Kaiser Motors Corporation made automobiles at Willow Run, Michigan, United States, from 1945 to 1953. In 1953, Kaiser merged with Willys-Overland to form Willys Motors Incorporated, moving its production operations to the Willys plant at Toledo, Ohio where they continued to build automobiles under the Kaiser marque including the Kaiser Darrin until 1955. Their South American operations continued to build passenger cars well up into the 1960s. The company changed its name to Kaiser Jeep Corporation in 1963.
Albert Kahn was an American industrial architect. He was accredited the architect of Detroit and designed industrial plant complexes such as the Ford River Rouge automobile complex. He designed the construction of Detroit skyscrapers and office buildings as well as mansions in the city suburbs. He led an organization of hundreds of architect associates and in 1937, designed 19% of all architect-designed industrial factories in the United States. Under a unique contract in 1929, Kahn established a design and training office in Moscow, sending twenty-five staff there to train Soviet architects and engineers, and to design hundreds of industrial buildings under their first five-year plan. They trained more than 4,000 architects and engineers using Kahn's concepts. In 1943, the Franklin Institute posthumously awarded Kahn the Frank P. Brown Medal.
Willow Run, also known as Air Force Plant 31, was a manufacturing complex in Michigan, United States, located between Ypsilanti Township and Belleville, built by the Ford Motor Company to manufacture aircraft, especially the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. Construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant began in 1940 and was completed in 1942.
The GMC Motorhome is a recreational vehicle that was manufactured by the GMC Truck & Coach Division of General Motors for model years 1973–1978 in Pontiac, Michigan, USA — as the only complete motorhome built by a major auto/truck manufacturer. Manufactured in 23 and 26 ft lengths, the design was noted for its front-wheel drive and its low profile, fully integrated body.
Hydramatic is an automatic transmission developed by both General Motors' Cadillac and Oldsmobile divisions. Introduced in 1939 for the 1940 model year vehicles, the Hydramatic was the first mass-produced fully-automatic transmission developed for passenger automobile use.
The Powerglide is a two-speed automatic transmission designed by General Motors. It was available primarily on Chevrolet from January 1950 through 1973, although some Pontiac models also used this automatic transmission after the fire at the Hydra-Matic factory in 1953. Powerglides were used extensively on Pontiacs produced for the Canadian market with Chevrolet powertrains. They were also used with Nova engines in the DJ-5A Jeeps produced 1968-1970 by Kaiser-Jeep and widely used as delivery vehicles by the United States Post Office. When introduced on upper-level Chevrolet models in 1950, the Powerglide represented the first automatic transmission offered in a low-priced automobile; in contrast, Ford did not offer their automatic transmission until 1951, while Plymouth car buyers had to wait until 1954. The transmission was simple and very durable, which satisfied customers.
The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige, of which Frazer had become president near the end of World War II. Kaiser-Frazer was one of a few US automakers to achieve success after World War II, if only for a few years. Joseph W. Frazer left the company in 1949, replaced as president by Henry's son Edgar F. Kaiser.
The Yankee Air Museum is an aviation museum located at Willow Run Airport in Van Buren Township, Michigan. The museum has a small fleet of flying aircraft and a collection of static display aircraft outdoors.
Willow Run Airport is an airport in Van Buren Charter Township and Ypsilanti Township, near Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States that serves freight, corporate, and general aviation. Due to its proximity to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, no major airlines schedule passenger flights to or from Willow Run.
Wilmington Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Wilmington, Delaware. The 3,200,000-square-foot (300,000 m2) factory opened in 1947, and produced cars for GM's Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, Opel, Buick and Daewoo brands during its operation. GM closed the plant on July 28, 2009.
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.
The 6L80 is a six-speed automatic transmission built by General Motors at its Willow Run Transmission plant in Ypsilanti, MI. It was introduced in late 2005, and is very similar in design to the smaller 6L45/6L50, produced at GM Powertrain in Strasbourg, France. It features clutch to clutch shifting, eliminating the one-way clutches used on older transmission designs. In February 2006 GM announced that it would invest $500 million to expand the Toledo Transmission plant in Toledo, Ohio to produce the 6L80 in 2008. Torque rating 440 ft/lb. 6L90 1220ft/lb.
The 4L80-E is a series of automatic transmissions from General Motors. Designed for longitudinal engine configurations, the series included 4 forward gears. It was the 4-speed electronically commanded evolution of the 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic 400, first produced in October 1963. 4L80-Es were optioned only in Chevrolet/GMC pickups, vans, and commercial vehicles, and the Hummer H1. It was also adopted by Rolls-Royce in 1991 and modified after extensive testing, and used initially in the Bentley Continental R, and subsequently other Rolls-Royce and Bentley vehicles. The 4L80 and 4L85 were built at Willow Run Transmission in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The 4T80E is a series of automatic transmissions from General Motors. Designed for transverse engine configurations, the series includes 4 forward gears. The 4Txx family is an evolution of the original Turbo-Hydramatic 125 transverse automatic introduced in the 1980 model year "X" body.
Toledo Propulsion Systems is a 2.8 million square feet; 151 acres General Motors transmission factory in Toledo, Ohio.
Spring Hill Manufacturing is a General Motors factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The plant currently includes vehicle assembly as well as powertrain, stamping and molding operations. The plant originally operated as the sole manufacturing facility for Saturn Corporation.
Willow Run was a factory near Ypsilanti, Michigan in the United States that manufactured B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II.
The Frazer (1946–1951) was the flagship line of upper-medium priced American luxury automobiles built by the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation of Willow Run Ypsilanti, Michigan, and was, with Crosley, the first American car with new envelope body and fresh postwar styling.
Ypsilanti, commonly shortened to Ypsi, is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan.
