356 The way it was...

[JR]

Ron,
As I mentioned to Roy in a off website e-mail to him, I wouldn't have expected you to remember me with all the folks that you meet.
Our cars were parked a couple away at the 2014 Fontana 356 Holiday.
This is us talking.
Chris Overholser's Speedster is next to yours then my Roadster.



Also I don't know if you are familiar with the UK aviation publication FLYPAST, but my letter to the Editor is in the November edition. The October issue had a 7 page article on A3s that I have flown so Roy and his two UK guys 'urged' me to write the Editor. I did, he ground looped the presses and my letter and pictures made the next issue.



Aren't friends great?
Dick

[revron]

Roy,
Dick was in the Navy, I was in the Air Force, Active, then Reserve, then Guard. The Air Defense Alert job, in the Guard, was the best of both worlds. The Air Force paid me "well" to fly F-4's and I had plenty of time to run the Porsche restoration business, race a Speedster, raise a family, and generally goof-off.
Lot of guys, lot of planes between the Navy and Air Force. I don't remember meeting Dick, although perhaps at some long past Holiday.
How many other Ron Roland's are there in the Registry, or the world? Only Google knows . . .
You're right, interesting places TO VISIT. Glad I didn't make a career there.
Ron, still Roland

[roy mawbey]

So then Ron, you knew Dick, you must have flown too then? This is like a detective story, are you Ron or are there many other Ron Roland's?
I guess there are??

Either way like your story. I sold machine tools that's why I was in and out of car plants, always interesting places to visit, but never easy to sell too.

Roy

[revron]

OK, Dick, you're excused, anyway, my sister-in-law is the manager of public relations (or something like that) at Western, now.

I didn't get a choice about joining the union. My father was the Industrial Engineer who oversaw all the man-power processes and the union was not happy about me even working there. They were always grinding their ax against us, trying to give me jobs they thought I couldn't do to embarrass my father. Didn't work, but the Company wanted me to stay as a line supervisor. Might have been interesting but the draft board was breathing down my back, too. Great movie - "Hunted by the Draft and the UAW"

[JR]

Nope Ron!
Lived in Lake Odessa (Ionia County) worked at Fisher Body in the Summers.
Dick

[revron]

Good? No one is good except God alone.
Thanks Roy.

Lived in Lansing and went to Western - hmmmm...

[JR]

Hey Ron,
Don't know if I mentioned it, but I spent my summers of 1953-55 at the Fisher Body Plant in Lansing then returning to Western Michigan each Fall.
We could work 89 days before we had to join the union.

He is Roy and I have a copy!
Dick

[roy mawbey]

Ron, I presume you have to be the Ron who wrote such a good book regarding the 356? Invaluable that book for so many!

Roy

[revron]

It's cleaner than the Ford Rouge Assembly Plant when I worked there in 1963, not to mention the Dearborn Iron Foundry (in the Rouge) ten years later. The Dearborn Assembly floor was wooden blocks on end. If a worker dropped a nut or bolt he didn't have time to pick it up so a hi-low just drove over it and pressed it into the oil-soaked wood. Dark, artificial lighting, the smell of oil, constant noise, continual motion of the assembly line, workers and equipment. I'll never forget it - it was great. Glad I was going back to Michigan State in the fall. Think about 20, 30, 40 years in that environment, makes the Porsche "factory" look like a pleasant picnic.

I wanted to take the grand-kids down there to see how cars are built But it's all different now. They build trucks in an automated, operating-room atmosphere, and charge like an amusement park...
Ron Roland

[roy mawbey]

That welder in the centre of the picture is just about as dirty as you could possibly get his clothes as well as his face and hands. Now I do remember working in machine shops in the 1950's but never got quite that dirty. How times have changed! Been retired now for ten years but remember well visiting all the largest car plants in the UK including the Japanese ones and they were all so clean in comparison 50 years after that photo was taken.

I do remember the Ford factory in Dagenham near London in the early 60's after a visit there organised by the company I worked for. It again was rather black and depressing from my memory. When Ford fully organized their Engine plant in Bridgend in Wales by 2000 it was a clean great shop like also the BMW engine plant near Birmingham.

These photos are so interesting to see, especially those from the early 356 factory days. Thank you.

Roy

[356]

[356]

[revron]

Interesting to see them polishing this car after it was assembled, although the front Porsche badge appears to have been removed. Must have been an end-of-line repair, cause getting all the dust and residue off is going to be a bear . . .
Guy on the left looks like he is really leaning on that polisher.
Ron

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