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BotNew56
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Just got back from a visit to Wixom. It was really good. Only downer, did not get to see my car
It was in the holding area between paint and trim. However, just to know that it was in the que and actively being worked on was enough. They expected it to be into trim either later that day (Friday 11/30) or Monday. Likely to be finished and to shipping on next Wednesday.
Our tour person, David Davis, was really helpful and he made it very interesting. We got to see the cars at all the various stages following paint. And they do work in color batches. There were a predominance of black and red ones on the floor whereas Davis told us that the previous day had been predominantly white. There were a few white (my color) in final assembly. Also saw a blue with a "performance white" top, which I had not seen before. There was one without the small "parking" lights in front, which usually meant a car for Canada. I guess those are really running lights, and are on all the time the car is running. Also saw a red with no hard top and the painted wheels. I guess that was the basic model, no premium.
Discussed the heating problem with him, that was apparently a "stacked tolarence" problem which was fixed by tightening up on the tolarences. Also may have been some laxity by a supplier. The 2003 will have an electric rather than hydraulic operated fan, but that plan was in place long before the heating problem showed up.
Mr. Davis made some suggestions concerning the hard top.
1. Be careful removing the top, don't allow the alignment pegs (which are rather long) drag on the body as you move the top over the back of the car.
2. Do use the wax sent with the car to wax that area where the gaskets under then top meet the paint. I believe that discussion is in the owners manual.
Two things were especially interesting to me. They had a car with body metal and plastic cut-out to see some interior parts. This was used initially to train workers in mounting various sub-assemblies. You could see where all those speakers were and it was impressive. The other was seeing the engine/driveshaft/wheels assemble on the conveyer, and seeing the "unitized" body coming down from overhead to be bolted on.
DFW TBird ---
Your car (106496) was on the line, in Trim. That is, it had just gotten out of the holding area following paint. (I was not sure which black one it was, since was not able to confirm which area it was in until after the tour.) Your car has a rotation number of 6317. That means that it is the 6317th 2002 Thunderbird to be built.
Your car is several hours to a day ahead of mine, so I would expect it to be at shipping by next Tuesday, Dec. 4.
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VIN 106587 White, White
Our tour person, David Davis, was really helpful and he made it very interesting. We got to see the cars at all the various stages following paint. And they do work in color batches. There were a predominance of black and red ones on the floor whereas Davis told us that the previous day had been predominantly white. There were a few white (my color) in final assembly. Also saw a blue with a "performance white" top, which I had not seen before. There was one without the small "parking" lights in front, which usually meant a car for Canada. I guess those are really running lights, and are on all the time the car is running. Also saw a red with no hard top and the painted wheels. I guess that was the basic model, no premium.
Discussed the heating problem with him, that was apparently a "stacked tolarence" problem which was fixed by tightening up on the tolarences. Also may have been some laxity by a supplier. The 2003 will have an electric rather than hydraulic operated fan, but that plan was in place long before the heating problem showed up.
Mr. Davis made some suggestions concerning the hard top.
1. Be careful removing the top, don't allow the alignment pegs (which are rather long) drag on the body as you move the top over the back of the car.
2. Do use the wax sent with the car to wax that area where the gaskets under then top meet the paint. I believe that discussion is in the owners manual.
Two things were especially interesting to me. They had a car with body metal and plastic cut-out to see some interior parts. This was used initially to train workers in mounting various sub-assemblies. You could see where all those speakers were and it was impressive. The other was seeing the engine/driveshaft/wheels assemble on the conveyer, and seeing the "unitized" body coming down from overhead to be bolted on.
DFW TBird ---
Your car (106496) was on the line, in Trim. That is, it had just gotten out of the holding area following paint. (I was not sure which black one it was, since was not able to confirm which area it was in until after the tour.) Your car has a rotation number of 6317. That means that it is the 6317th 2002 Thunderbird to be built.
Your car is several hours to a day ahead of mine, so I would expect it to be at shipping by next Tuesday, Dec. 4.
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VIN 106587 White, White
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