Re: They're they go again!!

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

Tom Harais wrote:
> interesting because what I say was not a giant GM or Ford, but a
> hodge-podge of little shops from engineering design to parts production
> that supplied the auto industry.  It was a bunch of subcontractors!  The
> only thing GM and Ford and Chrysler seemed to own were the assembly plants
> and their headquarters buildings.

I toured the IH plant in Springfield while at Nationals...

It's an *ASSEMBLY* line.

The cabs are made at another plant.. I think IH makes their own cabs
still.
The motors were assembled at another plant - IH built the Navistar 7.3Ls
and variants.. but there was an awful lot of Caterpillar motors,
Cummins.. even a few Detroit Diesels around.
I saw pallets of Fuller 13-spds n' such.

Frames are built by someone else.

The plant in Springfield painted the bodies, riveted a bunch of stuff
onto the frames (bolt on the off-the-shelf brake drums, axles, brake
lines, etc), dropped the motor/tranny into the frame, then put the body
on.

Very little was "IH"... you can order a "Navistar" Tractor with a
Cummins if you want!  The body and the name-plate are genuine IH tho'...