THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504220395
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Ford Motor Co.'s Norfolk Assembly Plant celebrated its 70th anniversary Friday by re-enacting a scene from 1925 when Norfolk's mayor drove the first automobile off the assembly line.
In 1925 Mayor S. Heath Tyler drove away in a Model T. On Friday, Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim drove away in a special-edition black F-150 pickup truck.
Plant Manager William E. Boggs, who began running the Norfolk plant last October, came up with the idea of re-creating the scene of 70 years ago.
``When I got here I just started telling everyone that I wanted to see as much history as I can, then I found that old picture in the archives (of the first Model T) and I asked the mayor if he'd help re-enact it,'' Boggs said.
The plant made 70 anniversary-edition F-150 pickup trucks for the occasion. The assembly plant donated one of the trucks to the Norfolk Botanical Garden, and the other black trucks - the original color of Model Ts - were driven away by automobile dealers in southern Virginia.
Norfolk Assembly Plant employed 750 men when it began operating on April 23, 1925, when the jobs paid 62 cents an hour. Now, the plant employs 1,939 men and women, who earn an average of $18.70 an hour.
Other comparisons:
The original 250,000 square-foot plant is now about eight times larger, at more than two million square feet.
The plant in its first year produced 75 cars daily and now produces 653 trucks daily. ILLUSTRATION: File photo
In 1925, Norfolk Mayor Heath Tyler drove a Model T off the assembly
line.
Photo by D. Kevin Elliott, Staff
On Friday, Mayor Paul Fraim drove away in a truck.
KEYWORDS: ANNIVERSARY by CNB