Wheels by Arthur Hailey

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Thu 2 Apr 2009 18:46
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - menu du jour
Read this for the third time recently and wondered if anyone has a comment to make.
Working on the assembly line sounded horrific - was it really this bad?
screwtape
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Thu 2 Apr 2009 18:56
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - madux
Read it many years ago. I remember the manufacturer had to fit an under-bonnet strut to cure some vibration at 80mph - this would cost $5 and they were all horrified - surely you would have to be mad to go that fast?
This troubled me at the time. 80 was not very fast even in those days and $5 was not very much either!
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Thu 2 Apr 2009 21:10
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - Altea Ego
and $5 was not very much either!


5 bucks per car was a fortune to the US car makers.
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Thu 2 Apr 2009 21:15
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - SpamCan61 {P}
Arthur Hailey went to the same school as me. w00t.

My father spent the 70s working on the track at Vauxhall, and no, he doesn't recall it being that bad.
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Fri 3 Apr 2009 09:36
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - b308
It was based in the US, though....
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Fri 3 Apr 2009 10:21
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - madf
Compared to some jobs, car assembly was interesting. Biscuit making or fruit processing is mind deadingly dull.


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Fri 3 Apr 2009 11:04
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - Phil F.
Hi,
I cannot imagine what is was like in the seventies,but a few years ago I applied for a job
in the weld shop at a "modern" car plant.
Absolutely horrendous experience!....It was like trying to work in a penal colony in a movie such as Alien!
Phil.
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Sat 4 Apr 2009 22:55
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - John F
Compared to some jobs car assembly was interesting. Biscuit making or fruit processing is mind
deadingly dull.

40+ yrs ago my mate's dad took us to Meredith & Drew biscuit factory summer holiday job in his new Ford Cortina company car. My job was great - filling the chocolate melter with sacks of broken chocolate. Mmmmmm!
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Sun 5 Apr 2009 00:10
Wheels by Arthur Hailey - Optimist
I worked on the fridge door line in a factory as a holiday job many years ago, probably about the time Wheels was published.

I loaded the outer metal skin and inner plastic skin into one of a series of jigs and fastened it up. Someone opposite did the same. The next blokes pumped the insulating foam into the space between the liners. The jigs then went through an oven and when they came out again I unfastened them, unloaded the doors and so on.

I worked next to the oven and on the advice of the older blokes drank salt water throughout the day because the temperature was really high. We started at 7.00 am and finished at 6.00 pm, except on Fridays when it was 5.00pm. I can't remember the details of the breaks. When the line stopped for a break or because there was a fault, a small cheer went up.

It paid well but it was a tough job.
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