Mecca Tour - Ahnuld's Take

[Ahnuld]

Here is my slightly deep take of "The Mecca Tour: 2007,Part I"
Let's start with the night before. Let me admit it right here and now, I am a wimp. While I am about 40 miles from the plant, I had a room booked at the Fairfield Inn, but because of inability to get out of work on time (2 others were off on Friday), and a slight feeling of guilt from being away from the family (I was in London) just a few days earlier... I cancelled my reservation.
The third-hand story was that they had a great time on Friday, after a small set-back when the originally planned destination of Buckley's Tavern told the Friday night crew when they showed up that the tavern couldnt accomodate the Kappa Krew (even after saying multiple times on the phone to "come on in!!"). But the Iron Hill brewery came through for the Friday Night Kappa Krew!
So my trek to the plant starts at 6:00am. My start time was 6:45. I arrive at the plant around 6:40. I've been to the plant several times before and I am familiar with the placement of the entrances. I couldn't quite remember the gate entrance number for the Mecca tour, and I didnt see anything outside that identified the tour entrance, and quickly I was past the plant doing a "you-bee".
Heading back towards the plant I pull into what appears to be a main gate. Not seeing anything on the road had me thinking... "man, the must've went on the cheap with this... put in minimal effort.... I don't see..."
wait... wait....Wow.... Wow... WAS I WRONG!!!

That's a big Pontiac marketing trailer. And I see solstices there. Then I see JustMike waving me towards the parking, and I notice a big tent to the left, and in looking over to the right, in the fenced area that contained the Pontiac's I see the Saturn trailer with a collection of Saturn Cars.

hmmm... GM and the plant really put a lot of effort into this!!!

I see the roped-off area for the tour cars over on the left, pull into a spot, and start walking back towards the building entrance.

walking back towards the front of the plant, to the left of me is the plant and car display (behind a fence) and to the right is the tent with a white roof. In the tent I see two familiar faces. The always happy Marlboro Mike, who I've met several times before on our Delaware cruises, and the adorable Sky baby, who ya just can't help but smile at when ya see her! They were manning a table of T-Shirts, calendars, and other items for sale. I introduced myself to Sky-Baby, said hello to Marlboro Mike. I check out Sky-Baby's calendars and tell her I will be back "to get me some" (calendars!!!!). I then continued on my trek into Mecca.
This is when I noticed that they even had professional signs made up. A tent, Saturn and Pontiac marketing cars, roped off parking, and even Mecca Signs. wow... they really went all out.
So, ya can't get in to see anything up close untill you go through Plant registration. We all need to show our IDs and I am quickly inside the inner sanctum. :-)
Actually, once you are past security you can then go back outside (inside the fenced area), or down a hallway into the plant. I was a little confused, and I walked outside to check out the grounds. There was a slight delay when someone mildly argued about bringing in thier cellphone. Get it straight.. was on the form... no cell phones!
First up, was a very large Pontiac Marketing trailer. On display was the Solsitice used in the Ludakris video. (I've since seen the video... I like ludikris..but the song didnt do it for me). SOmeone mentions the paint cost 30,000.. more than the car purchase. Next to it is a car from the Speed TV Show "Set-up", which was brought to wilmington with scrapes, bruises, and duct tape holding up the bottom of the car still in place. There were a few other solstice cars there, including one made up like a bat-man car. It looked cool from a distance, but the paint job wasn't great up close. I find out later that the car is actually one used by the plant workers/management for traveling around the plant, taking big bosses from one side to the other, and that the Batman paint job was someone's side project to inject a little humor! There were a few other Solstices there outside, including a GXP. Pontiac is a sponsor of NCAA basketball, and they had two XBOX 360 stations set-up, with basketball games playing (I was hoping they were a new XBOX racing game featuring the Solstice!)
At the back of the fenced in area was the Saturn Marketing section. There was also a trailer, with a Hahn Sky (orange and Black) and a collection of the new Saturn vehiles. The Aura, the view... and a tent area where Saturn marketing folks hung out, as well as an awning on the trailer where several Macintosh computers were there to browse the Saturn site.
I spoke to a few Saturn folks.. young guys probably recently out of college, who were enthusiastic about the Saturn product line, and the sky in particular.
I was both surprised, and impressed, to learn that they were not on an east-coast tour and made Wilmington one of thier stops. The trucks were driven from Detroit several days earlier (the new Saturn cars appeared to be provided by a local dealership), and the marketing people flew in from Detroit.
All for us. 175 of us. Wow.

I was walking around with Kwayne, and he mentions he was the later tour... and that I should get moving as it was getting late (I was early krew).
So now I move into the mother-ship.
Heading back indoors, you walk down a short 15 ft hallway and enter immediately into the open plant floor... entering at the corner.
Immediately turn to the left.
Wow.
Wow.
There are more cars on display, a large section of bleachers, a podium, cafeteria tables, and immediately in front of me is another queue for what looks like is another registration area.
I wait in line for just a few minutes, and after giving my name I am handed a custom "Mecca Tour" badge with my name on it. (It was nice to see that everything was labled 2007, implying there would be a 2008!!!) The people at the plant really have taken the "Mecca" concept to heart!!!
As soon as I have my badge, a gentleman issues me "Mutilation Prevention Gear".
Now don't get me wrong... I am all about safety, and keeping all 11 of my fingers in tact.... But they REALLY stressed the whole "mutilation" thing. :-)
Mutilation Prevention gear consists of a leather wrap to put around belt buckles, an elastic cloth to put around rings... and there was something else but I can't remember.
After I had on my mutilation prevention gear (I just love that term... I think that's a great name for my next band... hah)... , anyway after the gear is in place there is an area for raffles. All proceeds were going to area disabled veterans, and the two gentleman selling the tickets appeared to be part of the veterans organization. Up for raffle were Rims, signed model cars (Bob Lutz), and clocks made from actual side panels from the cars (area right behind the front wheel well), and a few other items.
There was also another table that was providing free adhesive protection pieces that were suggested to be placed on our cars around the wheel wells for rubbing protection. Truthfully, I didnt pay much attention to this and still havent looked at it.
So to get the visual... enter at a corner of the large open area, and the Mecca area proceeds mostly down one wall, approximately 120ft by 60ft (a realy wild, rough guess). With the banquet tables at the far side (with sodas and coffee available, the center area was where the bleachers were placed (facing the wall), a podium in front, and a large projection screen on the wall. In this area were about 6 cars. I noticed up in the ceiling were professional lighting and speakers, just like at a small club....and since they dont do large tours that often, I can only assume they put all of this up just for us!

In a triangular placement were the three Sky variants. Sky RL, Opel GT, and Daewoo G2x! ALso there was a Solstice GXP, an SCCA Solstice, and a Solstice with a Hahn Turbo, which was owned by someone who worked in the plant, and whom I had the pleasure of taking my tour with. There was also a classic car there from the first year the plant was built (I forget the car!)
After spending some time walking around in this area, and checking out the cars, we are asked to sit in the bleachers.
The assistant plant manager spoke first, welcoming us to the day's events. I dont remember what came first, so I may have this backwards... but he introduced us to several key people who were seated in a special section facing us. There were key product people for the Sky and Solstice, a regional Kappa sales guy, the local UAW shop foreman, and Bruce Kosbab who is the chief Engineer of the Kappa product line.
We saw a conencted set of videos that seemed to be required of all visitors... general plant safety, what not to do, and where to go if something goes wrong.
We also saw a video on "Mutilation Prevention". There ya go.... again with the whole mutiliation thing... I don't remember them going over this at the start of the Willy Wonka factory tour in the movie. (if they had, i guess Agsuta Glupe wouldnt have fallen into the chocalate river and they'd have no movie) Me thinks I won't be touching anything while in the plant. :-)
The UAW foreman spoke, talking about the excitement everyone in the Union has in the product, and made it very clear (without needing to directly say it) that they were a union working WITH the company to make a great product.
The asst plant manager went through an interesting presentation on the plant itself, and information on the cars.
The plant was built in 1947, and during its time it built Chevettes, Berettas and Corsicas (I had a 1988 Beretta!). The used to average something like 60 cars per hour, and now average under 10 (did I get those numbers correct???). Also interesting, was that the plant has almost 3 million sq ft of space, and only 2 mill is being used. (Plus, I notice later that there are other areas not being used... but more on that later). He also mentions there are only 40 robots being used on our cars, when the typical factory has 500!!!
After all the mutilation warnings, the introductions and welcoming, they announce that we were gonna start the tour. The plan is to break us up into groups of 6, and do a "Shot-gun" start. I jump in with a group of 5, and we head on our way...

Its getting late... Tune in tommorrow for Part II, of "Ahnuld's Take on Mecca Tour 2007"

[jayman]

Great post....you definitely captured some of the emotions of the day...i too enjoyed the proceedings, including the lunch of sloppy joes...brought back memories of 5th grade...all i can say is that i dragged my skeptical wife along on this 550 mile round trip pilgrimmage...and she ended up thoroughly loving it...which means to me that GM, Mike, and the UAW guys really worked some magic...she's a convert

[reedred]

Excellent summary so far, Ahnuld! I can't wait to see part 2!

Originally Posted by Ahnuld

...they had two XBOX 360 stations set-up, with basketball games playing (I was hoping they were a new XBOX racing game featuring the Solstice!)

I missed this part-too bad they didn't have Test Drive Unlimited playing featuring the Sky!

Originally Posted by Ahnuld

Mutilation Prevention gear consists of a leather wrap to put around belt buckles, an elastic cloth to put around rings... and there was something else but I can't remember.
After I had on my mutilation prevention gear (I just love that term... I think that's a great name for my next band... hah)...

We were highly entertained by the mutilation protection too until Buck asked how the band over my watch was supposed to protect me from injury. It turned out all the effort is to prevent mutilating the cars! All we had to protect our bodies were the safety instructions and our brains!

[mr hankey]

I was in the later tour but everything sounds equal. You have everything described to the T. (did I say that right?)

Reading it is like a play by play of the day, a day I'll never forget and a day I hope will take place again. I think it was one of those things that you had to be there to understand. I hope if it ever happens again, people would travel any distance to be there. I would do it again tomorrow

[marlboromike]

It's tomorrow and the sun is shining...lets do it AGAIN today...I miss all u guys/gals.

[GetAboutRL]

Seriously .. very good detail ... I can visually see what you are describing .. previous pictures are making it that much easier I must admit.

Looking forward to Part II and hope to make "Plant Tour II".

[JustMike]

Nice write up ... you did forget the wonderfully short speech by JustMike

[SkyBaby]

THE BEST PART WAS..... lol.... THE ENTIRE THING.. but.. actually, I got a bit freaked out when JustMike said.. MIKE AND TERI... lol.. will be at the table around noon... WOW... i hadnt heard my name on a speaker before... LOL.. JustMike, Thank you from the bottom of my heart, this was an AWESOME day.. and.. btw.. I LOVED YOUR LITTLE SPEECH!!! SkyBaby

[Ahnuld]

Geez.... just realized I never posted part II.

I wonder if I have enough brain cells left from that day to pull it together...

[SkyBaby]

Hmmm.. . Slacker! and.. chicken.. if I do say so myself... LOL.....SkyBaby IT WAS A GREAT DAY!

[JustMike]

Originally Posted by SkyBaby

THE BEST PART WAS..... lol.... THE ENTIRE THING.. but.. actually, I got a bit freaked out when JustMike said.. MIKE AND TERI... lol.. will be at the table around noon... WOW... i hadnt heard my name on a speaker before... LOL.. JustMike, Thank you from the bottom of my heart, this was an AWESOME day.. and.. btw.. I LOVED YOUR LITTLE SPEECH!!! SkyBaby

I never did respond back to this ... What is wrong with me?

Thanks to you and of course Mike for all your help ... could not have done it without all my friends! ...

[marlboromike]

T SHIRTS! T SHIRTS!...I know Solli and XMICRO will think of something

[Skip]

Mike of Marlboro , does not your gorgeous wife buy you T-shirts to wear...Skip....