Ford St. Thomas Assembly Plant shutting down

I got this email yesterday from a friend who used to live near the Ford St. Thomas Assembly plant in Talbotville, ON.

Apparently some of the employees who are still on hand are emailing, tweeting, and blogging about the monumental levels of waste involved with the plant teardown.

A lot of it brings a tear to a car guy's eye.

 

What a shameful waste. Can't figure out why Ford wouldn't at least attempt to sell some of that stuff or donate it to charity. But lest we forget, the people that are making the decisions are the same ones who decided to stop making the Crown Vic, Grand Marquis and Town Car in the first place, so that kind of tells you what idiots they have to be.

 

Records are being destroyed so 10 years down the road, when someone decides to sue Ford for something, they don't have to dig through old records during the "discovery" process. They just say that everything has been destroyed, and they are not lying. The destruction of everything else has to do with the tax codes. The government (take your choice, Canadian or US) has set up a system where there is no economic incentive to save anything. If it is destroyed, then it is a total write off. If it is sold, then it might push the profits up to a point where there will be more taxes that need to be paid, which will reduce the economic viability of the sale. I don't agree with this, but it is the politicians that have put these laws into place where it is better to be wasteful than it is to be a conservationist. If a part costs $1.00 to make, and it sells for $3.00 wholesale, then it gets written off at the $3.00 figure. It doesn't make economic sense to me, but as the old adage goes.. Figures don't lie, but liars figure.

 

I have seen many stories like this over my years and they absolutely INSENSE me! The above Ford created disaster lights up a fire of real anger inside me! What you see here is a lazy way of getting rid of things and walking away. We are talking millions and millions of dollars here! It is a huge corporation that won't miss the money (until they do) that these things could bring. They are so rich in comparison that they don't have a clue how many people could make good use of just the tools. Never mind the parts that will become rare much sooner thanks to their laziness and complete lack of human interest. And what about good business decisions? Forget about it...it's easier to just make it all disappear. Then, they will buy new stuff when needed because the old stuff was "outdated". A familiar corporate word. The paperwork described above is worth tremendous historical value if nothing else. The ongoing corporate and worker input records of the mentioned cars will now be forever gone and the cars soon forgotten. Laid to rest with all the other valuable materials in a dump. A dump, incidentally, that will now have a considerably larger dirty footprint on the environment.
I hope everyone on the forum reads every word of the message that Wiz posted here and writes Ford an email castigating them for this gross waste and historical deletion. I was firmly entrenched in Ford's cheering section when they flipped off Obama and told him they didn't need any of his G money or the strings that came with it. I still admire that decision but, with the post above, my admiration for the company's leaders has dwindled considerably. There are millions of families and workers that no longer have a home or food on the table in this country because of outsourcing. Ford just looked them all in the eye and flipped THEM off, too.

 

----------Sadly you are right. Still no excuse for such waste. This is only the beginning----of the end of Canada and America!

 

I can't even begin to tell you how angry this makes me. I have all but given up on Chevrolet for their bullsh*t and now Ford's gonna pull a stunt like this? I'm disgusted!

 

Any honorable company would do the right thing and donate what they could donate, sell off what they could sell off, and recycle what they could recycle - regardless of the potential tax effects. It's simply the right thing to do. SHAME ON YOU, FORD!

Link to e-mail Ford Public Relations.....

https://secure.corporate.ford.com/f...ntact-us-email?contactMainTopic=PublicAffairs

 

-As I read on a post here yesterday. It's all about the money!------When was the last time a company or politician was honorable?

 

Wow. My 1990 Colony Park was assembled at St.Thomas in the fall of 1989. What a horrible way to turn down a plant. I can't believe the way they're disposing of some of the items is even legal. Sad legacy for a place whose workforce put together countless solid vehicles. I wonder if there was a plant historian, official or unofficial, who kept any records.

 

as of late, these car companies seem to be spitting in the eye of car enthusiasts. when ford replaced the 1st taurus. they made a big damned deal out of the last one rolling off the line. the last crown vic rolls off the line...you barely know it. with the taurus it was mentioned that the last one went to the owner of chick-fil-a because his forst location was across the street from the plant that built tauruses. and he fed all the workers. the last crown vic? a Saudi Ford dealer...SAUDI!

that being said...what happened to the last 96 Caprice? (maybe silverfox has it?) the last caddy fleetwood? the last Trans am?

the taurus was replaced by the five hundered. which didnt have the name recognition it needed to sell it as a replacement for the taurus and crown vic (it was suppose to replace both but lacked the power to do either). So when Alan Mullaly came to rescue ford he changed the name of the 500 back to taurus and swapped the 3.0 out for a 3.5 which gave it good power. now it sold...2 years later new body style....big hit! ...I digress.

Alan Mullaly is a miracle worker and i am damn happy he is at the helm at ford. thet being said he is also a "numbers guy" not a car guy (his only car is a taurus) he saved Boeing's butt! and he saved Ford from taking Gov assistance. i have a feeling the waste is either exagerrated OR there is a fiscal reason for it...however painful to watch. (lord knows i hate waste as much as the next country boy.) Alan's job is to keep ford in the black.
not just for his sake but for the workers sake too.
need i remind folks that a lot of ford workers pensions and investments are tied to ford stock. From the CEO himself down to the wrench turner at your local dealer.

Waste sucks...sometimes its painful to watch but think of the worker that staved off unemployment for a month or two while the dismantling happens.

krash, companies can't donate equipment anymore....too many sue happy lawyers.

 

We'll see.
I sent an E-mail to Ford public relations.
Their automated acknowledgement response indicates I should receive formal reply in about business days.

 

Thanks for this great post, KK! I hope everyone emails them and lets them know their feelings regarding this travesty!

 

Here's Ford of Canada's response:

Dear Marahall,

Thank you for contacting the Ford of Canada Customer Relationship Centre. We received your message sent on 10/23/2011 regarding your comments on the closing of the St. Thomas Assembly plant in Talbotsville, Ontario, Canada.

Ford of Canada is deeply concerned with the satisfaction of all Ford and Lincoln owners. We regret to read of the circumstances that have prompted you to contact us. We understand how frustrating this experience has been for you. Ford cares about each and every customer. Please accept our apology for any inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of the situation you have described to us.

As the St. Thomas plant closed last month, Regrettably, at this time we are not offering any type of auction or "open-door" at the plant to salvage any equipment or parts. Closing a plant is a decision that is made at the executive level and we have documented your feedback and the information you provided. This information is forwarded to various departments within Ford and is used to continuously improve our products and services. You will only be contacted if a specific department requires additional information or clarification.

We value you as a member of the Ford Family and appreciate your continued support of Ford's products and services. If you have any other inquiries or concerns, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to address them.

Thank you for contacting Ford of Canada.

Sincerely,
Christian
Ford of Canada
Customer Relationship Centre

.....................................................................

That's about 150 words of nothing.......

 

You were expecting a hand written letter from Alan mulally?
Ford has been getting blasted for killing the vic as it is. Your note probably got tossed into the hopper with the rest of the hate mail
.

 

Ford does a lot to support todays performance enthusiasts problem is attorneys suck some dum dum buys a wrench at auction from ford he decides to use it as a whatchamacallit gets killed lawyer sues ford and walla just throw the stuff out