GM FYI Blog

By Tom Wickham
GM Communications

Andy Warhol once said “In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” His comment was directed at the fleeting attention people and the media pay to an object, person or event.

As a former reporter and current public relations professional, I’ve done my share of writing and pitching stories, hoping they will have an impact that outlasts Warhol’s skeptical view. And frankly, in the world of manufacturing, where I ply my trade, most people just aren’t interested in how a car is built.

So, when I received a call in March from a producer in California, wanting to visit our Bowling Green, Ky., plant to see the Corvette being built, I chalked it up to another request for an interview and visuals that would serve as the backdrop for a show about the Corvette.

I was wrong. The producer, Julie Nelson of Michael Hoff Productions, insisted this would be a story about how we build the Corvette, namely the Z06. Finally, Warhol’s vision would come true for the men and women of GM and the UAW, but instead of 15 minutes, it would be an hour. (Watch the premiere of “Ultimate Factories: Corvette” at 10 p.m. EST, Thursday on the National Geographic Channel.)

“Thrilled” was one way to describe how I felt about the opportunity for GM Manufacturing to be showcased on a network that epitomizes how to cover nature, society and, it seems, manufacturing. Ultimate Factories premiered a year ago, featuring other American icons like Harley-Davidson. The series was successful so National Geographic ordered a second season to be shot and insisted on the Corvette anchoring the season premiere.

Our task, for much of April, was helping Julie and the production team get what they needed for the show. Typical shots of cars being made would not cut it, they told me. They wanted a behind-the-scenes take on the people who build the car. Together, with my colleagues at Chevrolet, GM’s Performance Build Center in Wixom, Mich., the GM Proving Grounds in Milford, Mich., and, of course, Bowling Green Assembly, we helped develop a shoot schedule that would give people a never-before-seen look at the making of America’s sports car.

This was no small feat, as 50,000 people tour Bowling Green each year to watch Corvettes being made. When they leave, the visitors have an excellent understanding of how the car is built. But no visitors get to install wheels on a Z06, anchor seats or fix a blemish in the paint shop. Heck, the same holds true for hand-assembling the LS7 engine that powers the Z06 or taking the finished product for a spin on the tracks at the Proving Grounds.

All this was possible, though, because the production team approached the job, knowing that safety and quality were our mandates. Having that understanding as a starting point allowed them to work closely with the men and women who live and breathe Corvette. In fact, the show’s host, Kevin Moore, so assimilated himself into the workforce, I wondered if he planned to give up his job at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to work for us. He was having that much fun.

Our employees picked up on that, as well, training Kevin in different aspects of the vehicle assembly process, educating him about safety protocols and quality standards.

Oh, there was fun, as well, especially when we had to don the blue paint shop suits and hats, prompting plenty of Smurf jokes from the crew. And then there was a day at the Proving Grounds when Kevin got behind the wheel of a Z06. The production team’s legal advisor wanted Kevin going a reasonable speed. 100 mph is a reasonable speed for a Z06, isn’t it?

In the end, the experience was incredible for all involved. No one takes the Corvette’s fame for granted; that’s why each generation of car is faster and better than the one before. Now, people will get to see how the car is built. And if anyone is deserving of some of that fame Warhol talked about decades ago, it’s our employees who build the engines, transmissions and cars. Ultimate Factories is their moment to shine.

To learn more about the show, check out National Geographic.