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Cobalt owners take their cars home to Lordstown
Click above for high-res gallery
Many people choose their car because it is an extension of themselves, their personality, their style and their passion. These folks tend to forge a deep attachment with their automobile, an inanimate object void of emotion. Despite that fact, a vehicle has wants and needs of its own, and some can be more demanding than a small child. As with any parent, there are curious automobile owners who often wonder, where did my baby come from? Recently 134 Chevrolet Cobalt fans got the chance to find out.
Back on September 27th, GM opened up the Lordstown, OH plant for 85 lucky owners and their guests. It was a rare chance for many to view the inner workings of an automotive assembly line, without a need to join the UAW. Event attendees received a full facility tour, on site lunch meet and greet, and of course freebee swag. Not surprisingly, the majority of the Cobalt fan base stemmed from the website CobaltSS.net.
The SS is about the only Chevy compact that can muster up an emotional following, as evident in the video of John Heinricy tossing the 2008 model around the Nurburgring. The turbocharged ECOtech powered econo car is just one of the models currently produced at the Lordstown plant. The massive facility is also slated to make the Cobalt replacement, the Cruze. Check out the gallery below to view photos from the event.
Gallery: Cobalt owner's visit Lordstown
Cobalt's Come Home
By: Corey Mullane
There's something special about your birthplace, where no matter where you end up, coming home always has a special feeling to it. This Saturday we invited ECOtec owners to come back to the birthplace of the Cobalt and get in on an exclusive tour of the entire facility. From frame construction to final assembly, the owners that attended got an unprecedented look at how their car was built and who put their car together.
There were a total of 134 people that attended the owners meet with eighty five ECOtec owners bringing their vehicles to the Lordstown facility. A majority of these owners came from CobaltSS.net, an online community of Cobalt enthusiasts, and brought their customized Cobalt's to Lordstown from as far away as Texas and Mississippi to come see a tour of the plant. We hooked everyone up with special one-off Cobalt hats, posters, frisbees, stickers and tons of other goodies. We also set up a special catered lunch for all the owners, so that after their tour of the plant, they could sit down, relax and hang out with their long lost brothers.
The Lordstown Plant Facility is the highest volume single line vehicle assembly facility in the world with the main assembly building measuring over five million square feet and the full production line measuring over twenty one miles long. There are approximately 5,000 workers that put their individual touch into every single Cobalt before it leaves the Lordstown Facility. These workers work in shifts to produce roughly 1,500 Cobalt's a day, which sometimes isn't enough to meet demand!
Everyone at the Lordstown Plant couldn't have been happier to have all the owners at their facility and they couldn't have been better hosts. We'd like to thank all of the Lordstown men and women for opening their arms to all the ECOtec owners and making this VIP owner's event as special as it was.
Keep in mind that you can only register for these VIP ECOtec Owners Meet's on GMTunerSource.com, so keep your eyes peeled for the next one coming to a city near you. To see what you missed, you can check out the pictures from the event here. And remember, you can leave comments for us about the event and about where you'd like to see future events. So drop us a line below, we'd love to hear from you!
[Source: GMTunerSource.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
stevereportdotcom 7:41PM (10/07/2008)
Nice crowd. This is why I wouldnt be caught dead in a Cobalt.
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CBR 8:24PM (10/07/2008)
LOL...My thoughts exactly
zamafir 2:32AM (10/08/2008)
lmao, i finally clicked on the pics, after seeing the first, i had an identical reaction to you two.
SteveRB 3:02AM (10/08/2008)
What ... you three usually date better looking guys?
why not the LS2LS7? 4:23AM (10/08/2008)
Doesn't look any different than the crowds that showed up in their Integras and Vee-dubs for Hot Import Nights.
Cheap cars have lower-end owners. That's the way it is.
PiCASSO 7:00AM (10/08/2008)
Hey Mr. Pitt, please lay-off the judgmental comments. Anyone is entitled to buy any car, so don't be surprised if someone that you'll never relate to steps out of the car you are currently driving.
Tucker 1:40PM (10/08/2008)
Steve, these are fine and normal thoughts to have in your head but really aren't appropriate to post in a public place. It is wonderful that these people are passionate about their cars. We all start somewhere and the Cobalt SS isn't a bad place. It is also more affordable than most other cars out there in bang for the buck, gas mileage, and maintenance.
To some extent it can be helpful be careful about what you buy as to what it says about you, but if you take it too far you can put yourself in a cage of fear over what other people think and you miss many opportunities of enjoyment.
There is no difference between the enthusiast that can afford a low end toy and one that can afford an expensive one.
Xcountryflyer 7:43PM (10/07/2008)
The latest turbocharged Cobalt SS seems to be a pretty fast and sharp handling car. Too bad it is wrapped in such a downmarket wrapper with a pedestrian interior.
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Michael 7:57PM (10/07/2008)
I would love to drive a Cobalt SS, but I wouldn't buy one. Yeah, it's an amazing car, and makes more expensive cars look like pretenders, but it still looks like a Cobalt, i.e., dorky.
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waiownsyou 7:57PM (10/07/2008)
Of all the car owners they could take to explore the plant, they had to take the Cobalt owners.
Congrats, GM.
Now GTFO.
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TheRedMonkey 7:59PM (10/07/2008)
The Dogs of Lordstown?
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Hugh G 8:02PM (10/07/2008)
So far, the comments above represent a bunch of stuck up pricks IMHO. Cobalt not cool enough for you? Puleeze. You losers probably drive Hummers.
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Michael 10:49PM (10/07/2008)
Haha. I drive a Honda Fit.
IOMTT 8:08PM (10/07/2008)
Can someone direct me to the 3 cylinder Metro reunion??? Seriously though, Cobalt SS is worthy of consideration based on it's performance.
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AZMike 8:22PM (10/07/2008)
...and I'm sure a tour of the Honda plant for Civic Si owners would turn up a contingent of rocket scientists and brain surgeons, right?
oh, I forgot. Honda doesn't do this kind of thing for loyal owners, do they?
if you've ever had the oppurtunity to tour an automotive production facility, it's amazing. I had the once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity to be at the Ford Dearborn plant when my very first new car (a 1974 Mustang II) I special-ordered was coming down the line.
AZMike
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CBR 8:56PM (10/07/2008)
Well maybe not brain surgeons and rocket scientists, but certainly not the cast of the Goonies like we see here.
Kitko 9:58PM (10/07/2008)
NO they don't, it's jut too many of Honda owners up there :-)
why not the LS2LS7? 4:25AM (10/08/2008)
I'm sure that unlike these people, everyone on this board is incredibly sexy and dresses very naff.
Jason 4:14PM (10/08/2008)
Actually they DO. You can call ahead to any Honda plant and they'll give you a tour. There are several assembly plants and an engine plant in Ohio and they all give tours. The motorcycle plant also gives tours. A buddy of mine is the head of a CRX owners group that's mostly in Canada, and they take a tour every year.
zoomzoomr 8:24PM (10/07/2008)
Oh.
When I read the headline, I figured they were returning the vehicles due to Ohio lemon law violations. :)
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