Just as the first production SRT Viper rolls off of the assembly line, The New York Times Magazine gets a first-hand view of Chrysler’s Conner Avenue Assembly Plant in Detroit – ‘Where the Viper Gets Its Vroom’.
The Conner Avenue Plant is said to produce 12 cars a day all from a staff of 150 employees. Shared with us today are exclusive photos and a production video of the first few SRT Vipers rolling off of the new line headed to their lucky owners.
Despite its status as the Motor City, Detroit has only two automobile plants entirely within the city limits. One is Chrysler’s Conner Avenue Assembly Plant, which reopened in December after being closed for more than three years during the automaker’s bankruptcy. Later this month, the factory’s first Viper — considered a “halo” vehicle, built to enhance a company’s image rather than drive sales — will roll off the line. A worker at Conner, Mike Chapman, says that “you’re more like a craft person than a line worker” there, while at other plants “you’re pretty much like a robot.” Elsewhere, workers spend less than a minute on each car; at Conner, they spend a half-hour on each car. And with almost no automation in place, the loudest sounds are the roars of a Viper’s engine. – Sonari Glinton
[source: The New York Times Magazine]
