Birthplace Of Your Lincoln?

lead foot

Registered
Ford Motor Company's Wixom Assembly plant was located near Novi, Michigan, about 25 miles west of Detroit. Opening in 1957, it was eventually expanded to cover 4.7 million square feet, and total workers employed there peaked out at over 5,400 by the late 80's.
Wixom began by building (starting with the '58 models) Lincoln Continental and Ford Thunderbird, then the various versions of the Lincoln Mark series which evolved later, as well as the Town Car, the LS, and even the exotic Ford GT.
The total number of cars built there reached 6,648,806 when the last one (a Town Car) rolled out on May 31st, 2007. Wixom was then idled as part of a corporate down-sizing strategy which also included 15 other plant closures.
The place still stands, for now, like some kind of huge, silent monument to a great era in automotive history.
I thought it would be worthwhile to photograph the plant as it appears now, with one of the excellent cars they built in the foreground, so I stopped by
there recently with my white pearlescent '98 CE. To view my photos, click on the links below.
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv112/marko55_bucket/rearofmyCEatWixom.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv112/marko55_bucket/frontofmyCEatWixom.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv112/marko55_bucket/DesolateFordWixomPlant.jpg
http://i675.photobucket.com/albums/vv112/marko55_bucket/viewfromInterstate96.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nice pics,I have been by there many time before it was closed,they also built the GT350 there as well,I hope the open it again some day.
 
Yes, good to see those pics. I believe the building is in the process of being sold to an off shore outfit that is getting into the solar collector business. Some of the plants that Ford is closing are going to be tough to sell, especially if they had a lot of hazardous material on site over the years.
 
Since I am a lazy bum ...

rearofmyCEatWixom.jpg


frontofmyCEatWixom.jpg


DesolateFordWixomPlant.jpg


viewfromInterstate96.jpg
 
Nice pics,I have been by there many time before it was closed,they also built the GT350 there as well,I hope the open it again some day.

They sold it to Energy companys who will make solar panels and some other items there, it was all over the News here in Michigan. I drive by that plant once a week to pick up my kids for the weekend in my CE, I salute everytime I go by there with a smash on the gas.
 
That's some wonderful news anytime they can get a new business venture going at a former auto plant, but as road boss pointed out, the potential (or likelyhood) of soil and/or ground water contamination will present a major problem to many developers by making would-be financial backers a lot less optimistic..The costs of future cleanup could skyrocket out of sight..
Although I've heard about the proposals (or plans) for the energy company to come in there, there was no visible sign of anything happening when I was there.
I hope the new development really does happen, for the jobs would do so much good for so many people.
lead foot
Crazy 'bout my ol' Mark 8s
 
That's some wonderful news anytime they can get a new business venture going at a former auto plant, but as road boss pointed out, the potential (or likelyhood) of soil and/or ground water contamination will present a major problem to many developers by making would-be financial backers a lot less optimistic..The costs of future cleanup could skyrocket out of sight..

The EPA has the "Brownfields" program just for that...

Brownfields are real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties protects the environment, reduces blight, and takes development pressures off greenspaces and working lands. On this site, you can find information about US EPA's Brownfields Program including the Brownfields Law, Brownfields Grants, Land Revitalization Information, and more....

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/

There was an old abandoned faucet factory here in Morgantown that was demolished and the property was developed with grants from the EPA.
 
Back
Top