1974 Gmc Jimmy 4x4; Restored Custom, No Rust on 2040-cars

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Meet Alex Archer, the engineer behind GM's power-sliding center console

In 2009, a GM manager complained to a 59-year-old GM technician about the hassle of retrieving items from a pickup truck bed after driving shifted the cargo. In two days, the tech had come up with the ideas that, ten years later, would debut as the MultiPro tailgate. The engineering teams kept the tailgate secret in part by hiding mock-ups in a locked storage closet in GM's Vehicle Engineering Center in Warren Michigan for two years. A piece in the Detroit Free Press reveals that another storage closet in Warren would play the same role in a different cloak-and-dagger operation, this time for the power-sliding center console in GM's new full-sized SUVs. During a meeting in early 2017, bosses gave the job of the console's creation to 24-year-old design release engineer Alex Archer, just two years out of Stanford University with a degree in engineering and product design.  This time, the catalyst for the feature was an internal GM think tank called co:lab, where employees suggest ideas. Execs gave Archer the task because "They needed someone willing to ask a lot of questions," her 36-month mandate to produce a six-way console that could be a standard cubby or a gaping maw able to swallow four gallon jugs or hide a secret compartment. Clearly, she succeeded. It took Archer and the team nine months to devise a prototype, another six months to get the green light for production. As with the tailgate, the team working on the console grew to include designers, production engineers, and suppliers. Archer, now 26, shepherded the process, and her name is on the patent. "It took a ton of people, I'm just somebody who stuck with it the whole time," she said. GM like her work well enough to produce the "Day in the Life" segment above, five months before the world would hear about the console. Archer's path to engineering was as unlikely as getting the job for the console. She had entered Stanford with plans to be a doctor. But an innovation class during her freshman year, and a sophomore summer spent helping her grandfather rebuild a 1937 MG engine recharted her course. Her grandfather told her, "You know, you could be an engineer for a car company." Consumer reaction to Archer's work won't be far off, the SUVs slated to hit dealerships soon. Meanwhile, she's busy on something that could be just as intense as the console: Restoring a 1955 Packard Clipper in her garage. Head to Freep to check out the story of Archer and the console. Related Video:

GMC Hummer EVs 'sold out for two years or more'

At the end of March this year, GMC said it had 65,000 reservations for the Hummer EV pickup and SUV. At the time, brand chief Duncan Aldred said, "Production’s actually slightly ahead of plan and weÂ’re putting things in place now to actually expedite that as well, so we can deliver these reservations quicker than we originally thought. WeÂ’re seeing momentum building," adding that "it still means a reservation now probably means delivering in '24." By the time of the 2024 GMC Sierra EV Denali Edition 1 reveal just a bit ago, that reservation number had climbed to 90,000. GMC shut down the Hummer reservations line a month ago. GM Authority reports that when GMC chief Duncan Aldred spoke at a media briefing ahead of the Sierra EV reveal, he said the Hummer is "sold out for two years or more."   Notice, the word "probably" has been replaced by the phrase "or more" in the production vocabulary. That development likely takes into account what's happened since March at GM's Factory Zero, where the automaker currently builds the Hummer. That site, along with the new Orion Township Assembly Plant, will soon build the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Sierra EV and Cruise Origin autonomous vehicle. In a memo from the beginning of the year, GM said a $6.6 billion investment in EV production capability will ultimately allow 600,000 electric pickups to come off lines every year. That's at least a couple of years away, though. At the beginning of October, GM said it wanted to bump production of the EVs on sale now, which includes the Chevrolet Bolt, to 70,000 vehicles in 2023. Back to the Hummer, GMC increased September Hummer production to 700 units for the month. That was a huge bump over the monthly average in the nine months up to September, the production totaling 2,750 units for the first three quarters, yet well behind what the brand would like. And Factory Zero will shut down for a few weeks in November for upgrades to produce the additional vehicles. All of this assumes the supplies of chips and raw minerals for batteries, industrial supplies and industrial transport don't suffer another hiccup. If there's any good news buried in all this, it's that 95% of Hummer reservation holders were converting to paid orders, an absurdly positive number. Based on what we've seen so far, GM's got some good looking EVs on the way. Let's cross our fingers that the company can build them quicker. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party.

Chevy Express 1500, GMC Savana 1500 get the axe

Fans of truck-based, light-duty vans can officially pour one out for the Chevrolet Express 1500 and GMC Savana 1500, as General Motors has officially put its long-serving big/little rigs out to pasture. Things aren't quite as sad as they sound, though. The heavier-duty 2500 and 3500 vans will soldier on, in order to duke it out with the largest members of Ram ProMaster, Ford Transit and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter families.
The move does seem to make a lot of sense. According to GM, customers only purchase the 1500-spec Chevrolet 23 percent of the time, while the GMC captures a mere 7 percent of the Savana family's sales. With numbers like that, it's no shock that GM thinks it can shift some of its buyers into its van family's more capable variants. "We knew we could move a lot of our 1500 customers into 2500-series territory," said GM's Joe Langhauser, the product manager for the company's full-size vans.
It's not just simple sales figures dictating the move, though. The 1500 line is taking up some valuable factory space that will be better spent on an eagerly anticipated new product.