South Gate Assembly was a

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

automobile plant located at 2720 Tweedy Boulevard in the Los Angeles suburb of

South Gate, California South Gate is the 19th largest city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, with . South Gate is located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Gateway Cities region of southeastern Los Angeles County. The city was inc ...

.Photos of South Gate Assembly plant
It opened in 1936 to build B-O-P (

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

) cars for sale on the west coast. It was the first GM plant to build multiple car lines, resulting from a Depression-spawned move to cut production costs by sharing components and manufacturing. South Gate was the second of several B-O-P "branch" assembly plants (the first being the Buick-operated Linden plant), part of GM's strategy to have production facilities in major metropolitan cities. Engine block and cylinder heads were cast at

Saginaw Metal Casting Operations Saginaw Metal Casting Operations is an automobile engine foundry plant in Saginaw, Michigan. Opened under GM management in 1919, the factory produces engine blocks and cylinder heads for General Motors vehicles. The factory currently occupies 1.9 ...

, internal engine components were created at Bay City Powertrain and the engines were then assembled at Tonawanda Engine and

Romulus Engine Romulus Engine is an automobile engine plant in Romulus, Michigan. Opened in 1976, the factory produces engines for General Motors vehicles. The factory receives cast engine blocks from Defiance Foundry in Defiance, Ohio and Saginaw Metal Castin ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the plant built Stuart M-5 and M5A1

Light Tank A light tank is a tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller in size with thinner armor and a less powerful main gun, tailored for better tactical mobility and ease ...

s at 500 per month. The location was under the management of GM's newly-created Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division created in 1945. These "branch" plants built cars for distribution to a specific region. By 1949 it was producing full-size cars from the Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick and Cadillac brands. During the mid-1950s it was General Motors' highest-output plant. Vehicles included the

Oldsmobile 98 The Oldsmobile 98 (spelled Ninety-Eight from 1952 to 1991, and Ninety Eight from 1992 to 1996) is the full-size flagship model of Oldsmobile that was produced from 1940 until 1942, and then from 1946 to 1996. The name – reflecting a "Serie ...

Pontiac Streamliner The Pontiac Streamliner is a full-size car produced under the Pontiac brand by General Motors from 1932 to 1952. Pontiac Straight 8 For model year 1933, Pontiac introduced the all-new Economy Eight Series 601 with the Silver Streak Straigh ...

Buick Special The Buick Special was an automobile produced by Buick. It was usually Buick's lowest-priced model, starting out as a full-size car in 1936 and returning in 1961 (after a two-year hiatus) as a mid-size. The Special was built for several decades and ...

, and the Cadillac Series 61. It added production of the

Pontiac Tempest The Pontiac Tempest is an automobile that was produced by Pontiac from 1960 to 1970, and again from 1987 to 1991. The Tempest was introduced as an entry-level compact in October 1960 at the Paris Auto Show for the 1961 model year. An innovative ...

Oldsmobile F-85 The Oldsmobile Cutlass was a series of automobiles produced by General Motors' Oldsmobile division between 1961 and 1999. At its introduction, the Cutlass was Oldsmobile's entry-level model; it began as a unibody compact car, but saw its greatest ...

, and

alongside the fullsize cars for 1961. When the compacts became intermediates for 1964 their production ceased at South Gate, and

Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles ...

fullsize production was added, after the Buick-Oldsmobile-Pontiac Assembly Division was renamed GM Assembly Division (GMAD) in 1965. The plant was converted from full-size car production to the subcompact

Chevrolet Vega The Chevrolet Vega is a subcompact automobile that was manufactured and marketed by GM's Chevrolet subdivision from 1970 to 1977. Available in two-door hatchback, notchback, wagon, and sedan delivery body styles, all models were powered by an ...

for 1975. This arrangement was short-lived, and GM returned the factory to building full-size Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, and Buick

B-body The B platform (also known as the B body) is a full-size rear-wheel drive car platform that was produced by General Motors (GM) from 1926 to 1996. Originally made for Oldsmobile and Buick, all of General Motors's five main makes would use it at ...

vehicles for 1977. The Oldsmobile and Buick were dropped and the Cadillac DeVille added for 1979. Due to decreasing sales of the Chevrolet B-body cars, the plant was idled in March 1980. It was then retooled for subcompacts, building the 1982

Chevrolet Cavalier The Chevrolet Cavalier is a line of compact cars produced by Chevrolet. Serving as the replacement of the Chevrolet Monza, the Cavalier was the second Chevrolet model line to adopt front-wheel drive. Three versions of the Cavalier have been so ...

and Cadillac Cimarron. Slow sales and efforts to reduce air quality issues resulted in plant closure, with production ending on March 23, 1982. The plant site was later environmentally remediated and used as the location for new schools, including South East High School (opened 2005), which were built by the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

to relieve severe congestion in the existing schools of South Gate.

References

{{General Motors factories General Motors factories Former motor vehicle assembly plants Motor vehicle assembly plants in California Manufacturing companies based in Greater Los Angeles South Gate, California Industrial buildings completed in 1936 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1936 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1982 1936 establishments in California 1982 disestablishments in California Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles

See also

References