Just thought I would mention some info about plant #17. Lot of you have seen the article that Fred B wrote in the NIFE news letter that plant #17 would be demolished. This is true, but there are a lot of things to be done before that can happen. No date as of yet. I will keep all posted whan such a thing is going to happen. I have made a few trips to the plant sense April. There nothing to be had. Anything and everthing was sent to scrap yard. OH there was someting FIERO there. On my first trip to see what was going on I noticed a trash barrel with a FIERO logo and the words chassis and body on the bottom . After talking with head of security I was able to get some of these barrels. There are two signs that I am trying to get. That would be (FIERO VISITOR CENTER & PLANT #17 SIGN ON BUILDING) #17 does not say FIERO but thats OK. Unable to post photos problem with PIP again. Can use some help to post photos on forum.
Ron T Historian
------------------ signature by F-I-E-R-O (My Indy on right / #1 IMS)
This is the first I've heard of it, sad to hear I FINALLY went to see the plant this past weekend when I was at the Michigan Fiero Club show. Of course I would have taken the Fiero if it were drivable.
What a shame! I was able to make it down to the plant once during the 25th show in Pontiac. I didn't have my fiero with me so much like the photos above, I have them with my WRX. I was really hoping to make it back someday with my fiero but I guess that it will never happen. If ever something is arranged, a meeting, a somewhat tour of an empty plant, please let us know! I'd love to go back to mecca at least once before it is gone forever.
I love those pictures from 1995! I can't believe it still looked like that 8 years later. I heard that the inside was only cleared up in 93! I wish someone had pictures from back then from the inside. When I visited the solstie/sky plant in delaware it sure was amazing to see the machines, stack or parts and how everything worked!
------------------ AKA. FieroAlex Not related in any way to the FieroMontreal club
Someone should go and stick/paint a fiero logo and name on the sign for old times sake. That sign will be torn down soon enough. Do we have an approximate date for demolition?
Just imagine if all of us, and I mean ALL OF US...could meet up there the day before the bulldozers and demolition crew shows up.We could block up every street within blocks of that place, and nobody could get through. Imagine, an army of FIERO's, say 14,000 strong !!! We'd make the haedlines and national news ! Just a thought though, one I wish possible.
Just imagine if all of us, and I mean ALL OF US...could meet up there the day before the bulldozers and demolition crew shows up.We could block up every street within blocks of that place, and nobody could get through. Imagine, an army of FIERO's, say 14,000 strong !!! We'd make the haedlines and national news ! Just a thought though, one I wish possible.
It would cost a fortune for that 14,000 strong to all travel to Pontiac....would be cheaper if each of us donated half of the traveling expenses and just bought the place. But that doesn't change the fact that it is an old, defunct building that has no serious historical value. Do YOU want to maintain it just because it was the birthplace of your car? Michigan has enough buildings that are falling apart....time to let them clean up a little.
Yes, it is sad to see it go, but we can't live in the past forever.
I own a few artifacts from the mockup shop at the old Fiero plant, including:
1) a grimy TH125 automatic transmission with the label "MOCKUP ONLY" stenciled on the case, 2) a new SI alternator labeled "Donated by General Motors for Educational Purposes," 3) a complete new '84-'87 4-cylinder exhaust system, including cat and downpipe, 4) a new '84-'87 cradle, 5) a 3.1 V6 long block, 6) a new, late V6 oil pan, 7) a complete new V6 distributor, 8) a set of new V6 exhaust manifolds, 9) a new set of V6 intake manifolds, 10) a semi-random collection of new V6 brackets and miscellaneous hardware, and 11) numerous smaller bits and pieces.
The guy I bought it all from said he had bought it in the late '90s at an auction conducted by a Vo-Tech school in the Detroit area.
Someday, I intend to sell the transmission and other items that are specific to the 4-cylinder cars and/or '84-'87 model years.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 07-21-2010).]
... plant #17 would be demolished. This is true, but there are a lot of things to be done before that can happen. No date as of yet. I will keep all posted whan such a thing is going to happen.
LMK, I'll take off work for a death in the family.
While at the 25th, I took a pic of my blue fiero in front of the plant... I figured the plant wouldn't be around forever and it was probably one of my few chances to do so:
This is the first I've heard of it, sad to hear I FINALLY went to see the plant this past weekend when I was at the Michigan Fiero Club show. Of course I would have taken the Fiero if it were drivable.
Parking a Honda in front of a GM Closed Plant is kinda like doing a low pass over the USS Arizona Memorial with a Jap Zero !
Parking a Honda in front of a GM Closed Plant is kinda like doing a low pass over the USS Arizona Memorial with a Jap Zero !
It's a Mazda 626, at least it was built in the USA There wasn't anywhere else to park.
If anyone gets an official date, I'd like to go see it, maybe play TAPS over the car's stereo, and grab a brick from the rubble. The factory is actually one of the best looking buildings in that area.
i live a mile north of this factory in Orion, MI and THIS building is in way better shape than 80% of the running factories within 10 miles of it. I dont see why they dont use it and convert it to a SPO plant or something and give some jobs back to the laid off workers around here.
I agree, that factory actually looks really nice from the street! It's a very old factory, wasn't it previously called the fisher body plant and it was producing Grand Prix's (or something similar). It was then coverted for the Fiero but I believe the front office part of the plant stayed the same.
Last year I visited the Sky/solstice plant in Wilmington Delaware and it doesn't even hold a candle to the fiero plant (from the outside)
Here is my photo from 2008, it seems the name on the sign was different then 2005
[This message has been edited by FieroMontreal (edited 07-21-2010).]
Old GM sites in Pontiac to receive federal funding for cleanup Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010
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By CAROL HOPKINS Of The Oakland Press
More than a dozen closed GM sites in Pontiac are among the properties designated for cleanup, according to an announcement Tuesday by the Obama Administration.
Funding to clean up the sites will come from a trust fund of more than $800 million established to pay for cleanup of closed General Motors sites in 14 states.
Michigan is the largest recipient, receiving $161 million for 47 sites.
“This is great news for Oakland County and Pontiac,” said Maureen Krauss, director of Oakland County’s Department of Economic Development and Community Affairs.
She noted that the sites named all were in the same general area, around Woodward and South Boulevard.
“Having these funds to help get sites ready for development allows us to show them to prospective buyers. We don’t want companies having to go through lengthy cleanups. Most companies now working in shorter time frames as far as wanting to build sooner rather than later.”
She noted the sites listed are not necessarily hazardous properties.
Some were parking lots for more than 30 years, Krauss said, and “on some there are cement pads that should be removed. Just getting the sites ready so there is no delay is important.”
Krauss said the validation site has “great access to roads and rail.”
The Centerpoint sites are close to the proposed Rally Movie Studio location, she said. No date yet has been set for the studio to open, Krauss said, citing complex financing that is in the works.
Having the studio and the cleaned GM sites will “enhance that area,” she said. “They will both feed off each other.”
U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Hills, applauded the announcement.
“This will go a long way in getting local sites cleaned up and ready for new job-creating developments,” he said.
“And it will help make our communities more attractive places for other businesses to invest. Aggressively transforming former auto facilities is a key for revitalizing our economy.”
President Barack Obama, speaking near a GM assembly plant in Youngstown, Ohio, called the trust a “landmark agreement to help dozens of communities like Youngstown revitalize and redevelop old, shuttered GM facilities, preparing them for new industries, new jobs and new opportunity.”
Ed Montgomery, who leads the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers, said the fund would clean up nearly 90 properties shuttered in the GM bankruptcy.
He said it represented the largest environmental and economic development effort for former manufacturing sites.
The cleanup plan will help raze or rehabilitate dozens of vacant manufacturing facilities and offices left barren by GM’s government-led bankruptcy last year. Montgomery announced the cleanup at a conference sponsored by the White House and the Brookings Institution on the future of automotive communities affected by the industry’s downsizing.
General Motors received $50 billion in government aid to get through its bankruptcy last year. GM has repaid $6.7 billion that the government considered loans, with the remaining $43.3 billion converted to a 61 percent stake in the automaker.
GM said Monday that its net income rose to $865 million in the first quarter. Company officials have said a public stock offering — a key step in the government eventually selling its ownership stake — could come later this year or in 2011.
White House economic adviser Larry Summers gave an upbeat assessment of the company’s future, saying there was a “real prospect of the government recovering most, if not all, of its investment” in GM.
Montgomery and Summers said the proposal would provide $536 million for the cleanup of properties and about $300 million to help states and communities pay for property taxes, demolition costs, plant security and other expenses.
More than half of the sites are in Michigan, and others are located in Ohio and New York. The fund will “take these properties and once again make them productive assets for your towns and communities,” Montgomery said.
The funding comes from $1.2 billion provided by the Treasury Department to wind down the “bad” assets of GM set aside in the company’s bankruptcy.
The administration plans to work with states to finalize the plan and will present the framework of the cleanup to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York for approval.
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said the rehabilitation of the manufacturing sites would help states trying to lure “green” manufacturing jobs such as battery production, wind turbines and solar panels.
“We want to make these sites the place for them to locate,” Granholm said.
Granholm said environmental concerns have been the biggest barrier to redeveloping the state’s 47 sites covered by the agreement. She said Michigan officials are talking with several companies who are interested in the locations.
The White House announced funding to help clean up old GM properties. Michigan is the largest recipient of funds. The following locations are in Pontiac:
• Employee Development Center
• Fiero site on Baldwin Avenue
• GMVM Pontiac Assembly
• Stamping Pontiac North Campus excluding Plant No. 14
• Pontiac Centerpoint Campus Central
• Pontiac Centerpoint Campus East
• Pontiac Centerpoint Campus West
• Centerpoint Land
• ACC Penske site
• 607, 631, 642 and 652 Meadow Drive north of the main Centerpoint Parkway
• PCC Validation site and its southern parking lot
Contact Oakland Press staff writer Carol Hopkins at 248-745-4645 or carol.hopkins@oakpress.com. Follow her on Twitter @waterfordreport. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
I dig those Fiero cans, wow nice find! How did you make it in the place?
I;m sure there is at least one forgotten room somewhere with a while bunch of fiero stuff in there.. I wonder if there is any way we can get a tour of the site even though it's empty
[This message has been edited by FieroMontreal (edited 07-22-2010).]
Actually I drove to the plant found security told them I had heard that the plant was going to be demolished and that I am Fiero historian and would like to get any Fiero items there. I was told that the plant was cleaned out about a week before I was there. Was told that no FIERO items were there. only thing Fiero would be the barrels. Had to get OK from his boss. Also went through the plant on a scond trip as security said there was two Fiero signs on the wall but were painted there. After taking some photos I noticed that the FIERO VISITOR CENTER sign was not painted, but rivited to the wall. Still hope to get that sign. As far as going through the plant that probably will not happen as there are a lot of contaminated areas that are off limits. Walking arround on second trip there was only a few barrels full of trash but they were plain yellow, no FIERO info on them. will keep all informed as I find out any further info.
Ron T Historian
------------------ signature by F-I-E-R-O (My Indy on right / #1 IMS)
we would love a couple of bricks if anyone does go and get some, 1 for the yellow Fiero spot in the garage and 1 for Tyler's memorial garden. if anyone does this, please let me know if you would sell 1 or 2, cost, shipping, etc.
It is indeed a small world! I am on a flight right now into MN for the Tyler Memorial Car Show. On my first flight *Had a layover in Atlanta( the guy next to me used to be an executive at GM and is retired. He said a good friend managed the line at Building 17. He said his name was Tim Lee. I have no clue if this info is correct, I just found it to be so coincidental after reading this thread last night.
He told me that Tim Lee is now the over seer of all manufacturing world wide now.
It is indeed a small world! I am on a flight right now into MN for the Tyler Memorial Car Show. On my first flight *Had a layover in Atlanta( the guy next to me used to be an executive at GM and is retired. He said a good friend managed the line at Building 17. He said his name was Tim Lee. I have no clue if this info is correct, I just found it to be so coincidental after reading this thread last night.
He told me that Tim Lee is now the over seer of all manufacturing world wide now.
http://www.gm.com/corporate/about/bios/lee.jsp Tim Lee was appointed president of GM International Operations, effective December 4, 2009. Based at GMIO's headquarters in Shanghai, China, he oversees GM's Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and Middle East operations.
Lee had served as GM group vice president of Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations, focusing on the customer at the place where it all begins – the plant floor.
Prior to that assignment, Lee was GM North America vice president of Manufacturing from January 1, 2006 to July 31, 2009, and was a member of GM's North American Strategy Board.
While in Zurich, Switzerland, Lee was GM vice president of Manufacturing, and was responsible for all GM vehicle manufacturing and assembly plants in Europe. Earlier in his career, Lee gained additional international experience directing product and manufacturing planning for Isuzu Motors in Japan, where he was named vice president of Corporate and Product Planning and a member of the board of directors.
Lee's broad automotive experience started as a student intern with GM in 1969. He worked his way from manufacturing, labor relations and personnel positions into various senior manufacturing posts. Lee served as plant manager at several GM plants in the U.S., and was the executive director of Manufacturing Engineering.
Originally from Lorain, Ohio, Lee received a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial administration from the General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) and a Master of Science degree in industrial administration from Purdue University.
Actually I drove to the plant found security told them I had heard that the plant was going to be demolished and that I am Fiero historian and would like to get any Fiero items there. I was told that the plant was cleaned out about a week before I was there. Was told that no FIERO items were there. only thing Fiero would be the barrels. Had to get OK from his boss. Also went through the plant on a scond trip as security said there was two Fiero signs on the wall but were painted there. After taking some photos I noticed that the FIERO VISITOR CENTER sign was not painted, but rivited to the wall. Still hope to get that sign. As far as going through the plant that probably will not happen as there are a lot of contaminated areas that are off limits. Walking arround on second trip there was only a few barrels full of trash but they were plain yellow, no FIERO info on them. will keep all informed as I find out any further info.
Ron T Historian
You missed it by 1 week oh wow what a bummer! I wonder how much left over stuff was thrown out during that week! What a shame.
Actually I drove to the plant found security told them I had heard that the plant was going to be demolished and that I am Fiero historian and would like to get any Fiero items there. I was told that the plant was cleaned out about a week before I was there. Was told that no FIERO items were there. only thing Fiero would be the barrels. Had to get OK from his boss. Also went through the plant on a scond trip as security said there was two Fiero signs on the wall but were painted there. After taking some photos I noticed that the FIERO VISITOR CENTER sign was not painted, but rivited to the wall. Still hope to get that sign. As far as going through the plant that probably will not happen as there are a lot of contaminated areas that are off limits. Walking arround on second trip there was only a few barrels full of trash but they were plain yellow, no FIERO info on them. will keep all informed as I find out any further info.
Ron T Historian
I went there during the Dream Cruise and the security guard and I had fun talking. He asked me if I was looking to restore it there and I asked if the secret prototypes were there. He said no but there were clay models in plastic cases. He said the building is on the list, for whatever that means. It could be 20 years before they actually tear it down.
I want to make a trip to Plant #17 before it gets torn down but that might not happen. I'd be happy just driving by. It would be really cool if someone could get a hold of some bricks after it get's torn down.
------------------ Current vehicles: 1986 Fiero GT 1966 Ford Mustang Coupe
It is a shame that GM can not use this place but it's time to let go. They are not going to build anything else there and Detroit alread has too many abandon plants that are eyesores.
Better to take this one out before it ends up like the old Packard plant full of Homeless and Drug Addicts.
A trip there is not a big deal now but in the 90's the plant still had the Fiero signs up and I was able to get photo's with them. That was worth the trip.
I FINALLY went to see the plant this past weekend when I was at the Michigan Fiero Club show. Of course I would have taken the Fiero if it were drivable. 
