Subdeacon Joe Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 A FB find: " In 1940, William Knudsen telephoned K.T. Keller, the chief executive of Chrysler, and asked him if Chrysler could build tanks. “I don’t know,” came the answer. “I’ve never seen one of these things.” Soon after, Chrysler broke ground on what would come to be known as the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant, situated in what is now the suburb of Warren. Its goal: to build swarms of tanks according to auto-making mass production principles—something never accomplished before. Even before the factory had been completed, the first Chrysler M3 tank rolled off the assembly line. The walls of the factory were not even up, so engineers brought a steam locomotive in to keep the place warm for the workers during Michigan’s bitter winter of 1940-41. As the factory swelled to 1.25 million square feet, the company switched to M4 Sherman tanks, which were powered by a Frankenstein of a motor. Engineers took five six-cylinder engines that had been used in the Chrysler Royal and Windsor cars before the war and welded them together into one 30-cylinder motor that could pump 425-horsepower to the tank treads. In the end, the Detroit Arsenal built more tanks than all of the Third Reich during the war years, tanks that roared through enemy lines all the way to Hitler’s Berlin. WORKERS AT A CHRYSLER PLANT ASSEMBLE TANKS. THE COMPANY'S FIRST TANK ROLLED OFF THE ASSEMBLY LINE EVEN BEFORE THE FACTORY WALLS WERE COMPLETELY BUILT." 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 (edited) A 30 cylinder engine. Wow! Let’s see. 1 engine is about 24” long so 5 would be 120” so 10 feet. Dang! It would NOT fit in my Miata…. Had to edit. Inserted “NOT” Edited January 16 by Pat Riot 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chantry Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 23 minutes ago, Pat Riot said: A 30 cylinder engine. Wow! Let’s see. 1 engine is about 24” long so 5 would be 120” so 10 feet. Dang! It would fit in my Miata…. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_A57_multibank 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Joe, you may already be familiar with this channel, Tank Chats from the Tank Museum. Pretty interesting stuff. My only beef is some the English accents are so heavy that it's hard for my feeble hearing to understand. Closed captions help some, but the text is often way behind the narrator. https://www.youtube.com/@thetankmuseum 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 16 Author Share Posted January 16 1 hour ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said: Joe, you may already be familiar with this channel, Tank Chats from the Tank Museum. Pretty interesting stuff. My only beef is some the English accents are so heavy that it's hard for my feeble hearing to understand. Closed captions help some, but the text is often way behind the narrator. https://www.youtube.com/@thetankmuseum Thank you! I'm sure that I've run across that channel before, but it doesn't hurt to have another link. The Periscope channel and the Imperial War Museum also have some good films. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 @Subdeacon Joe I had to insert a “not” in my first post. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassnetguy50 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 @Pat Riot You don't want that Chrysler Christmas tree, swap in a Ford GAA V8. There is a reason most of those A57 went in Lend Lease tanks, Americans used most of the GAA tanks. Regardless of that, your Miata will perform much better with the DOHC V8 that is a 1/4 the weight and almost 1/2 again the power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 1 hour ago, Pat Riot said: @Subdeacon Joe I had to insert a “not” in my first post. I figured that you would just stretch the frame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackwater 53393 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Pat!! The engine WOULD fit, but then YOU wouldn’t!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oak Ridge Regulator Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Looking at that picture I have a couple of question, first off why would they lift a tank that high over a floor with nothing on it ( a foot would be enough) and number two, how many of todays OSHA inspectors would have had a heart attack and died on the spot seeing that ! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 2 hours ago, Oak Ridge Regulator said: Looking at that picture I have a couple of question, first off why would they lift a tank that high over a floor with nothing on it ( a foot would be enough) Because there might be something 6 foot high out of the frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sassnetguy50 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) 2 hours ago, Oak Ridge Regulator said: Looking at that picture I have a couple of question, first off why would they lift a tank that high over a floor with nothing on it ( a foot would be enough) and number two, how many of todays OSHA inspectors would have had a heart attack and died on the spot seeing that ! Looks like they are transporting the tank to the opening on the train. The chocks are already there with men standing by. They were working to produce many tanks as quickly as possible. They wouldn't have taken the time to lift the tank that high and lower it again unless it was necessary. Edited January 17 by sassnetguy50 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oak Ridge Regulator Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Guess that’s all possible but having worked around overhead cranes and lifts most of my life and seen a couple of really nasty accidents when things fell off lifts and lifting straps failed, smart folks don’t lift heavy loads until they have to, of course you don’t get complaints from guys who were under something heavy when it fell and in those days people were smart enough to not walk under a tank in the air, just looked like a stupid thing to do that’s all 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 17 Author Share Posted January 17 When I posted this I hadn't realized that they were loading rail cars inside the building. I thought that was an assembly line and the one on the lift being taken off. Looking at both the photo in the OP and the action in the video it doesn't look like there's a lot of unnecessary travel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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