The end of the big block

[sd1968z28]

i have a 8.1 in my 3/4 ton avalanch,  it is a great engine to bad i can't replace the truck i guess i will rebuild the engine when the time come.  unless the goverment deems that bad too?

[BILL69]

The demand for that particular engine did not justify the enormous cost of building it.   The factory space is needed for the 4 cylinder engines that will go in many more GM vehicles.    The diesel engines demand did away with the large gas engines over the past few years,  I work in the Ford Kentucky Truck plant where we make the Super Duty line of pickups,  the diesel engine is by far the best seller in the 3/4 ton and up vehicles.

[JohnZ]

Little-known trivia - during WWII, Tonawanda built Pratt & Whitney 2,000-hp R-2800 airplane engines. 

[77thor]

No real surprise. It was inevitable.

[fireZ]

I drove by the that plant the other night on the way home from a Buffalo Sabres game.It takes up a lot of property in not a real good area.

[68Zproject]

I think that airplane engine was the "double wasp"?  That was one nasty engine in it's day.  I saw one at a local air museum and to say it looked complicated is an understatement.

[Jerry@CHP]

I wonder if they will level the plant as they did with the Baltimore plant or will they re-invent it for future GM use?  Not really sure from the article if all the workers are without jobs or not?

Jerry

[jonboy1216]

it looks like the gov.politicians would let those employees keep there jobs in some small way. so they can help the rest of us pay the ridiculous deficit and other wasteful spending they love to do so much.

[JohnZ]

I wonder if they will level the plant as they did with the Baltimore plant or will they re-invent it for future GM use?  Not really sure from the article if all the workers are without jobs or not?

Jerry

Nope. The 8.1 BB was less than 3% of the plant's output, and didn't take up much floorspace. The primary products at Tonawanda are the 2.2L Ecotec and its derivatives, the I-4 and I-5 Canyon/Colorado engines, and the 3.5L and 3.9L V-6 for the Malibu, Impala, and Lucerne. The plant is in no danger of closing.

[Jrschev]

As an outsider looking in and having many friends in the US. It is a darned shame to see the collapse as it were of such a great nation.
We can only hope that the powers to be and those who are directly responsible for the problems are smart enough to ask why it happened and how it can be prevented from happening again. In my opinion if those simple questions are not addressed and people are not prepared to answer the hard questions, then we would seriously wonder if the US will ever recover. It may be more than Big Blocks that go, hasn't Pontiac got the chop as well? 

Read this book:  "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire."  It's all right there.

Big blocks are really cool but they belong in old Chevys not modern vehicles. They should have been gone years ago. This is one of many reasons why GM is where it's at. I worked for this company for many years and many, not all, of the management still believe the old statement made during the government hearings of the 1950s:  "what's good for General Motors is good for this country" That mentality was pervasive for years.

Chevrolet made millions of big block engines. There will be plenty to go around for us old car nuts for many years to come. We just don't need them in modern vehicles. Look at it this way; they will become even more collectible now that you can't get them.

[Jerry@CHP]

John,

I'm glad to hear that the plant will not close.  It broke my heart to see the Balitmore plant get leveled.  Especially since my first new car out of high school was built there. 

Baltimore was a happening place in the 1960's.  I know that Detroit was too!  Both cities are done so stick a fork in them.  A real shame.

Merry Christmas,

Jerry

[L78 steve]

I was sad to see Tarrytown leveled.  20 miles from where I grew up.