VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 1931 Roadster assembly plants

I've got a question about 1931 or any and all early Roadster assembly plants. I saw a posting one time on Facebook of an early 30's Chevrolet assembly plant, and I actually think it was 1931, showing a truck assembly plant floor with roadsters as well. Someone commented that Roadsters were produced in the truck plants. Can anyone confirm this, or maybe even have a copy of this photo?

In 1931 all assembly plants produced passenger as well as truck models. My understanding is that Roadsters were assembled at each assembly plant. Don't know if the bodies were assembled at a central body plant (or maybe more than one) and shipped to the assembly plant. The closed passenger cars bodies were produced and assembled at an adjoining or close by Fisher Body plant. Since the Roadsters, Phaetons and trucks didn't have Fisher Bodies (except for Sedan Delivery) there must have been body assembly elsewhere.

Hi Dave and Chip,

I was just reading this post. I believe Chip is correct, all plants produced passenger cars as well as trucks. My question, when we got to 32 and later for the Phaeton's which were very limited production, would we not start wondering if it made since to build only 419 phaeton's between 9 plants, that would only be ~46 cars to each plant. Would it be cost effective to setup bin locations for parts for only 46 cars to each plant? Or would it make since that maybe only 2 or 3 of the plants assembled this body style?

Another thing, we all know that or think that roadsters don't have any body markings on them in the US. What if I said I've see 2 roadsters which have body number stamped into the wood? I have no way to identify what this number is, but it sure was there. It was on a 33 roadster and also a 34 roadster.

I'm also of the camp that the bodies were made in a different plant than the assembly of the car, but we have no documentation as to where or if who. Some people have made comment that some of the woody body builders might have built the roadster and phaetons. The problem with this, Campbell body company was proud of what they made and marked their bodies. If someone like Campbell made the Chevrolet roadster & phaeton bodies, don't you think they would have marked the bodies like Fisher did?

Thanks,
Bruce

Kind of the same thing on the early Olds and Pontiac open cars. Olds only produced one open car in 32’, the DCR model (Cabriolet type body). It too, was labeled by Fisher and while Olds only produced cars out of Lansing in the US, the body wasn’t produced at the near by Fisher plant. No one knows who actually produced those bodies. The mystery continues.

Assembling the Roadster and Phaeton bodies onto chassis would not be much different than the "closed" bodies built by close by Fisher Body plants. I am relatively sure that in the last few years of the "open car" production that the low volume bodies were assembled, painted, upholstered at a single plant by a contract manufacturer (like Ionia or ???) and shipped probably by rail to the assembly plant. It would be far more economical to ship completed bodies than partially or fully assembled cars. The bodies would occupy much less space. At the time there were still several contract body companies.