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| Building Fords at Norfolk Assembly was more than a job. Generations of Stewarts worked and played music there. This photo, taken in the cafeteria in 1948, shows fiddler Harry E. Stewart Sr., second from right, and brothers Albert, third from right, and Jim, third from left. (Steve Earley/The Virginian-Pilot) |
By Bill Burke
The Virginian-Pilot
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Series introduction
NORFOLK - Harry E. Stewart Sr. was feeling low one day in early January when his son put on a CD and country-music legend Red Foley began to croon "Hang Your Head in Shame." Stewart pulled out his fiddle and played along. When Stewart passed away a week or so later at age 94, he left behind 85 blood relatives. At least 15 family members worked at Norfolk's Ford assembly plant at one time or another; nobody can provide an exact count. Stewart, his father and seven of his brothers had jobs there; the eighth brother worked for the trucking company that carried new Fords to market. Ford Motor Co., in its struggle to survive, announced last year that the 82-year-old plant off Indian River Road would close. Its epitaph will be written in 2007, the same year as Harry Stewart's. When Norfolk Assembly opened, Stewart was 12 years old, Calvin Coolidge was president and Henry Ford was just getting revved up. Stewart and his brothers - Harry on fiddle, Albert on steel guitar and Jim on rhythm guitar - helped supply the soundtrack as the plant's history unfolded, serenading their colleagues with country music in the cafeteria. The men, and a few women, who tapped their feet to those rhythms and harmonies were a rollicking crew, many of their secrets untold - until now. Over the decades, they fixed thousands of shoddily built Edsels shipped from New Jersey, built the guts of yellow school buses, cranked out state police cars and New York taxicabs, tossed tons of debris into the Elizabeth River, shot pigeons from the plant's rafters, drank moonshine and bootleg whiskey called Rocking Chair to ward off the tedium, swiped spark plugs stashed in their socks, and relieved themselves in a trench on the chassis line in the days before labor unions. Some of them got rich in the stock market. Some died in their steel-toed safety shoes. Many lost their hearing. Some spit tacks onto magnetic hammers. And one spit tobacco juice into seat cushions to produce that "new car smell." They spin yarns about how one man punched another's lights out on the assembly line, and how Saddam Hussein's plundering hordes stole Norfolk-made trucks during the siege of Kuwait. But mainly, they tell stories of devotion to Ford. They drove to work in Fords, built them all day, then drove them home at night. They were a sturdy lot, made Ford-tough by years of punishing labor. Black-and-white photos in old plant newspapers show trim and square-shouldered men, their gazes earnest, their hair neatly trimmed. They had nicknames like Hambone, Kerosene, Buttercup, Moyock, Rabbit, Weasel, Squirrel, Trim-Line Smitty and Motor-Line Smitty. They built cars and trucks that rolled out of the plant in a glorious palette of high-gloss colors, from Sheridan Blue to Seafoam Green, from Hawaiian Bronze to Mexicali Maroon. The first and last cars off the line - the Model T and the F-150 - were American classics, the best sellers of their times. Norfolk workers made the "Little Deuce Coupe," the '32 Ford V-8 immortalized by The Beach Boys. Mostly, though, they made cars nobody ever wrote songs about, blue-collar vehicles for a meat-and-potatoes market: the Mainline, the Custom, the Crestline. No Thunderbirds, Mustangs or Lincoln Continentals. The shuttering of the sprawling factory will signal the end of an economic and cultural institution that has traced the arc of history in Hampton Roads and the nation for most of a century. But our romance with the road will endure. And the brands Henry Ford and his progeny made famous will live on in the memories of those who made them, the garages of those who collect them and the folklore of the American experience. It's been a hell of a ride. |
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nepotism nepotism nepotism
For those who tried for years to get a job at the Ford plant, our heart doesn't bleed to much for 15 family members who somehow thru random chance all managed to get chosen to work in the high paying jobs. The same story is repeated over and over, this ones brother, that ones girlfriend, his daughter's boyfriend.... I hope they all have lots of spare bedrooms now...
Beholding to Corporate Boardrooms and Stockholders
Of all the "gray" reasons, the fact remains; jobs are lost, lives are changed, and NYSE keeps ticking!
Besides all the degradations, I happen to own a 1983 Ford F150 (Which is still going strong!), and I don't even know if my truck was built here in Norfolk, but on June 26th, the last day for the plant, I will be pulling into the parking lot there (and I would invite any other Ford truck owners to do the same!) early in the morning and pay my respects to those who've worked so long, and so hard to produce an American icon! My hope is that the remaining workers there will still see, and more importantly, feel the pride of having been involved in so many Americans' lives.
Here's to Ford trucks; but remember, Wall Street may be "world wide", but it's pronounced, "God Bless America!"
UAW
Maybe with all the work the unions did to increase the mininum wage some of your workers can sell fast food and make $8.00 an hour soon. They will still be on the botton of the pay scale the only thing that will change is the government will receive more money to buy votes to maintain power over the dumb and useless.
No Politics Please
Whatever the reason the Ford Plant is closing, I just want to wish all the people who are losing their jobs the best of luck.
God bless each of you and help you to come out of this ahead.
Oh give me a break Alex
You dont know what you're talking about. When the new F150 debuted it won over a dozen awards. It tows more, has more power, stronger frame, more payload, and way better handling and ride. If you don't believe me, go to fordvehicles.com and check out the video "The Truth About Trucks" there you will see for your very own eyes what's underneath the sheetmetal of all the trucks, including Silverado, Titan, Tundra, and Ram. Watch the video of the trucks on the proving grounds in Arizona and watch how the Tundra almost beats itself to death. The F-150 is the best selling vehicle in the world for 30 years. There's a reason why! There will never be a Jap vehicle in my driveway. Never. God bless all the Norfolk Assembly workers for building the best vehicles in the world. I salute you.
Right Wing Rheortic
I'm so sick of hearing the right wing nut case rhetoric that Unions had anything to do with the plant closing. Ford had the unions for decades and had great success. The unions were a major tool that help provide a great lifestyle for Ford families. If Ford had provided Walmart wages, they never would ever had decent product or any kind of success. Logistics, etc. all had a major part in the closings.
There are shades of gray in this world
I think we all want to see things simply as right or wrong, up or down, good or bad. So we want to put all the blame for the US auto industry decline in one direction. But we also need to remember, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Working an assembly line is a tough job and we should be grateful for the work these folks have done and the good things they brought the local economy. We may want to put all the blame on them for Ford's woes, but let's remember the full picture. How about Ford's management and Board of Directors for destroying the #1 selling car in the US- the Taurus- and coming out with that cramped ugly jelly bean? The assembly line workers had nothing to do with that. And how about the union leaders that actually hammered out the labor agreements with Ford- those leaders, not the rank and file, are the ones who pushed the wages and benefits to a problematic level. Best wishes and good luck to all the Ford employees and their families
that right patrick henry
and all of the profits from your beloved tundra are going back to japan, remember, pearl harbor? Go ahead, buy a vehicle from the taliban in 50 years when they are made in america too.
The UAW Killed Ford
Hello, UAW members! Only you can be surprised at the magnitude of Ford's loss. The American public is certainly not surprised because it's you, the UAW, who has killed Ford.
With union labor costs about double those of non-union Japanese and other foreign auto manufacturing plants in the United States, Big Three American automakers are financially bleeding to death. In addition to higher wages and benefits, the UAW has imposed work rules that reduce worker productivity and added directly to the labor costs of production.
Oh well, it was a good ride. But the days of being paid six figures to doze off, play pool, or flip porn magazines all day, every day, at the job bank are gone forever.
I have been a loyal F-150 owner for years but I now have a new and very fine American-designed, American-made truck. It's called Tundra.
ironic
How ironic, one of the first things I saw when reading this story online was an advertisement for Ford F-150's...
This is what you get
When you overpay people to make inferior products. Someone else (Toyota) will step in and do it better and cheaper.
Traditions become legends when you don't have a culture of change to adjust to new consumer demands. This is what you get when you have a "we always done it this way" attitude and sell overpriced junk.
Traditions become culture when they can be adjusted and modified to ensure you stay on top of your rivals. The top companies & people always look ways to give better at lower cost.
The Japanese proved American workers who are managed right can produce the best products in the world. Toyota workers make less but are more satisified with their jobs and the Tundra is far superior to F-150.
This is life in a free competetive society! Deal with it. Up or Out!