After 86 years, the last vehicle rolled off the Ford Motor Company's Twin Cities Assembly Plant this morning. Staff writer Janet Moore, with help from Curt Brown, will share their interviews with Ford workers as well as their observations on this blog.
Just before 10 a.m.
The last Ford Ranger left the assembly plant before the clock struck 10 a.m. on Friday, about 30 minutes later than expected.
About 500 people were on hand at the plant, where Dallas Theis, a retiree from Shakopee who spent more than half a century at the plant was behind the wheel. Theis stood by the open drivers side door of the car, waved to the crowd to a loud ovation and jumped in the cab with an area manager, said Thomas Epperson, a 21-year Ford worker. The truck's automatic door opened, and he drove it off the line. "It felt like we'd been preparing for a big holiday meal and we were all done and it was time to do the dishes," said Epperson.
9:36 a.m. Michael Bartlett walked out of the plant with his gym bag for the last time and said "It was very surreal in there today. It was very quiet with most of the line shut down. There was some sadness, lots of people taking pictures and some tears. We're all kind of family. We go through life experiences together, running by divorces, problems with our kids."
Bartlett took a buyout in 2006, and was rehired three weeks later taking a $10-an-hour paycut. "Change is hard. It's scary as hell. And now there's 800 people joining the unemployment line." -C.B.
9:22 a.m. Despite losing his job at Ford, Benjamin Gross, 61, is in a festive mood here at the increasingly raucous bar. Gross, of Eagan, dressed in Santa garb for the occasion, including a red shirt festooned with fiery flames and skulls. " I went from being a part timer at $10 an hour with no benefits to $30 an hour with medical, dental, vision, vacation, college tuition. I put two kids through college thanks to Ford." The skulls on his shirt signify "doom and gloom for the American working class," he said. -J.M.
8:56 a.m. The Ford plant closure affects more than just those losing their jobs - it has a profound effect on their families, too. Hanging out at Tiffany's, Theresa English, 37, of St. Paul, said her youngest child, 13-year-old Tezmond, recently asked, "'Mom, if you lose your job, what happens to me?'" English assured him to "put his faith in family and in God." On Monday she has a job interview at a temp agency for about $10 less an hour than what she was making at Ford. Still, it's a job in a rough economy. If she gets it, she says she'll help her pals from the plant find work. - J.M.
8:40 a.m. Cars on Ford Parkway are honking as they pass two sisters, Katherine Werner and Karen Johnson, standing outside the plant's main gate with signs. One says "FORD" EVER THANKFUL! Karen is holding aloft a string of pink hearts. Another sign says: "86 years -- thank you Ford folks." Their late grandfather Bill Priglmeier worked there for 35 years, the sisters said.
