Doug Schaefer, a retired General Motors employee from the Allison Division, shares his fascinating journey through the automotive industry, focusing on his experiences with transmissions and packaging. The discussion highlights the evolution of automatic transmissions, the unique engineering behind packaging for automotive parts, and nostalgic stories from Doug's early days with Corvettes. The hosts also engage in light-hearted banter and automotive trivia, making for an entertaining and informative episode filled with personal anecdotes and industry insights.
Get ready for a thrilling ride as we chat with retired General Motors Allison Division employee Doug Schaffer about his fascinating career in auto parts, packaging, and shipping. Doug takes us on a journey through the development of the first automatic electronic shift transmission, its impact on the trucking industry, and the history of Allison, including their work on aircraft engines and their merger with GM.
But wait, there's more! We also take a nostalgic trip down memory lane, reminiscing about a the selling price of classic cars. From a 1976 Corvette to a 2002 Jeep Wrangler, and even a 1934 Model A, join us as we discuss their value, and uncover some of the stories behind them.
Don't miss this wide reaching conversation filled with insights, nostalgia, and a healthy dose of car insanity.
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"...etty high level car Yeah. Here's one A 1979 Mazda RX7. Now is that with the rotary engine in it?"
Select text to request an explanation
It's the end well time car talk show coming up.
Doug Schaefer, allison division of General Motors auto parts packaging, shipping, the kind of the back story on on what you do, how you get your parts Is that kind of sum it?
up.
Yeah, mr Schaefer is my cousin.
I am so sorry.
No, he didn't admit to that when I was talking to him.
That many people do.
No, I would He doesn't want to get boxed in.
There you go, so to speak.
Howdy, along with Mike out of this world, mars King, conrad DeLong.
We always need more.
Jeff Zekam, i'm Don Armstrong.
Glad you could join us on this Saturday for our live version of the in wheel time car talk show.
The boys are together in the studio today and we're trying to keep it cool in here because I'll tell you what it's been just a little toasty here in the Houston area 100 degree days with feels like temperatures of 115, and we got a whole another week of it to go yesterday was a three panty day.
What a three panty day.
So sweaty outside, you had to change often.
I don't get it.
I don't want to get it, come on Mars, play the game.
Okay, oh man, all right.
Well, obviously he's preoccupied with checking audio over here, right now.
Yeah right, We okay Whatever excuse you can come up with to get out of that.
Thank you Joining us now.
Doug Schaefer, retired General Motors Allison Division.
Auto parts, packaging and shipping.
Doug Howdy Good morning and welcome.
Good morning, Welcome to the car insanity called in wheel time.
Good morning.
We know it brings, i'm sorry, good morning.
And because Jeff is my cousin I can harass him a little bit.
I think you ought to be wearing a hat, because the glare is a little too much.
I got a coon scheme back.
That's the voice of experience.
I say yes.
Backing up to your first caller about the Corvette Club, jeff's oldest sister, pat.
When I graduated out of high school, her husband had a Corvette, i think it was a 62.
We had a graduation party and he had given me the keys and said you can have it tonight, bring it back tomorrow, clean and with a full tank of gas.
And I drove the hell out of it.
All night long, all night long.
Well, I'm waiting for the follow up to that.
I mean, did you zoom any girls in it?
Or I mean, what was the deal?
I was going too fast.
I was going from traffic light to traffic light as fast as.
I could.
I'm sure you were in 1962.
That probably wasn't that fast, but no for the day it was Yes.
So yeah, exactly.
I think it had all had like a 283 with a two barrel or four barrel on it, I can't remember.
Yeah, So it definitely wasn't quick.
But you know you're sitting in a two seat car.
You're six inches off the ground.
It seems like you're going fast.
Oh, absolutely It still does.
Yeah, so, doug, retired from General Motors, how long did you work for GM?
I was 32 and a half years.
Yeah, and you worked for the Allison division.
Now, when I think of Allison, i think of Allison transmissions, yep.
That's it And the best transmission in any GM product period, yeah.
Where?
what was the location where you worked?
Well, when I first started out I was hired in as a bench and line inspector because I could read a blueprint and knew how to handle a micrometer And was a bench and line I got moved up to receiving inspection salvage utility man.
Then I went on salary after seven years.
But I started out in the Detroit plant And after seven years I went on salary and they sent me out to the parts warehouse which was in the Rhyme List.
Michigan.
Know it well.
Isn't that by the airport?
Yeah, Yeah, yeah, it's kind of you know, there's Willow Run.
Willow Run was the original Detroit airport and then they built the international airport And we were kind of like right in between And you talk about transmissions, one of the things that when I worked for them General Motors developed the first automatic electronic shift transmission And we could not build those fast enough and get them out the door for people They were
supposedly a truck driver was getting roughly seven miles per gallon out of a manual transmission.
Put this automatic in there, you were getting around 12.
That was huge for a truck driver.
Also, you didn't have to keep switching out clutches.
So that was one of the big things for the Allison transmission.
How many speeds did that transmission have?
You know, at the time I think it was only maybe five, Five speeds.
I'm not actually sure about that, but I think it was about five.
Yeah, so truck transmissions, yeah Yeah, big truck transmissions, but that's where Allison built its brand, was doing transmissions for medium and heavy duty trucks.
So it was a big voice.
Allison was an independent company and GM bought them.
Is that how that transpired?
Yeah, roger Penske came in and he wanted to buy part of the deal.
We had what was called a Silver 92 engine.
And we had the big, huge diesels.
You know the 671, the 871, the 1671, and you know the big, big diesel engines, the ones that go in electric motor trains.
Yes, and He come in because he had a deal I believe was like UPS, to put these to build some trucks with these engines and transmissions in them.
And at that point GM took a look and said maybe we need to get out of this business or merge, so they wind up.
They wound up merging with Allison transmission And at that point I got transferred down to Indianapolis.
The other thing Allison did too that people don't realize is they built aircraft engines and And Jay Leno has a motorcycle that has a jet engine in it.
I Believe that is one of our jet engines, in that we were making helicopter engines for the Huey's for a while there During Vietnam And but anyway, back back to the, i got transferred down to Indianapolis and, and well before I went down to Indianapolis, getting back to Detroit, diesel, the parts warehouse.
Out there We became the world's largest Automated warehouse.
We were there years before Amazon.
I Have a.
You can't really see this picture.
Can you see this picture?
Oh, yeah, okay, this Was now this pictures, i think 35 years old and it's been up in my garage you had, but this showed you how this The way everything went through that plant we had like there was 21 miles of conveyor belts in that place.
Well, and The noise was so bad that the Union complaint they had to come in and build like, ducking Like for your furnace and heating around the conveyors So to quiet it down because the noise was so loud sure baffles Well.
I'm amazed the Union complained.
I couldn't imagine, the Union would.
Yeah, okay.
So let's drill it down to to you and and your career.
Now Let's move on.
And you, you so.
Is Allison still in business in Indianapolis?
Yes, they are, they are there.
Okay, now I'm gangbusters.
Are you?
are you living there?
No, no, you move back to Detroit originally from Detroit, transferred down to Indianapolis, got tired of the upper management BS.
After 32 and a half years are retired and Naturally I used to live in El Paso for a while.
I love Texas.
Everybody.
We came down here Three years before I retired looking for a place to live.
We drove through Texas became Houston.
It's got a traffic problem.
I love Houston.
Galveston was too, too expensive for me at the time.
I Came down to Corpus kind of like purpose, went down to Brownsville not my wife, i don't want us to call her a witch, but she has ESP They all do and no, we drove into town.
She's.
We got to get out of here.
There's something wrong with this city.
So we drove up to McCallan and I really like McCallum, except it's too close to the border.
It is and then we went into New Mexico.
My wife always liked New Mexico.
We looked into Mexico and Didn't see anything that We like there.
Now my wife's already from Oklahoma, so we looped back to Oklahoma, visit relatives there and came back Decided to move here because I ran across a good deal on a house.
I'm out on North Padre Island, i'm on a canal And at the time I think I only paid like a hundred eighty thousand for the house.
The house now is worth probably over a half a No yeah, all right, so let's get back to you and and and your Allison division.
So you turned into the packaging shipping department for a career.
Not me.
I worked with those guys they were, we were in the water department and right behind us there was a doorway, but Two of the people that worked there I managed the baseball team used to play ball for them.
They got transferred down to Indianapolis too And that had become the again a leader.
that was the world's best packaging engineering lab in the United States at the time And they did everything.
You drop boxes, you kick boxes, you try and all the controlled things that they had in their lab.
They would occasionally take something and have a truck driver come out and throw it out in the alley and see how bad he could damage the box.
And people don't realize everything you touch.
How about a Pringles can?
Who designed a Pringles?
can You know?
Allison.
I got a good possibility.
But the way the box is made, you know what's it going to contain.
People don't realize you.
Look at a pizza box.
He had that guy, ger do whoever was the fastest folding box guy in the United States or whatever Did anybody take a look at the box, how it was made, so he could take and fold that?
so everything fit.
Bang, bang, bang, bang bang.
Nobody thinks of that, you know so how many?
how many boxes do you think they produced?
And was it, was it strictly for one part or all the parts?
We basically bought And you got to say you can't say cardboard, You got to say corrugated.
I didn't know that we would buy that by the bulk And we had machines that would cut it and make up the different size.
We basically had, I would say, maybe eight or 10 standard type containers And they would go on and design and and make other things.
You know the thing that amazes me I go to buy some glue to put something together.
Yeah, Here, here, here we think of the side, the container.
Look at that, This, this field right here, where they put the cardboard together.
Try and peel that apart.
You can't do it.
What's the glue?
I want that glue.
Yeah, you can't buy that across the When I'm building it.
when I'm building something or I need to glue something, Well, they wouldn't sell it to me because they were afraid I'd get high.
Yeah, you'd be sniffing it, yeah, sniffing it.
Either that or you'd stick yourself to something that couldn't get off.
Yeah.
What happened here?
I can't get my fingers apart.
Well, your fingers would be the least of your worries.
But seriously, back when I was a kid I used to put models together, And that's before.
I put tons and tons of car models together.
Yeah, well, that's what's wrong with us today.
Testers.
Testers Done.
That is absolutely correct Done.
Done.
That is why they liked it because you'd catch a buzz, put a car model together.
Sitting there working over it, gluing everything together.
That's why the union complained.
That's it, Doug.
it's great to talk to you, sir.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
We love the story and love you because Yeah, and enjoy the rest of your retirement, sir.
Hey, did Jeff ever ask you for a job?
No, but when he used to come down and visit me when he worked for a different company when I was down in the neighborhood with ATD.
Absolutely, we drank beer together.
It's all good.
Yeah, we did.
All right, Doug.
Well, go have yourself a beer and enjoy the rest of the day.
sir, Stay cool.
Thank you.
That's your later Get a hat, Jeff.
All right, i will get a hat Jeff.
that's going to be his cap on behind me.
There you go.
So if you haven't discovered it yet, you're riding with us here on the Inwheel Time Car Talk Show.
I happen to have a very interesting sold cars roundup from Hemmings.
Of course.
I always have to talk about the Corvettes first and let's start with the 1976 Corvette sold at auction online a couple of weeks ago through Hemmings and the sold price.
We're guessing the price.
Would anybody like to?
77 Hemmings, 77 Chevrolet Corvette Coupe 17,000.
Close 20.
15, 225.
Absolutely no horsepower whatsoever.
But Gutless wonder, not much style either.
Even had horsepower, go for 17.
I still like the style It has the old Mako Shark thing that came out.
I don't like the rear end of them, that's the problem.
Well, you can change that, You can do anything you want to, because it's old and it's only $15,000.
How about a 19?
That's the Kardashian one.
How about a 19?
Yeah, 1972, chevy, chevelle Oh 60.
No it didn't say I understand now.
It says SS on the grill.
My guess is it is a clone because it only sold for 34125.
That would be my guess because I think a real 72 SS would be a lot more than 34,000.
And you wouldn't want to drive a real SS on the street very much, just because the idiots out there driving around.
Well, they have a road nicks and wisky dense and all that.
Here's one for you, sir A 1977 Datsun 280Z.
What do you think?
And it's still together.
We don't know what the rest is like underneath it, but 77 Datsun 280Z, 21.
, 10.
10,000.
12.
, 29.
715.
So it must be a pretty much of a cream pie.
It's what I could think of Chevy Monte Carlo 1973 model with the Landau top.
That was the first year for the design change.
And so what would you think that sells?
8 grand.
Yeah, that's what I would say 10,495.
Must be cheap For a 73,.
Well, it looks that way Again, can't tell, It's only one picture on it, but it looks pretty good.
But it's brown, didn't?
they make a back bubble or a fastback out of glass on some of those monies.
Yeah, but that was until the 80s.
That was the NASCAR.
Here's one for you old timers that appreciate antiques.
These two guys, you old timers, we old timers.
1934 to model A.
What would you guess that that would go for 20.
You say model A Stop and think about it.
It's not the original paint.
It's not original Is it hot-rodded.
No, it doesn't look like it's hot-rodded, got wire wheels.
I'm going to go for 14.
12,000.
22.
13,125.
Very good, very good.
And that kind of amazes me that you can go out today and buy a 1930 Ford model A.
Well, Kylie's learning how to drive and she's looking.
Yeah, I don't know.
That's probably not the car for her.
No, Here's one perhaps A 2002 Jeep Wrangler 2002.
So it is 21 years old.
Lifted and modified Nope.
It looks good.
It's got soft top on $9,000.
15,750.
Yeah, I was going to say 16.
Yeah, you know, just because you're conceived in the back of a Jeep does not make you Cherokee.
That's a different model.
That's an old old.
This is a.
Wrangler like giddy up Yee-haw.
The 1960 Dodge, that's what happened.
They were wrangled, wrangled her.
That's a stretch, he thinks too deep.
1960 Dodge D100.
What do you think that that would sell for?
Looks very clean.
30.
Oh.
I was thinking 19.
10.
Wow, that's cheap.
No, kidding.
It's ugly.
No, not necessarily It's not popular.
Well, but I'm kind of into that game.
All right, you would be, i would be 1941.
Mercury 19a, mercury 19a, whatever the heck that is, mercury 19a model from 1941.
What would you think they talk about ugly.
I would say nine, 12,075 dollars.
I would guess, conrad, this is for you.
Everybody else just stand by The 1962 Austin Healy 3000, mark two.
So I'd have the three liter in line six.
Only he would know that.
I'll say about 28.
You missed it by a little bit 124,950 dollars, Oh wow.
Well, that had to be show quality car.
Well, i don't know about that.
It's ugly, it's got to be concave.
But all I can think of is yeah, but all I can think of is that it clearly has something else going for it that we don't know about.
I wouldn't give you two cents for it, but 124,950.
That's it, wow.
That's what it's so cool, pretty high level car Yeah.
Here's one A 1979 Mazda RX7.
Now is that with the rotary engine in it?
Yeah, the 79 Mazda RX7.
Guesses All joined.
All skated 11,000.
Yeah, I'd say 14.
Bars 12,3,500 dollars.
We overpaid fellas.
That's a steal.
Well, I thought it was for two.
That's why I said 11.
That's why I highlighted it, because I thought that was really something A really clean looking but ugly color.
1949 Ford F1.
It's a pickup truck, right, okay, 30.
Spot on Yeah 22,50, $22,050.
That F1 draws big money 1970 BSA, starfire, bsa I have not heard about BSAs Is that a motorcycle Yeah.
BSAs since middle school.
A BSA, i would have been the 60s.
Well, 1970.
Oh no, when you were in middle school it would have been the 60s.
Well, thank you for pointing that out.
Yes, that's true, i'm going to say 11.
I have no clue.
$3,000.
Yeah, really.
BSA stood for British something, all the way I just saw it British sucks all the time I got to push it a lot.
Or the last one of the day, because I don't want to burden this too much.
1957 Studebaker Transstar.
This is a pickup truck And it's painted up pretty good.
It's nice, look at it.
Anyway, the British Studebaker Transstar almost $24,150.
Sounds like something Randy Bortchitting would build.
No, who is it that has one that we know, friend of the show.
I can't think of his name, ron Stein.
We know all about that.
There you go.
That's what it looks like.
Just thought you'd like to know, but at any rate.
so the purpose of this is to point out the fact that if you're not George Skelton, if you're not a car guy and you want to join in the car club festivities and fun, car shows, cruising and that sort of stuff, that would be something that you would definitely want to consider.
There's some good value out there.
Yeah, and that's the purpose of this segment.
Yeah, And I would want a driver.
I would want to take something like on a day to day.
you know, like you have your vet, you drop the top, go for little cruise.
Yeah, Yeah, I went because you know I've been the show car stuff and you got to have some deep drivers or more fun, a lot of patience and a lot of money And it just it's too big of a pain.
But anyway, okay Shall we do some automotive news.
I have lots of stories today And then we got history also.
Oh, we do, We do.
Oh, let's do history.
I'm sorry, conrad, i forgot.
Okay, i didn't turn the page.
But this week, this week in 1940, did you know that Edsel Ford called William Knudsen Knudsen And he was in charge of the US Office of Production Management and confirmed Ford's acceptance to build 9,000 Rolls Royce designed engines to be used in British and US airplanes?
You know, if you remember the Allison V12, which was the engine of choice of the P51 Mustang, i didn't realize, ford built those under contract.
So, and then in 1940, also this month or this week, shirley Moldowney, the first lady of drag racing and friend of the show and friend of Stan and Sheila Holt.
She was born in Schenectady, new York.
She was born in the NHRA Top Fuel Championship in 7780 and 82.
Also in 1947, william Clay Ford married Martha Firestone, uniting two of the greatest fortunes in American automotive history.
Henry and Harvey Firestone had been close friends and allies during their lives.
After Firestone received the exclusive contractor supply tires for the Ford Model T.
I give it a year, neither man lived to see the union of their families, but I thought that was a pretty cool story.
And then to tie back into the earlier interview we had, in 1952, maurice Olly, chevrolet's chief engineer, completed the chassis code named OPAL, which became the 53 Corvette, and he eventually he wrote this book Chassis by Design And actually I think it's still available today.
But you know he was.
He worked for 25 years for Rolls Royce and then went to work for General Motors and Chevrolet And it prepared him for the important role he played in the birth of the Corvette In 1991, let's see if I can make the noise here.
Where have I got to hear it?
Don't know.
Imagine a noise in your head.
Yeah Well, let's just move on, let's just move on, we've got a minute.
So that was the when Corvette, or, excuse me, mazda, won the Le Mans 24 hours in their four-rotor engine.
They said it was the loudest engine ever to run at Le Mans And you know, that little four-rotor just sounded like a sewing machine going by.
And you know, pretty, pretty cool I you know very good looking car, a historical car, and the car has been out and they've shown the car at the Goodwood races as well recently.
And then in 2001, this week, Fast and the Furious the crime drama sorry, the crime drama-based movie debuted with Vin Diesel and such.
So that's this week in Auto History, thank you very much Time now for a quick break.
We'll be right back here on the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show.
Please stay with us.
Everyone at the Tailpipes and Tacos cruise in at the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex and Katie.
Thank you for participating in the best cruise in a round And look forward to seeing you again.
You'll hear about the next cruise in date right here on In-Wheel Time.
Next time you're in the West Houston Energy Corridor area, be sure and stop in at the original Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex at I-10 and Highway 6, or the Katie location on the Grand Parkway at Kingsland Boulevard.
When passing through Beaumont or College Station, stop in and have Loopy's award-winning beef fajitas and frozen margaritas.
There's always a celebration at Loopy Tortilla.
Loopy Tortilla founder Stan Holt and his wife Sheila are winning racers on the NHRA Drag Racing Circuit and have a collection of hot rods and classics that everyone appreciates.
Look for them at the next Tailpipes and Tacos cruise in.
The date will be announced soon and will once again be held at the Loopy Tortilla Tex-Mex on 99 in Kingsland Boulevard, just south of I-10 and Katie.
We'll give you all the details right here on the In-Wheel Time car talk show and online Donations.
Benefit God's garage.
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