General Motors To Turn Durant-Dort Factory One Into Research And Archive Center
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Never forget where you come from. It’s an important term many abide by no matter the situation, or industry, one is nestled in. General Motors has made key moves to preserve pieces of its history, and its most recent announcement only furthers that motive.
GM and Kettering University have announced plans to transform the Flint, Michigan Durant-Dort Factory One into a world-class research and archive center. The building, which houses rich automotive manufacturing history, has been deemed the perfect place to relocate Kettering’s automotive collection of archives.
The research and archive center will occupy the east wing of the building on the first floor, while the second floor will house a meeting area for GM, community officials and education groups for seminars and further research.
The high-bay area of the west wing will house classic vehicle and artifacts from the facility’s carriage building days.
“Factory One truly is the epicenter of the automotive industry and, as such, it makes sense to create a world-class archive where anybody can learn how carriage builders in Flint launched the global auto industry,” said Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president of Global Product Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain.
General Motors purchased Factory One in 2013 and, since then, has invested $3 million to repair the exterior of the building and install a fence for the parking lot on Water Street. Once plans are finalized for the upcoming construction to truly transform the building, work may begin in early 2016, with a 2017 completion date.
“This project is more than preserving our past,” Reuss said. “It is about telling the story of pioneers in manufacturing, visionaries, risk takers and innovators and how they helped build a global industry and continue to inspire people today.”
The news follows GM’s announcement to invest $877 million to build a new body shop at the Flint assembly to build the next generation of full-size pickups.
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It is great to see GM celebrating their history. With GM not being a vehicle brand, consideration should be given to split up any historic location and allocate Buick, Chevrolet or Cadillac centers.
The heritage of any brand is a core ingredient in building brand loyalty and enthusiasm. Here is an area where de Nysschen could gain much traction for Cadillac.
If you not the Dare Greatly marketing is similar to the Penalty of Leadership marketing that Cadillac did in the teens when challenged by Packard. They had other similar ads back then including the challenge to be the Standard of the World. That is where that all started. Cadillac use to market the challenge of how to be great in their field. That is where Dare Greatly was generated. If you do not know the Penalty of Leadership ad look it up and see the dare and challenge of it.
Much more heritage is there but the problem is so few people know the history to relate it. To them heritage is North Star and 8-6-4.