Hundreds of auto workers and their families held a wake on Saturday for what was once the largest car assembly plant in the world.
Ford employees and their families wandered through the sprawling Wixom Assembly Plant in this Detroit suburb, listening to old Motown hits and talking about old times, retirement and new jobs with cups of soda in hand.
The mood was far different from the anger and betrayal expressed 16 months ago when Ford marked Wixom for closure as part of a massive restructuring plan which included the elimination of 26,000 jobs and the closure of 16 plants.
"My feelings are positive," line worker Sharon Gallaugher said. "We've all done a fabulous job and Ford has given us the opportunity to retire and go on to other opportunities."
But the plant and the close friendships that were formed as workers spent 10 hours a day on the line together will be sorely missed, she said.
Ford broke ground for Wixom in 1955, shortly after the company went public in what was then the largest initial public offering of stock in US history.
Wixom was the birthplace of a succession of the company's most important cars such as the Ford Thunderbird, Lincoln Continental, Lincoln Mark IV and Lincoln Town Car.
The plant grew from 120,000 m2 initially to 437,000m2, with more than 24km of conveyor lines as Ford expanded the site to keep up with the demand.
Employment peaked in 1973, when the plant had more than 5,468 workers on its payroll. Production topped out in 1988 when workers built 280,659 Lincoln Town Cars and Lincoln Continentals and Wixom was one of the most profitable auto plants in the world.
"It was like a big family in here," said Alonzo Smith, 41, who works in the plant's body shop and will move to another Ford plant around Detroit.
Ford shifted its attention from cars to sport utility vehicles in the early 1990s and production fell dramatically as demand plummeted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Ford kept Wixom going for a few years by offering discounts, or incentives, to customers buying the increasingly unpopular cars Wixom built.
But when high gasoline prices and the introduction of smaller, car-based SUVs ate away at demand for high-margin trucks and SUVs, Ford's balance sheet began to bleed heavily.
Ford laid off Wixom's second shift last May and announced on Wednesday that Wixom would close permanently at the end of this month.
Philip Calhoun, Wixom's plant manager, said he has been impressed by the high morale of the employees as the date of final shutdown approached.
"We're a high-seniority plant and the people here have had a great opportunity to decide what they want to do in the next chapter of their life," he said.
"About a year ago, there was a lot of anxiety and maybe even a little bit of fear," said James Parsons, who will work in Wixom's trim department right up to the shutdown.
"We used to make 300,000 cars a year and they weren't utilizing the plant. We can understand the market share was down and the decision had to be made," Parsons said.
The United Auto Workers union negotiated rich buyout packages for older workers, and younger workers were given a chance to transfer to jobs at other Ford plants, said Parsons, who will move on to a job at the company's transmission plant in Livonia.
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