The History of the Delco-Remy Divsion of General Motors
September 3rd, 2015, 08:58 PM
#1
Tanawanda
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The History of the Delco-Remy Divsion of General Motors
Some may find this interesting and informative; I know I did
Bittersweet symphony....
http://delcoremyhistory.com/index.htm
Bittersweet symphony....
http://delcoremyhistory.com/index.htm
September 4th, 2015, 06:28 AM
#2
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A sad story, very much so. It's happened throughout American industry, and it seems unlikely these jobs will ever come back.
I did take exception to his closing comment, where, in my opinion, he draws an unwarranted conclusion:
Employees in many cases were buying new GM cars every year if not every couple of years creating a large market for its vehicles. When GM decided it no longer needed the component divisions through-out the Midwest, then the former employees and those that would never be hired because those jobs did not exist anymore had no further need to purchase GM vehicles. Just one of many reasons GM went bankrupt in 2009.
Yes, undoubtedly many GM employees bought GM cars out of loyalty to their employer. But to claim that the several tens of thousands of people who used to work for Delco-Remy no longer buying GM cars once they lost their jobs is a reason for GM's bankruptcy in 2009 is nonsense. These people represented a drop in the bucket as far as GM's sales each year, and some fraction of these people would have continued to buy GM cars anyway. So the actual impact of that subset of former Delco-Remy employees no longer buying GM cars is too small to measure.
The problems that led to GM's declaration of bankruptcy went back many years, had many causes, and will probably be debated in business schools and think tanks until the end of time.
I did take exception to his closing comment, where, in my opinion, he draws an unwarranted conclusion:
Employees in many cases were buying new GM cars every year if not every couple of years creating a large market for its vehicles. When GM decided it no longer needed the component divisions through-out the Midwest, then the former employees and those that would never be hired because those jobs did not exist anymore had no further need to purchase GM vehicles. Just one of many reasons GM went bankrupt in 2009.
Yes, undoubtedly many GM employees bought GM cars out of loyalty to their employer. But to claim that the several tens of thousands of people who used to work for Delco-Remy no longer buying GM cars once they lost their jobs is a reason for GM's bankruptcy in 2009 is nonsense. These people represented a drop in the bucket as far as GM's sales each year, and some fraction of these people would have continued to buy GM cars anyway. So the actual impact of that subset of former Delco-Remy employees no longer buying GM cars is too small to measure.
The problems that led to GM's declaration of bankruptcy went back many years, had many causes, and will probably be debated in business schools and think tanks until the end of time.
September 4th, 2015, 07:04 AM
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And sadly, the bulk of those debates won't centre around how to avoid it ... but more on how to recognize the best time to short the stock.
September 4th, 2015, 07:22 AM
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Should it have been prevented? We all assume the answer is yes, but why?
Nothing says that any company has to last forever. Did everyone sit around and lament the loss of Packard, Studebaker, and the thousands of other auto companies that have come and gone over the course of history? For a short while, yes, but we move on. When Studebaker died in 1964 or thereabouts, it had been around as a company for over 100 years. That certainly seems long enough that it should have been saved, right? No.
Bankruptcy is a healthy thing because it weeds out inefficiencies and is thus a strength of the capitalist system, not a weakness. Companies go into business. If they can't compete, they go out of business. That's always been true and always will be true unless the government interferes.
I've always felt that our economic system should have been allowed to work back in 1979/80 during the first Chrysler bankruptcy and in 2009 during the GM and second Chrysler bankruptcies. Who decreed that these companies must be kept in business at any cost? If they'd gotten to the point that they couldn't operate profitably, they should have gone out of business. This "they're too big to fail" mentality is wrong.
Just because Chrysler and GM might have gone out of business doesn't mean that the demand for the cars they produced would have disappeared. The market for automobiles would have still been there in some form. Maybe Ford would have stepped in and bought up some of GM's factories for it's own use. Maybe Toyota would have. Maybe Penske would have gone ahead and completed the deal for Saturn after all. Maybe someone would have come along, put together a few factories, and started a whole new automobile company. I have no idea. But we'll never know.
Certainly not every factory would have been bought , and there certainly would have been a net loss of jobs, but in the end, the auto industry as a whole would have been a little leaner, healthier, and sized better for the market.
Nothing says that any company has to last forever. Did everyone sit around and lament the loss of Packard, Studebaker, and the thousands of other auto companies that have come and gone over the course of history? For a short while, yes, but we move on. When Studebaker died in 1964 or thereabouts, it had been around as a company for over 100 years. That certainly seems long enough that it should have been saved, right? No.
Bankruptcy is a healthy thing because it weeds out inefficiencies and is thus a strength of the capitalist system, not a weakness. Companies go into business. If they can't compete, they go out of business. That's always been true and always will be true unless the government interferes.
I've always felt that our economic system should have been allowed to work back in 1979/80 during the first Chrysler bankruptcy and in 2009 during the GM and second Chrysler bankruptcies. Who decreed that these companies must be kept in business at any cost? If they'd gotten to the point that they couldn't operate profitably, they should have gone out of business. This "they're too big to fail" mentality is wrong.
Just because Chrysler and GM might have gone out of business doesn't mean that the demand for the cars they produced would have disappeared. The market for automobiles would have still been there in some form. Maybe Ford would have stepped in and bought up some of GM's factories for it's own use. Maybe Toyota would have. Maybe Penske would have gone ahead and completed the deal for Saturn after all. Maybe someone would have come along, put together a few factories, and started a whole new automobile company. I have no idea. But we'll never know.
Certainly not every factory would have been bought , and there certainly would have been a net loss of jobs, but in the end, the auto industry as a whole would have been a little leaner, healthier, and sized better for the market.
September 4th, 2015, 10:43 AM
#7
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Nice find. I saw info on the Minuteman Missile batteries that they made, but not the Universal Space Guidance System computer that Delco built in the 1970s for the Titan II ICBMs. It's interesting to note that for a couple of years, I technically worked for Delco. When GM bought Hughes Aircraft in 1985, it was merged (on paper) into Delco Electronics. We were even able to get the employee discount on new GM cars.
September 4th, 2015, 02:31 PM
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Correct! Albert Champion of Champion Spark Plugs. He had to change the name of his company to something else because of a legal challenge from the owners of a previous company of his that used his name, and he used his initials and chose AC Spark Plug Company. Both brands of spark plug are still available today.
I don't think he ever worked for GM, though. He founded the company on his own, and it later became a part of GM, being fully absorbed by GM after Champion's death in 1927.
I don't think he ever worked for GM, though. He founded the company on his own, and it later became a part of GM, being fully absorbed by GM after Champion's death in 1927.
Last edited by jaunty75; September 4th, 2015 at 02:34 PM.
September 4th, 2015, 05:51 PM
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Good page. One of my regrets working for Toyota is that the company has no American history, and makes nothing cool. It's a job, a stable job, in an industry that is one of my two favorites (the other being firearms), and the cars are good, but I'd rather work at the Corvette plant for GM. Probably would've been laid off in 08 though, who knows?
September 4th, 2015, 05:56 PM
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September 8th, 2015, 01:43 PM
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September 13th, 2015, 06:29 AM
#16
Tanawanda
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Location: Fort Worth, Tx
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Looks a bit like an Opel GT
Nice looking automobile...the last bid: $627,000
137mph 6 cyl 150hp with a Mahogany dash
Not chump change....
I had no idea the origin of "A/C" in AC Delco, and its relationship to Champion spark plug. Interesting how everything seems to interconnect -
The Delco guidance System I had read something about sometime back; as my father was a part of the scrapped MOL program and the Titan III in the USAF, learned a great deal about Aeronautics,, not surprising since I was born military at the location of Geo-Spacial command.
Interesting concept -- Geo-Spacial command
but I had not heard they made Minuteman batteries. Fascinating stuff.
There are several defunct Nike liquid fueled missile sites here in
Tx and it is quite an experience to climb down into one of these ...very large silos. At least back in the very early 80's...many are flooded now.
http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/locations.php
On the demise of Delco and manufacturing in general I have watched a few of the ten episodes of an interesting documentary analysis of evaporating North American manufacturing. So far it is worth the time. Even if sad.
137mph 6 cyl 150hp with a Mahogany dash
Not chump change....
I had no idea the origin of "A/C" in AC Delco, and its relationship to Champion spark plug. Interesting how everything seems to interconnect -
The Delco guidance System I had read something about sometime back; as my father was a part of the scrapped MOL program and the Titan III in the USAF, learned a great deal about Aeronautics,, not surprising since I was born military at the location of Geo-Spacial command.
Interesting concept -- Geo-Spacial command
but I had not heard they made Minuteman batteries. Fascinating stuff.
There are several defunct Nike liquid fueled missile sites here in
Tx and it is quite an experience to climb down into one of these ...very large silos. At least back in the very early 80's...many are flooded now.
http://www.techbastard.com/missile/nike/locations.php
On the demise of Delco and manufacturing in general I have watched a few of the ten episodes of an interesting documentary analysis of evaporating North American manufacturing. So far it is worth the time. Even if sad.
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