Page 16 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • May 21, 2014 VCCA members enjoy a ‘GM Tonawanda Weekend’ by Chuck Lippmann Several members of the Vintage Chevro- let Club of America recently took a “guys’ weekend” to visit the GM Tonawanda Engine Plant in Buffalo, New York. The plant was celebrating 75 years of produc- tion. Along with the celebration, the week- end included plant tours on Friday a car show on Saturday. In 1938, the plant started production of six cylinder motors and axle assem- blies. Today, the plant produces 2.0 and 2.5 engines and Gen V EcoTec3 and LT1 engines. I left my house early on Thursday morn- ing so I could get to Dave Cavagnaro’s house and leave enough time to meet Nick Matlaga at a rest stop on Route 80 in Penn- sylvania at 10 a.m. This was strictly a long travel day. I rode with Dave in his 1940 Sport Sedan, and Nick took his 1967 yellow Camaro convertible. Between lunch, pit stops, gas, and detours, we pulled into our motel at 6:30. We met Don Warnick for dinner at Duff’s in Buffalo. Duff’s was the first to serve its original “Buffalo wings” in 1969. Don lives in Buffalo and I met him at the “Chevys on the Hudson Meet.” Friday morning it was off to the New York State Power Authority generating plant at Niagara Falls. Construction started in 1957 and crews worked around the clock 24-7 until its completion three years later at a cost of over $800 million. We watched Don Warnick’s ‘50, Nick Matlaga’s ‘67, and Dave Cavagnaro’s ‘40. a slide show on the construction. We then walked in and around the facility marvel- ing at the enormous size of this generating plant. Next stop was Niagara Falls a few miles down the road. We went to the American Falls first, then on to Goat Island, where you can get up close and personal with both the American and Horseshoe Falls. I was amazed how close you can actually get to the falls. You are right at the edge and no more than four feet above the water. All of us took some great pictures, but nothing can beat being there. Some 75,750 gallons of water go over the American falls each second. I wonder how they got to count all those gallons. We left the falls at noon headed to the Tonawanda plant. Set up in the parking lots were many tents with vendors, GM give- aways, and food. At one end of the lot were new cars that were available for test drives. Being that the waiting list for the Corvette and Camaro was the longest -- about two hours -- we decided to tour the assembly plant first. Everyone is given a pair of safety gog- gles to wear while inside the plant. A lot of the assembly is done by robots. The most amazing being a gantry robot that works on the Gen V Head Sub-Assembly. Using eight different tools to install valves, springs, retainers, and keys, it completes the task of installing 48 parts in 40 seconds. Dave, Nick, and I asked questions along the way and always got informative answers. The last part of the tour brought us past some very fine automobiles representing differ- ent decades. After finishing the plant tour, it was time to test drive the cars. Dave drove a Camaro and a Malibu. Nick roared out of the parking lot in the Corvette and, when he returned, got into the Camaro convertible. Nick really liked the Camaro. There might be one for him in the future. The cars I drove didn’t have any waiting lists. I drove a Buick Le Cross, a Cadillac, a Chevy Spark, and a Volt. When I got in the Volt, the salesman told me to press the start button and listen for the “roar” of the engine. It surprisingly had a decent pickup for an electric motor. We later had dinner at Ted’s Hot Dogs with Don W. Saturday was a beautiful day. The only clouds in the sky were jet vapor trails. There were over 400 cars in two parking lots. The cars we drove on Friday were parked for all to see. Added to the tents from the previous (continued on page 17)