# See these classic cars come to life in iconic American auto factories

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The 100,000th Nissan pickup comes off the assembly line at the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., on Oct. 25, 1984, as the company celebrates 16 months of production at its first U.S. manufacturing facility.

  
*Dan Loftin, The Tennessean Via USA TODAY Network*

One of the newest methods of drying successive lacquer coats on a car is by infra-red lights, as shown above in the paint department of the new General Motors assembly plant in Atlanta. The infra-red rays harden the lacquer.

  
*Bettmann Archive, Getty Images*

Ford workers put the finishing touches to the Custom Deluxe as they roll off the production line of the Ford assembly plant in Dearborn, Michigan, circa 1950. The vehicles have reached the end of the 1,000-foot assembly line, capable of producing 500 new cars in an eight-hour shift.

  
*FPG, Getty Images*

A man tests a passenger car tire by using a plunging device that forces 16,000 pounds of pressure into the tread of a Firestone Radial V-1 steel belted tyre on Jan. 21, 1974. The testing factory is based in Akron, Ohio.

  
*Fox Photos, Getty Images*

Sparks fly as two welders stand on either side of a jig as a white-hot electric arc fuses body parts into one solid unit at an automobile assembly plant in the United States circa 1935.

  
*FPG, Getty Images*

Workers spray hoods of Buicks on the assembly line of the US motor manufacturer's new sheet metal plant in Flint, Michigan in December 1947. Painting operations at the facility require 40,000 gallons of paint-in-process along with storage facilities for an additional 40,000 gallons.

  
*Buick Motor Division/EuropeanFPG/Archive Photos Via Getty Images*

Chrysler workers assembling grilles for 1947 Plymouth automobiles at the Chrysler assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan, circa 1947.

  
*FPG, Getty Images*

High angle view of a production line in an automobile factory in the United States, with two lines of vehicle bodies, each vehicle with its doors open, possibly as the vehicle interior is fitted, circa 1950. Note that the vehicles' engine compartments have yet to be fitted.

  
*FPG, Getty Images*

An engineer conducts a micrometer test of pistons for roundness at a Chandler Motor Car Company factory in Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1920.

  
*Hulton Archive Via Getty Images*

U.S. workers packing 'Paint Life' car cleaner polish on a factory production line circa 1950.

  
*Sam Orvis, FPG, Getty Images*

An engineer adjusts the spiral bevel gear differential at a Chandler Motor Car Company factory in Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1920.

  
*Hulton Archive Via Getty Images*

Auto workers remove car doors from body side panel assemblies in the Ford Motor Company's Pressed Steel Building in Dearborn, Michigan in 1949.

  
*Ford Motor Company, PhotoQuest Via Getty Images*

Early motor cars were produced on a small scale, with all parts fitted by hand, until the advent in 1909 of Henry Ford's assembly line for producing the Model T Ford in Detroit, Michigan. With the growing popularity of the motor car in Britain, the West Midlands became the center of the vehicle manufacturing industry, as it had been for the bicycle-making industry in the 19th century. Both processes required similar engineering skills. Many manufacturers sprang up, some of which went on to become household names and large producers. Others were small-scale businesses which made only a handful of cars, and whose existence was only fleeting.

  
*Argent Archer, Science & Society Picture Library Via Getty Images*

A Ford worker adds the final touches to 'the fifteen millionth Ford' car produced, a Model T Ford, in the United States on May 26, 1927.

  
*Keystone Features, Hulton Archive Via Getty Images*

Army's Half-Track Scout cars are inspected before delivery from factory converted to war production at White Motor Company in Cleveland, Ohio, in December 1941.

  
*Universal History Archive, Universal Images Group Via Getty Images*
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