Willow Run Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory near Ypsilanti, Michigan, located at 2625 Tyler Road, in the Willow Run manufacturing complex. Willow Run Assembly consisted of an assembly plant of 2.3 million square feet, another building that was known in later years as "Willow Run Company Vehicle Operations", covering 23,000 square feet on 22 acres of land, and perhaps other parcels. Willow Run Assembly was to the south of the former Willow Run Transmission, the site of the bomber plant built by Ford in 1941.[1]
Production of automobiles began at Willow Run in 1959 with the Chevrolet Corvair; Willow Run also built the rear-wheel-drive General Motors (RWD) Chevrolet Nova (1962-1979), Pontiac Ventura, Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, Buick Apollo, and Buick Skylark, the front-wheel-drive, the X-cars Oldsmobile Omega, and Buick Skylark (1980-1985), the front-wheel-drive H body Oldsmobile 88 and Pontiac Bonneville, and the B-body Chevrolet Caprice sedan and wagon, Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser wagon, and the Buick Roadmaster Estate wagon. The Chevrolet Corvair was assembled at Willow Run during the car's entire 10-year production run. On May 14, 1969, the media was invited to Willow Run as the last Corvair came down the line; a departure from GM's policy of not permitting reporters to visit their manufacturing facilities. (this should all be re-written for more accuracy.)
In 1968, General Motors began reorganizing its body and assembly operations into the GM Assembly Division (GMAD). GMAD required 16 years to completely absorb Fisher Body's operations, and Fisher would manufacture bodies at Willow Run until the 1970s. Assembly operations at Willow Run ended in July 1993 after reduced demand for the full-size B-bodies. Operations were transferred to the Arlington Assembly Plant in Texas.
What was the main plant at Willow Run Assembly had by 2010 become a giant warehouse, the "Willow Run Business Center", part of which was leased to GM for use as a parts distribution facility.[2]
Willow Run Company Vehicle Operations became part of the abandoned GM properties managed by the RACER Trust in March 2011; in April 2013, RACER sold the Company Vehicle Operations facility to International Turbine Industries, an engine maintenance and repair company headquartered across Tyler Road from the former assembly plant.[1]
Remote assembly proved problematic, however, and by October 1941 Ford received permission to produce complete Liberators. WillowRun's Liberator assembly line...
WillowRunAssembly was a General Motors automobile factory near Ypsilanti, Michigan, located at 2625 Tyler Road, in the WillowRun manufacturing complex...
WillowRun Airport (IATA: YIP, ICAO: KYIP, FAA LID: YIP) is an airport in Van Buren Charter Township and Ypsilanti Charter Township, near Ypsilanti, Michigan...
WillowRun Transmission (also called Ypsilanti Transmission Operations, YTO) was a General Motors factory in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan. Acquired by...
Omega coupe Overview Model years 1973–1974 Assembly Van Nuys Assembly, Van Nuys, California WillowRunAssembly, Ypsilanti, Michigan Body and chassis Body style...
Force and heavy duty trucks, the latter then exclusively built at WillowRunAssembly. Despite plans to open the plant by 1957, the construction began...
noted: WillowRunAssembly, Ypsilanti, MI 1960–69 Leeds Assembly Plant, Kansas City, MO 1960–61 Oakland Assembly, Oakland, CA 1960–63 Van Nuys Assembly Van...
Ford to mass-produce the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber at its WillowRunassembly plant. Ford Werke and Ford SAF (Ford's subsidiaries in Germany and...
General Motors to promote its design leadership. Of the three, the Skylark's run of 1,690 units proved the most successful, and an amazing sales feat considering...
Some 250 Ventura SD's were built for 1972, all at the GM Nova/Ventura assembly plant in Van Nuys, California plant. In 1973, higher spec cars received...
Suburban commemorated its 80th anniversary at General Motors' Arlington Assembly Plant where the 10 millionth Suburban was produced. A video was posted...
Production 1976–1979 Model years 1977–1979 Assembly North Tarrytown Assembly, Tarrytown, New York WillowRunAssembly, Ypsilanti, Michigan Body and chassis...
GTO, which was also the last Monaro-based coupe produced, came off the assembly line in Australia on June 14, 2006. Total production for all three years...
by North Tarrytown Assembly (North Tarrytown, New York), Oklahoma City Assembly (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), and Ramos Arizpe Assembly (Ramos Arizpe, Mexico)...
Georgia Leeds Assembly, Kansas City, Missouri Baltimore Assembly, Baltimore, Maryland Van Nuys Assembly, Los Angeles, California WillowRunAssembly, Ypsilanti...
Buick's two-speed Dynaflow automatic transmissions until GM pressed its WillowRun Transmission plant into service to resume Hydra-Matic production. New...
Assembly, Van Nuys, California, U.S. North Tarrytown New York, U.S. WillowRunAssembly, Ypsilanti, Michigan, U.S. Oshawa, Ontario, Canada Body and chassis...
Custom Cruiser Overview Model years 1991–1992 Assembly United States: Ypsilanti, Michigan (WillowRunAssembly) Body and chassis Class Station wagon (full-size)...
increasingly popular sport utility vehicles. The Arlington, Texas vehicle assembly plant (used for the Caprice, Impala SS, Buick Roadmaster, Oldsmobile Custom...
formerly known as the Yankee Air Museum, is an aviation museum located at WillowRun Airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet...
locations opened across the country under the Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division. The equipment levels and refinement of materials used were on...
Thomas E. (1993), Pontiac: they built excitement, Baltimore, MD: Stony Run Press, ISBN 9789993177159 Paul Niedermeyer, ed. (June 15, 2016). "1957 Chevrolet...
panel was now hinged at the top instead of retracting into the tailgate assembly, which was an approach last used in 1957, and it showed a similar semi-fastback...
Michigan is an automotive museum that features cars assembled at the nearby WillowRun Plant and vehicles made by Hudson Motors. The museum is an official site...
he set the goal of producing one bomber per hour at Ford's expansive WillowRun manufacturing complex, where the B-24 was produced. It was said that the...
Global Information
