Fleetwood Metal Body Moves To Detroit

FLEETWOOD, PA.-- Oct. 20, 1930--  Operations of the Fleetwood Metal Body Co. of this borough will be moved to Detroit starting the first of next year, it was announced today by owners of the firm, the Fisher Body Division of General Motors.
    Purchased by Fisher Body in 1925, the Fleetwood operation has been part of the town of Fleetwood  since 1909 when Harry C. Uhrich, a country blacksmith, conceived the idea of forming a company to build the finest quality automobile bodies that he and  his artisan neighbors could produce. 
    The move of all operations to Detroit is the result of the country's economic depression and the need for the Fisher Body Division to consolidate its operations, according to word received  here from Detroit.  Since Fleetwood was purchased by Fisher, all the the local  production has been going to Cadillac body work.
    The Fleetwood shops here have been famous the world over, producing bodies for such notable makes as Packard and Pierce Arrow and for famous peole like Andrew Carnegie, the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, Mary Pickford and Theda Bara.
                            
                      
Officers Glad To Sell

The firm was sold in 1925 to Fisher because its officers felt that it had little chance of surviving against major car manufacturers whose standard, mass-produced bodies were getting better and better.  Further, officials believed that the aluminum bodies made by Fleetwood were on the way out, being replaced by stronger steel.
    Fleetwood pioneered the use of hand-hammered aluminum for car bodies.  They used aluminum for the outer skin, stretched over a hardwood frame.  This is actually a much easier and economical process than producing dies for stamping out the steel parts.
    After the purchase of the plant by Fisher, the workforce grew from around 400 to 700 and body production jumped from 80 per month to 430.  The economy now, however, has reduced the numbers considerably.
    In Detroit, Fisher produces Cadillac bodies at its Plant #18 and employees of the plant there and here in Fleetwood have freely exchanged information and visited each other's facilities.  The "Fleetwood" nameplate now appears on many Cadillac car bodies and there is the possibility that Plant #18 may be renamed the Fisher Body Fleetwood Plant.
    Some of the Fleetwood employees are expected to be moved to Detroit while work will begin here to find new tenants for the plant when it is vacated.