We’ve discussed the GM sponsored videos from the early days of automobile construction in the past, but it never fails to amaze us how many of these instructional videos were created. It also amazes us how terrible bad some of the films were. Others were a tad more interesting, showing some of the assembly processes that have been lost over time.
We still have books like Echos of Norwood: General Motors Automobile Production During the Twentieth Century, that paint a picture of what life was like in these factories. Having some film footage to go with these written memories completes the mental picture of what auto manufacturing was like in the heyday of the automotive manufacturing industry.
This featured film is from the Library of Congress Prelinger Archieves, which has been slightly cropped to even the edges and correct the aspect ratio. The Prelinger team has also corrected some of the brightness-contrast-color aspects along with some mild video noise reduction. Although the end product is not perfect, it is far less noisy than the original.
This film shows parts of the assembly line that have been lost over time. Gratefully, this footage provides a record of these processes from 1950.
In any case, these early sponsored films capture a feel of the past and serve as a record of our automotive history. We support any source that chronicles the operations of automotive assembly plants, especially those that can be visually witnessed on film for history.
We hope that our readers enjoy these films as much as we do, and value them as historical records that display events as they were in the golden age of the automotive industry.