You may have noticed that Craig Fitzgerald’s name isn’t popping up with the frequency that it did previously around here and that’s because he’s taken over as the editor of the blog over at BestRide.com. Rather than firebomb their offices and start a big blog war we’ve reached an uneasy peace with Fitz and the crew over there and will be giving each other a helping hand now and again sharing cool stories and stuff that we think is BangShifty and interesting. Kidding on the uneasy peace part, Craig is killing it over there and you should make it part of your daily “internet lap”.
So with that in mind, Craig penned a really cool story that ran over on BestRide yesterday which told the sad tale of the Framingham, Massachusetts General Motors assembly plant which was open for a long time and was closed because idiot politicians are just that….idiot politicians. Their attitude and unwillingness to work with the then thriving giant cost the city of Framingham and the surrounding area 4,000 jobs at the plant, a ton of jobs at the railroad yard that supplied the plant, all of the people who worked at the restaurants and stores the plant works ate and shopped in, and untold other maladies. It did a real number on the city of Framingham and for once in their lives, GM doesn’t come out of this thing looking like the bad guy at all.
As you’ll see, the plant cranked out everything from the big nosed and chrome laden Buicks of the late 1940s to the thundering GTOs of the 1960s and 1970s as well. It truly was part of the community and GM wanted to expand the place to increase operations. That’s when the trouble started and the local muckity mucks got involved. It seems like they decided to play chicken with a company that wasn’t afraid to tell them to pound sand. Craig does a great job of telling the whole story.
CLICK THE PHOTO BELOW TO SEE CRAIG’S STORY ON THE DEATH OF THE FRAMINGHAM GM PLANT 25 YEARS AGO….WHO’S TO BLAME?
In the early 70’s I went on a high school field trip to the plant. I remember one of the men who was installing windshields telling us to stay in school so we didn’t end up like him, in what I guess he considered a “no brain” job.
As an aside, is there ever a time in recorded history that things went WELL after politicians stuck their nose into something?
Ugh! I hate stories like this. Friggin politicians all suck. Imagine the hardships that one jackass brought to that town. That guy if he is still alive should hang his head in shame everyday.
Hackachusetts, the one party state. It’s so bad here you can’t read a newspaper
without getting upset.
Another case of misleading journalism. Tony Colonna was NOT responsible for the closing of the Framginham GM Plant. GM had to close a number of plants due to it’s shrinking market. The reason why GM closed the plant . . . “GM said it would close the Framingham plant indefinitely because of slow sales of the Chevrolet Celebrity and Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera.” TYhose were the two cars built at Framingham.
it sez right in the article, if they got the expansion the plant was to build minivans. Did you even read it?
Try Google and learn EXACTLY what happened. Don’t be lazy and accept what the author has written.
That is some meandering story-telling, with a few touch-and-go facts if indeed they are. OK whatever.
I had a 75 LeMans wagon with a 455 and loaded with options that was built in Framingham. What a great car! Wish I still had it.
This story is fiction.
I go there 2 to 4 days a week. Adesa auto auction now owns it. The city is still ludicrous to the now occupants. They had to build a huge stone baracade along the whole frontage of the truck lot because some local well to do politically influential woman said the trucks hauling cars in and out was an “eye sore”. The city is still directed by morons.
AND…directly across the street is the women’s prison and the framingham dot….in plain view……I guess barb wire and rusty plow trucks are more pleasing to the eye……
wow! are you people mislead.general motors decided to build a state of the art “paint shop”.this was some big money.15milloin or something.when completed.GM wanted this local union to SWITCH FROM A CLASSIFICATION STATUS TO “TEAM CONCEPT.meaning. one team would know each others job on the line.if people were out that day.they could move you over to another job.i had ten years there.so,a vote was taken by this local.the guys with 15 or more years out numbered the lower seniority.the local said no to the concept.thanks chuck.GM SAID GOOD BYE.the politicians tried to save the plant with tax breaks.it came down to the local vote.the union was to blame.thinking they had over the company.thats it.