'' he said.
The eventual production goal is 1,296 Cobalts a day, he said.
Local 1714's Kaster said workers are focused on the best launch the complex has ever had.
"We're doing in-plant employee meetings next week to talk to people about how important this is. Everyone's been giving 100 percent,'' he said.
Kaster praised workers and union leaders for ratifying a shelf agreement that changed the work environment in the plants to work teams and some job combinations.
"We have to thank people for being smart enough to go with that shelf agreement. I know it was a hard pill to swllow, but if it wasn't for their foresight, we wouldn't celebrating today,'' he said.
By LARRY RINGLER
Tribune Chronicle
http://uawlocal14.org/News/ArchiveRegional/10-6Lordstown.htm
