Road Trip! Add a GM Plant Tour to Summer Sightseeing

[Bruce Nunnally]

DETROIT – From the first roll of steel all the way to the first time a car is started and drives off the assembly line, auto plant tours can be fun, educational – and free. With summer vacation season near, sightseeing trips can include a couple hours learning how General Motors is playing a role in America’s manufacturing recovery.

Here are a few visitor-friendly GM plants and related facilities from the East Coast to west of the Mississippi River.

• Tonawanda Engine Plant, Buffalo, N.Y. (FREE) Niagara Falls in your vacation plans? Take a side trip to see how the engines of some of the best-selling GM vehicles are made.

• Baltimore Operations, White Marsh, Md. (FREE) The Baltimore Transmission Plant – also home to the assembly of electric motors, the heart and soul of electric vehicles, is among GM’s most environmentally friendly plants. The nation’s capital is nearby, and so is Baltimore National Harbor.

• National Corvette Museum, Bowling Green, Ky. ($10 adult; $5 child age 6-16) Just a half mile from the Bowling Green Assembly Plant that is home of all Corvette production, the museum is a tour de force of all things Corvette. And it is just 66 miles north of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn.

• Fairfax Assembly & Stamping Plant, Kansas City, Kan. (FREE) One of the only GM plants where you can see the full assembly process – from the first rolls of metal stamped into body panels, through the body shop, paint shop and into general assembly, where the car is started for the very first time. On the east side of the Mississippi is the “other” Kansas City famous for BBQ, including Oklahoma Joe’s. While in Missouri, visit the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

• General Motors Renaissance Center, Detroit (FREE) The General Motors Global Headquarters at the Renaissance Center features displays of GM’s latest vehicles, occasional special vehicle displays and many shops and restaurants. The American League Champion Detroit Tigers play at Comerica Park and the famed Detroit Institute of Arts is enjoying a rebirth following a major renovation.

For a full list of GM plants and to call for tour schedules, click here.

[Texas Jim]

They didn't list the one in Arlington...

[Cadillac Jim]

I suppose that this list was just the NE corner of the country. Even so, there are a lot of plants that weren't on the list that have visitor tours and accommodations. I clicked the link and got this:

Company Facility Directory

Assembly Plants

• Lansing Grand River
• Lordstown
• Orion
• Detroit-Hamtramck
• Lansing Delta Township
• Arlington
• Flint Assembly
• Bowling Green
• Fort Wayne
• Fairfax
• Spring Hill Assembly

Tooling Center's

• Flint Tool & Die
• Grand Blanc Weld Tool Center Site

Standby Facilites

• Janesville Assembly - Standby

Powertrain

• Wixom
• Spring Hill
• Warren
• Romulus
• Toledo Transmission
• Defiance
• Baltimore
• Bedford
• Honeoye Falls Fuel Cell Facility
• Tonawanda
• Flint Engine Operations
• Bay City
• Saginaw
• DMAX
• Willow Run
• Saginaw Metal Casting Operations

Stamping

• Pontiac Metal Center
• Saginaw Metal Casting Operations
• Wentzville
• Parma Metal Center
• Shreveport
• Flint Metal Center
• Indianapolis Metal Center
• Marion Metal Center

Customer Care & Aftersales

• Charlotte
• Cincinnati
• Davison
• Denver
• Flint
• Fontana
• Fort Worth
• Hudson
• Jackson
• Lansing
• Martinsburg
• Memphis
• Philadelphia
• Pontiac
• Rancho
• Reno
• West Chester
• Willow Run
• Chicago
• Ypsilanti

Component Facilties

• Grand Rapids Operations
• Rochester Operations
• Lockport Components
• Kokomo Operations

I would call ahead before I went to make sure that they do accommodate visitors. Also, you should know what their rules are. For example, if they won't let hazmats into the parking lot and you have an RV with a butane bottle on the trailer hitch, you want to know before you queue up at the parking lot entrance. I would want to know if will let my camera in.

[Logan]

It was actually Ford who built the Rencenter for about $500 million in the mid 70's...GM bought it for $76 million 20 years later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Center

[JimD]

As a frequent visitor to Michigan since 1971, let me offer an observation to anyone contemplating a visit to the city of Detroit and anything contained therein; get in and out during daylight! The area around the Rencenter, Joe Louis Arena, Tiger Stadium, Ford Field and the casinos is pleasant and safe while the sun is overhead.

On a positive note I would add the Henry Ford Museum (Dearborn) to Bruce's list.

[Z15]

I been to the Corvette Museum and tour of the Corvette Assembly plant about 10 yrs ago. Fun day. I really liked the museum and some of the test mules they had on display like a Caprice Station Wagon with a Corvette engine and drive train. The plant tour was fun as well but seemed way to short. The most interesting part was when the grabbed a lady from the tour group and let he be the first to fire up a new Covette and they gave her a customer printed birth certificate for the car.

Here take a tour of the Arlington SUV Plant, Escaldes, Yukon, Tahoe

[Z15]

Another