![]() Cadillac's Clark Avenue home plant in Detroit speeded its production by turning out the required crankshafts, connecting rods, camshafts and reduction-gear assemblies.Ĭhevrolet plants produced shells, gun parts and aircraft engines. In time, GM's auto engineers developed the turbocharged V-12 that was probably the most advanced aircraft engine to see action during World War II. Yet it was a vital power unit, destined for both the twin-boom Lockheed P-38 "Lightning" and North American Aviation's P-51 "Mustang" fighters. The design was obsolete, but at the beginning of America's involvement in World War II, the Army wanted all of them it could get.ĭown in Indianapolis, the V-1710 aircraft engine designed by GM's Allison division was a long way from being production ready, and Allison was hopelessly short of production capacity. GM's Cadillac division took to making tanks, specifically the M5. The transmission was later made four times bigger to accommodate the requirements for the Pershing tank. The vehicle was officially known as the M18, but Buick workers dubbed it the "Hellcat." The division eventually built 2,507 M18s. Buick even devised an automatic transmission for it - a hydraulic torque converter. The Army initially wanted diesel power but settled on gasoline engines to speed up delivery. The specs called for a lightly armored, highly mobile tracked vehicle fitted with a 37mm cannon in a 360-degree turret. The Army also asked Buick to design a new kind of war machine: the tank destroyer. The goal was later set at 125,000 heads a month, and Buick met it. ![]() The initial production target was 25,000 a month, but that was tripled before construction began and the foundry had to be scaled up nine or 10 times. To produce the cylinder heads, Buick set up its own aluminum foundry, which it then leased to the government. ![]() ![]() By 1944, Buick's Melrose Park, Ill., factory was regularly turning out 2,000 engines a month. At first, they talked of about 500 engines a month, but the government doubled its order by the time Buick had its tooling in place. ![]() Buick also retooled to meet the demands of making engines for the B-24 bomber. ![]()
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