Wixom tag

[simplyconnected]

One Friday night I was coming into work on the midnight shift. I noticed one of the high-bay cranes wasn't parked in its usual spot. The operator sat inside this 50-ton gantry crane, and to get out, he had to park it all the way to the end of the rails, to a platform at the top of a steel ladder.

Apparently, one of the collector shoes came apart and off the hot rail. There he was, thirty feet in the air, in the middle of the Die Room, yelling for help but no one was around.

All the afternoon shift employees went home as soon as their production was met. He had been stuck up there for hours. When he saw me, the guy was practically in tears with visions of being up there over the weekend, and begging for help.

It happened that the hot rail side of this crane was against an outside wall with "X" braces between the girders. I got my electrician's hand tools, shut off the 250VDC rail power disconnect, and climbed the girders. Finally, I reached the hot shoe, reattached the spring and returned the shoe to the hot rail. It probably took ten minutes. Then I climbed down and powered up the rails. All of a sudden the crane lights came on as it sprung to life. The look on the operator's face changed from hopeless despair to total elation. That visual will be indelibly burned into my memory.

He drove the crane to the 'park' position, climbed down, and couldn't thank me enough. He even paid for my coffee in advance for months. To me, it was another day at the big factory. I would have done that for anyone. To him, you'd swear I was his hero! (We remained friends for decades.) In reality, if the Safety Man caught me climbing girders, he would have demanded disciplinary action including a week off without pay. I found myself looking over my shoulder a lot. - Dave

[Anders]

Dave, you should write a book about all of this.

Yup! I´ll buy one directly!

[Guest]

wixom tag

theres a car on ebay with a tag a 60.

[simplyconnected]

Yep, that's the same picture as in post #1, with a 2058 number that means nothing.

Maybe they relisted the car because it didn't sell. I dunno. - Dave

[YellowRose]

Brass Wixom Tag

As a result of an email I just received from John Peters ~ driller, regarding a '60's blue Lincoln with a brass tag on it, I think we can put to rest what this brass tag was used for. Here is the LOD link. You will have to be logged into the LOD site to see this. If you are not a member, below is what that tag looks like on that blue Lincoln... Just like the one on the '60 Squarebird below...

http://www.lincolnsofdistinction.org...7&d=1388797967

Below you will see the same kind of tag that was found on a '60 Squarebird that was eventually parted out according to Ken Burke, GTE427, back on 2-20-2008!

http://www.squarebirds.org/vbulletin...ight=Wixom+tag

Here is what driller was told by some Wixom plant retirees a few minutes ago.

That was a tough one! After tracking down and talking to several retirees from Michigan’s now gone Wixom plant, I hear it was a stamped brass tag affixed to random vehicles taken off the assembly line for a quality check, with the numbers identifying the test and/or tester.

[simplyconnected]

I merged this post with one started in Jan. 2014.

Your post tells us no more than we knew before. Maybe I'm missing something here... The first link is simply the picture of a brass tag on a door pillar. It's the same picture from post #7 in this thread!

The second link brings us right back to this thread. Why?

Hawkrod nailed it in post #4 . Brass tags are used to identify company equipment, not products. Everything that has to do with a Ford-built car is identified by the rotation number and VIN, NOT a brass tag. Remember those ROT sheets?

Why would Wixom be the ONLY plant to affix brass tags? You can see by the dimples on the holes that these tags were removed (pried) from something like a desk, chair, machine (drill press, grinder, electric motor), and then attached to a car. Sorry, but affixing brass tags to cars makes no sense and it does not follow Ford practices. For example, if an electric motor burns up, electricians put it with other bad motors and Ford calls a motor rebuilder. Each motor is inventoried by its brass tag number so we know which motor is out and a log will show when it was rebuilt.

Brass tags do not belong on cars, as we discussed in previous posts. Ford workers never had brass tags for identification. We had tool tags for borrowing crib tools but they were triangular.

I have an OLD drill press in my shop with a brass tag. It says "American Motors" and then a number. - Dave

[YellowRose]

Wixom tag

I can only tell you what driller told me in an email earlier tonight.

"After tracking down and talking to several retirees from Michigan’s now gone Wixom plant, I hear it was a stamped brass tag affixed to random vehicles taken off the assembly line for a quality check, with the numbers identifying the test and/or tester."

That is what the Wixom plant retirees told him, so driller said...

[partsetal]

Spotted another Wixom Tag on a 1960 Convertible on Ebay item 201526082617, photo # 52. These keep showing up, there has to be more to the story as to why they were placed on these cars.
Carl

[GTE427]

I agree Carl, I also continue to see these tags. I do not have any fomoco manufacturing experience, but I do have a long time affinity with TBirds. Those tags consistently show up on 1960 Birds, junk ones, neglected ones, drivers and show cars. Never have I found one on any 58 or 59 Birds. Something must have changed within Ford or their dealers in 1960, or a Wixom Tag conspiracy was started to keep the enthusiast guessing all these years later.

[Yadkin]

The slotted screws suggest it wasn't the factory. Some guy at the plant collected the tags and sold them to enthusiasts.