[SkyBos]

I know that people who buy Corvettes can actually see the car being built and be the first to turn the key (or so I'm told).

Anyone know if you can visit the Wilmington plant, perhaps get a tour, etc

 

[deluke]

I know that people who buy Corvettes can actually see the car being built and be the first to turn the key (or so I'm told).

Anyone know if you can visit the Wilmington plant, perhaps get a tour, etc

No, they don't let you take tours.

 

[SkyBos]

7 more price increases---and I bet they'll give tours (LOL)!

 

[bob]

We don't have tours. But if you want to see the inside, you could have gotten a job as a summer temp.

 

[Kappa Fan]

I know that people who buy Corvettes can actually see the car being built and be the first to turn the key (or so I'm told).

Anyone know if you can visit the Wilmington plant, perhaps get a tour, etc

I can give that answer - as an individual, local or regional group............ the answer is NO.

You may ask how do I know? Well, as the Lead Co-ordinator for the 2007 National Event (that will hopefully have Skys in attendance) I have contacts that I made during the planning of the 2006 National Solstice Meet that was held this July.

 

[marlboromike]

Back in the days when everything was clandestine and u could e-mail or call one of the public relations people, I suggested...just like Corvette, u could see your car being built....well they put their thumbs down...so much for good will!

 

[SkyBos]

Thanks for your responses.

 

[Kappa Fan]

Back in the days when everything was clandestine and u could e-mail or call one of the public relations people, I suggested...just like Corvette, u could see your car being built....well they put their thumbs down...so much for good will!

Its not that they *put their thumbs down* - please re-read my post - especially this part:

as an individual, local or regional group

That would still leave open something possibley in the future - they are very nice people and willing to work both the Solstice and Sky owners. WE need to remember that even Corvette didn't allow you watch your car being built in the beginning.

Let's not start a *bash GM* just becuase there aren't tours the first year our cars are in production. Okay?

 

[marlboromike]

Kappa Fan...I understand what u r saying but if u r a real real senior member of this forum, u would undertand the anticipatory anxiety each of us Sky owners went through..some of us waited 2 years until we were imaged. We have rights now...:lol: :lol:

 

[Kappa Fan]

Kappa Fan...I understand what u r saying but if u r a real real senior member of this forum, u would undertand the anticipatory anxiety each of us Sky owners went through..some of us waited 2 years until we were imaged. We have rights now...:lol: :lol:

Please don't mistake my *Post Count* total as a reflection of my experience.... check the other side or with other members here who know who I am . Trust me.... I have nearly as much time in as you do. :lol:

While I didn't have to wait that long for my car... many members on the other side waited as long or longer. One young member waited and saved for 4 years to purchase his car at 18 years of age. So... I'd say he had that anticipatory anxiety.

I'm seeing now in the GXP/Redline waiters the same anxiety and its nothing compared to what it was in the beginning.

I was soooo very fortunate in that I saw the car of my dreams in FEB..... ordered in Oct, canceled with that dealer 4 weeks later, re-ordered in Nov and had my car 5 weeks later. To the best of my knowledge - other than purchases off the lot - I still hold the record for from date of order entered to date of delivery. 5 weeks to the day!

 

[marlboromike]

Congrats on holding the record...u have suffered enough...amnesty is granted...:thumbs:

 

[Kappa Fan]

Congrats on holding the record...u have suffered enough...amnesty is granted...:thumbs:

:lol: Thank you kind sir!

The only thing I suffer from is INSANITY but that's not really suffering as I enjoy every minute. :glol:

 

[TulsaSky]

Hope for the Future


As one of THOSE people that ordered a Corvette and did the museum delivery pick up, let me just say that is one of the best things a car manufacturing plant can do to help promote the cars it is building. FYI anyone that would like a tour of the Bowling Greens Plant in Kentucky just go there pay 5 dollars and you can see them build the American Sport Car. For times of the tours see the Corvette Museum Website. Those that take the museum delivery get the extended tour, and yes if you can take enough time off of work they will allow you to spent 3 days in the plant and follow your car as it goes down the line. What this tour allows is for us car nuts to learn about our baby's, where the lift points are on the car for a jack, where the computer module is hidden at, what panel is glued and which ones are bolted, how many times to they test it before the wheels hit the ground. A wonderful education in manufacturing, if that sort of things appeals to you. I hope 5-10 years from now maybe the Saturn plant will once again like in the very beginning open the doors for visitors, they did it in the very beginning, or at least open house once a year for car owners. I have hope for the future, I would like to visit!
:thumbs:
TulsaSky

 

[MCW Sky]

Legal / Insurance Issues ?

I would suspect that legal and or safety and or insurance issues are most likely involved here. Not suggesting that the plant is not safe for the workers - but if is was not designed to accomodate tourists - then the cost of both changing the plant itself and or the daily operating procedures might be prohibitive when compared to the additioanl insurance/liability.

Regarding the Corvette - does anyone know if the plant in use today is the same as when the Vette was originally produced? And I suspect that the vette has a teeny bit higher profit margin to cover some marketing-type expenditures.

Still - would be interesting to do. Would be kinda cool if they would even let the customer do something as part of the build - say, attach the front grill emblem piece or somethings - but that might create a number of other problems (such as those I mention above) but also slow down the process. So maybe they could do that at the dealer - ship the front grill emblem still wrapped in plastic - and as the final step before driving the car off the lot - you snap the grill emblem in place.

 

[Rick Tinley Park]

I would suspect that legal and or safety and or insurance issues are most likely involved here. Not suggesting that the plant is not safe for the workers - but if is was not designed to accomodate tourists - then the cost of both changing the plant itself and or the daily operating procedures might be prohibitive when compared to the additioanl insurance/liability.

Regarding the Corvette - does anyone know if the plant in use today is the same as when the Vette was originally produced? And I suspect that the vette has a teeny bit higher profit margin to cover some marketing-type expenditures.

Still - would be interesting to do. Would be kinda cool if they would even let the customer do something as part of the build - say, attach the front grill emblem piece or somethings - but that might create a number of other problems (such as those I mention above) but also slow down the process. So maybe they could do that at the dealer - ship the front grill emblem still wrapped in plastic - and as the final step before driving the car off the lot - you snap the grill emblem in place.

Origionally the Corvette was built in Detroit (or thereabouts) it is now built in Bowling Green KY...

 

[TulsaSky]

Close but not Detroit

The first Corvette plant was in St. Louis, MO moved to Bowling Greens in 1983 why there is no 1983 corvettes. I don't think they designed the plant for tours back in 1983 maybe they did. I just hope they keep it up, is a wonderful experience for young and old to be able to walk through behind that green safety line and watch from a distance the work and labor that goes into assembling a corvette. So the one who had to comment on insurance on this forum must be a lawyer. Safety was great your escorted by guides and the area is marked and some places have rails, they do have a age limit or height for children, no strollers etc. One person in each group gets to birth a corvette. They allow for one person to sit in that new corvette and start it for the first time with the wheels on the ground, they get a certificate for the task. What is Saturn afraid of by not allowing the tours? I work at a FAA repair plant (Airplanes) and with proper identification we allow tours of our facility.

TulsaSky

 

[marlboromike]

that was a great history lesson...thank you...never knew that

 

[Kappa Fan]

What is Saturn afraid of by not allowing the tours? I work at a FAA repair plant (Airplanes) and with proper identification we allow tours of our facility.
TulsaSky

First off its not just Saturn - its is a GM plant. Remember that the Solstice, Sky, and in the future the Opel will all three be built at the Boxwood Plant.

Its not that they are afraid of anything - it is that they are in basically new production. Look at it - they have only been producing the Solstice for a year. Then they ramped up and started producing the Sky this year. Now they have ramped up to produce the Redline and the GXP models.

We all WHINE, and WHINE because they can't get our cars out the door fast enough and now we're going to start complaining about a tour? :willy:

Lets give them some time to get production leveled out. Get customers satisfied with VEHICLES before we start ranting about tours!

JMHO