All language subtitles for Supercar.Superbuild.S02E06.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track4_[eng]

(dramatic music)

(car engine revs)

(tires squeal)

- [Narrator] It's a muscle
car, an American icon,

and a working class dream.

- The Camaro was definitely
a blue collar sports car.

(intense music)

- [Narrator] A machine
built by regular folks

with remarkable pride.

- My dad worked here,

my uncle worked here, my wife works here.

It's a family affair for sure.

- [Narrator] Family bonds forged
from the fires of hardship

in a city that nearly lost it all.

- So a blue collar town is the Motor City,

built on toughness.

- [Narrator] Resiliency that results

in an all new machine born
to beat its crosstown rival.

- You can't say Chevrolet Camaro

without talking about the Ford Mustang.

- [Narrator] Two American
icons that don't just battle

for bragging rights,
but outright supremacy.

- Our goal is to totally dominate

and put 'em out of business.

They think the same thing.

- [Narrator] Burnishing the
badge or destroying it hinges

on the sixth generation
of the Chevy Camaro,

a car that has fought the odds to survive

just like the city that gave it life.

(dramatic music)
(car engines revving)

(dramatic music)

Welcome to the Motor City,

a tough town that's
been through hard times.

- Detroit is the Motor City.

That's our bread and butter.

- [Narrator] For more than a century,

this city has been the
epicenter of the car world.

(upbeat rock music)

- Detroit was forged out
of the auto industry.

This is a city that exists
because of the auto industry.

- [Narrator] When you grow up around here,

there's just one business.

The family business.

(upbeat rock music)

- A lot of our workers
on the line are third,

maybe even fourth generation
General Motors employees.

- My father-in-law worked at
General Motor for like 35 years

and then I came along behind him

and I've been here for
over 30 years myself.

- Yeah, I'm third generation GM employee.

My grandfather worked at
Buick Foundry in Flint.

My father worked at V8 engine plant.

I grew up kind of hearing
about the automotive business

and now I get to be part of it as well.

(exciting rock music)

- [Narrator] The lineage isn't
just built through blood.

It's also forged right
on the assembly line.

- So we work long hours during the week.

We also work building cars.

A lot of these guys were
building cars a long time.

It's something that they love to do.

- Get a little choked
up about it sometimes

because I've known a lot of
these people my whole life

and you see 'em every day.

- We're all a big family here,
I'd say. One way or another.

- [Narrator] It takes a strong work ethic

to bring an American icon to life.

Every day, they build nearly
250 brand new Camaros.

Some are the V8 equipped Camaro SS,

a machine that rockets
from zero to 100 KPH

in just 4.1 seconds.

If you keep your foot to the floorboard,

you'll hit a government limited top speed,

265 kilometers per hour.

Heady performance numbers for a machine

that starts at around 34,000 euros.

- You have a car that basically,

for all intents and purposes,

a little bit of a de-tuned
Corvette with a lower price tag.

- [Narrator] New machines
roll off the line

every three minutes just 90
miles northwest of Detroit

inside the Lansing Grand
River Assembly Plant.

- We build the sixth generation Camaro,

so we're really proud of that.

That's a new vehicle for us.

Right now, we're building at
around 31, 32 jobs an hour,

so quickly.

It's about a minute 45,
a minute 50 per station.

- [Narrator] The factory
speed is outmatched

by its complexity.

- We're a very flexible facility.

We build a multiple of vehicles.

At the same time, we build to order,

so we don't build in batches.

We build to whatever the orders are.

So I've been in the company for 30 years.

It still amazes me that
everything comes together

at the same time.

- [Narrator] The build begins

when a freshly painted body arrives.

- This is where body and
weights are coming over

from the paint shop

and they just enter the
general assembly process.

- [Narrator] The first several stations

are all about the parts you can't see.

- We do the vent labels, main
body wire harness, airbags,

but mainly the trim one is a lot of things

that go under the seat
or under the carpet.

(intense music)

- We call our operators,
really, industrial athletes,

and we really want them to
be professional installers.

- You know, you're building something

that everybody can afford.

Everybody can be part of it,

but yet, it's a unique car
where you make it your own.

- There is an appeal there in that they're

at sort of blue collar prices
and they deliver performance

that's certainly above that price point.

- [Narrator] For over half a century,

the Camaro has offered ultra
affordable high performance,

often in order to best
its crosstown rival,

the Ford Mustang.

- One of the oldest rivalries,
the biggest rivalries,

you know, Coke, Pepsi.

I mean, we're up there with those.

- There's a lot more people
in Mustangs and Camaros

than there are in fancy supercars.

- [Narrator] Both machines
have the same goal:

to win the hearts and minds of customers.

- It's the limit that my
team will go to to make sure

that we never look anywhere
but in our rear view mirror

at our competitor, and
they do the same thing.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] The fateful
dual starts in 1964

when Ford introduces the Mustang.

Overnight, the machine
transforms the car world

by creating a smaller, sporty,

two plus two genre called the pony car.

- Obviously when the
Mustang came out in '64,

all of a sudden, there
was a real desire there

for a fun performance car

that was for a more youthful market.

- [Narrator] Ford sells 1 million machines

in the first two years that
the Mustang is on the market.

- When the Mustang
launched, it sold in numbers

that are incomprehensible
to today's car market.

- [Narrator] The success doesn't
go unnoticed across town.

- Mustang comes out,
attracts a group of buyers

that people didn't really know existed.

GM sees that, says, "We want
this. We want to do this."

(intense music)

- [Narrator] GM jumps into
the ring just two years later

and introduces the Camaro.

(intense music)

- You have younger people
with money basically,

and they want a car that's different

from what their parents drive.

- [Narrator] During its
launch, GM tells journalists

that a Camaro is a small, vicious
animal that eats Mustangs.

(intense music)

- The Mustang came first. The
Camaro was Chevrolet's answer.

They've been the most
bitter of rivals ever since.

Either you're Ford Mustang guy

or you're Chevy Camaro guy and that's it.

There's no crossover.

- [Narrator] The debut starts
a 50 year automotive clash.

The machines start as pony cars,

but also act like muscle cars
and the competition is fierce.

(intense music)

- It's about putting a big
honking engine in what was,

at least at the time, considered
a small car and going fast.

- [Narrator] The first
generation machine is built

on a rear wheel drive platform

and available as either a coupe,

or for just 240 more
dollars, a convertible.

Both body styles are
offered with a variety

of inline-six or V8 engine options.

- The first gen Camaro,
it was really a bully.

It was like a boulevard bully.

- [Narrator] The machine
is an immediate hit.

GM sells over 220,000
cars in the first year.

- For the first gen Camaro,
it was really, all right,

how do we go after what
the Mustang guys have done?

- It's kind of started
what we call an arms race,

but for cars again, right?

So the Mustang and Camaro
are constantly competing

against each other.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] Three years later,

as society transitions
from the free love sixties

to the disco era seventies, GM
introduces a revised machine.

- Gen two had to deal with the oil crisis

and new emission standards
and safety wrecks.

Once those start coming into play,

you get a car that gets
neutered along its lifespan.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] 12 years later,

the third gen Camaro is introduced

and for the first time, the
car becomes a hatchback.

- The third gen ones
look nothing like those.

They were very much
elements of their time.

They sort of define their eras.

- My favorite thing about the gen three is

that you get the option code IROC-Z.

They named it after the
International Race of Champions.

Car never competed in
International Race of Champions.

- [Narrator] Today, the
competition between the Mustang

and the Camaro continues

inside the Lansing Grand
River assembly plant

where it takes 600 people
per shift and 400 stations

to bring a new Camaro to life.

While the six gen machine is new,

building cars in this
part of Michigan is not.

- We've been building vehicles
in Lansing for 100 years.

- [Narrator] Throughout the decades,

the area sees its economic
fate swing wildly,

and sadly, often the wrong way.

- You know, I hired in 1978.

I was 17 years old, third generation,

and we had 17,500 people.

When they cut the second
shift here, we had 957 people.

(rousing music)

- [Narrator] While the jobs come and go,

the constant is who stands next to you.

- I was able to raise my family
working at General Motors

and to raise my children here.

I'm prepared for my future here.

Now we have a younger
generation coming up.

(rousing music)

- [Narrator] They don't just
raise their own children.

They also help raise the kids on the line.

- I enjoy teaching younger guys

and younger women about the process.

It is part of the legacy.

I just wanna hope that after I leave

and these guys are here,
that they'll continue

to develop that same thing.

- [Narrator] Around here,
loyalty means something.

- Even though I wish the
best for Ford employees,

but I really hope that people
like the Camaro better.

- [Narrator] The area
bounces back in a big way

when GM decides to build the Camaro here.

- This is big for us.

It's the first time
it's been fully utilized

with three shifts, so we're
very excited about that.

- [Narrator] Today's
excitement is a far cry

from where Camaro stood
in the early nineties.

When the fourth generation of
the machine hits the market,

it is a radically different
car than its predecessors.

(rousing music)

- By the time we got to
the fourth gen Camaro,

it was very much a better
car than the Mustang,

and no one seemed to care,
and I can't explain why.

- [Narrator] Over gen four's 10 year run,

it steadily loses customer interest,

and worse, sales plummet.

- At the end of the day, car
companies are in business

to make money and we can
romanticize Camaro all we want.

If it's not selling, it's gotta go.

- [Narrator] On Tuesday,
September 25th, 2001,

35 years after its introduction,

General Motors does the unthinkable.

They pull the plug and kill the Camaro.

- And when they announced that
the Camaro was gonna stop,

I saw a few misty eyes
at the executive level.

It was pretty devastating.

- [Narrator] Saying goodbye
to the Camaro hurts both fans

and the lifelong GM family.

Little does anyone know just

how much pain the Motor
City is about to endure.

(car engine roars)

Today, times are good at the
Lansing Grand River Assembly.

It's the home of the gen six Camaro,

and each year, they build
close to 100,000 new machines.

- So a lot of responsibility
with it, right?

But it's a lot of fun.

I think our workers are very
passionate about the vehicle.

This is a vehicle that most
of our workers either had

or are looking to have,

so this is a vehicle they could build

for themselves as well.

(upbeat rock music)

- [Narrator] You can feel
the passion on line two

inside the final assembly hall

where they install the taillights,

rear speakers,

and the digital display.

- This is where the IPs
start to enter the vehicle,

and they'll come through
through the elevator.

We take it off with an assist
here, enter it to the vehicle,

and then start the attaching process.

- You know, I thought it was
going to be really, really,

really hard, but the hoist
does a lot of the work

and if you don't overwork it,

then it's actually pretty simple.

There's a few tricks, but once
you start getting the motion

and the movement of everything
then it goes pretty smoothly.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] Unfortunately, 15 years ago,

things at GM weren't going quite as well.

Just two weeks after the terrorist attacks

on the World Trade Center,

Chevy ceases production
of an American icon.

- The Camaro is one of the cultural icons

that says, "Cool America."

- [Narrator] For the
first time in 35 years,

diehard Chevy fans have no
pony car to call their own.

- I didn't see this coming.

A lot of people didn't see this coming.

- [Narrator] The shock is
instant. The sadness lingers.

For many, it's just one more reminder

that Detroit's best days are behind it.

- They certainly didn't think
the fun projects like Camaro

that people get passionate
about but sell in small numbers

would even continue to exist.

(intense music)

- [Narrator] Losing the car hurts fans,

but it devastates the tightly
bonded factory family,

people who've dedicated
their lives to team GM.

- My grandfather worked here.
My dad put 39 years in there.

I have 38 years. I'm proud
to have my son working here.

It's been a family business
for a lot of people.

- A lot of people's
fathers, mothers, cousins,

aunts have all had
something to do with GM.

My best friend's mom is the one

that actually referred me in.

- I'm fourth generation.

It's been a part of my life
since before I was here.

You know, it's something that
you talk about at dinner.

It's part of Christmas and Thanksgiving.

It's just part of what we do.

(upbeat rock music)

- [Narrator] Just as fans
finally begin to come to peace

with the loss of the machine,
Chevy surprises everyone,

and they unveil an all
new Camaro concept car

at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show.

(upbeat rock music)

- I remember being at
the auto show in Detroit

and grown men are crying seeing this car.

- The response was so positive
to this concept that GM said,

"All right, let's do it."

- [Narrator] The idea invigorates the fans

and greater Detroit, but the
resurgence is short-lived.

The Camaro concept gets waylaid

by a global financial
meltdown of epic proportions.

All new GM products are
permanently put on hold.

- Launching a new car
is extremely difficult.

It's even more difficult

when your company's facing bankruptcy.

- I wouldn't have want to
go to work every morning

during the bankruptcy at GM.

None of these people knew if
they were going to have a job.

- [Narrator] The United
States government spends

over 45 billion euros
to bail the company out.

- Everybody's made a lot
of different sacrifices,

both on the management
side and on the union side

to do the right thing.

You know, we've come
through some tough times.

- [Narrator] Sacrifices
help inspire a plan

to bring the Camaro back.

- We gotta remember that GM
was in the throes of bankruptcy

when this generation of
performance cars was born.

- [Narrator] Now rebooting
the machine is no easy task.

Passion alone won't get the job done.

- When these engineers
and finance guys come back

from this bankruptcy,

they know they had better
have a solid business case

because they can't risk bankruptcy again.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Chief engineer
Al Oppenheiser is the man

who feels the heat firsthand.

- Al Oppenheiser is the
chief engineer for Camaro.

He is King Camaro.

- It's an honor to have a job that I have.

I feel like there's a responsibility

while I'm in this place in
time, give everything I have.

My family's aware of it. I live it 24/7.

- Al Oppenheiser's a guy who's
been, he's a Camaro diehard,

and when he gets the chance
to bring Camaro back,

he's gonna do it come hell or high water.

- [Narrator] Oppenheiser's connection

to Camaro starts early.

- I'm a very lucky guy.

I get to do what I have a passion for.

I happened to have been a
Camaro guy my whole life.

My first car was a Camaro.

- [Narrator] To gauge how
far to push the product,

Al and his team solicit advice

from all corners of fan culture.

- We picked a group of people.

We called them the disciples.

They were insiders that
had Camaro passion,

and we'd bring them in
during the development.

This group gave us a barometer check

through the development
on are we going too far?

Is this something you want?

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] It takes
five more tough years,

but finally, in early 2009,

the fifth generation
Camaro hits the market.

- Chevy came back hard.

They came up with a car that
was retro but also futuristic.

- That design came with
a lot of downsides.

You can't see out of it, for example.

There's a really tiny trunk opening.

- [Narrator] The hot looks
hide a significant truth.

What looks fresh on the outside

is actually quite old underneath.

- Gen five was certainly limited
by the way it was planned

and that's not a fault of
the people who built it.

It's a fault of where GM was at the time

when they had to put it together.

- [Narrator] To stay within
budget, the team repurposes

their Australian division's Zeta platform.

- So when we talk about platforms,

we're talking about the
underlying structure of the car.

Suspension, where the components
go, what fits in where.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] The aged chassis
helps the business case,

but it also adds some
international baggage.

Namely, extra weight.

- We got saddled with a
lot of negative comments

on the mass of the
fifth generation Camaro.

- [Narrator] The hefty curb
weight slows the car down

on the road but not in the showroom.

Chevrolet sells over half
a million gen five Camaros.

- Only takes a really good body

to get people interested in the car again,

and it sold in huge numbers,

but it was clear when you drove the car,

it was way too heavy,
it was a bit too big,

you couldn't see out of it.

So there were a lot of
compromises that GM had to make

because they were working
with a limited set of tools.

- [Narrator] Gen five's success

secures the machine's future

but also throws down the
gauntlet for what comes next.

- We didn't wanna be a muscle car,

and we didn't wanna be a pony car anymore.

We wanted to use the benefits
of engineering, design,

and technology to take it
up a level to performance.

- [Narrator] The team's first target is

to reduce the machine's mass.

- We already knew that we
were looking for opportunities

to have a lighter weight car.

Our mantra was it's time to up our game,

take it to the next level.

- [Narrator] The key is the company's

new alpha architecture,
the underlying platform

that the car is built on.

- There was this great
new architecture there,

and our design architecture
team here really started looking

at it and started putting pieces together.

Could it be a Camaro?

- [Narrator] While the engineers
work with the new platform,

Tom Peters, the head of
Corvette and Camaro Design,

starts working on an exterior redesign.

- With me, it goes all
the way back probably

when I was a young teenager,
saw the first first generation

on the road, and I'll tell
you, that has propelled me

through my entire life
and through my career.

Started drawing them all the time.

Sort of taught myself how to draw.

And then only after my
second year of college

did I even become aware of
what industrial design was

totally by accident, and
then how cars were designed.

- [Narrator] Tom's lifelong
obsession propels him

to a career defining GM's
most important vehicles.

He's penned the Corvette, the Camaro,

and the Silverado pickup.

- We were given the assignment

to initiate the gen six Camaro

and so we began initially sketching.

- Tom Peters, we talked
to the guy and said,

"Look, if I'm driving
and this thing comes up

"in my rear view mirror,
I just want it to look

"like it's gonna rip right through me.

"It has to look mean."

- [Narrator] The design team

calls their new style lean muscularity.

- The design process doesn't
take a week or a month.

It takes a while.

It takes a year, year
plus, maybe two years

for the creative end to
go from the start to end.

- [Narrator] Finally, it's time for

an old western dual using
an earthly material.

- We call it a shootout.

To use the term, we'll
meet you in the clay.

- [Narrator] Sculptors
spend months refining each

and every detail on the machine,

then wrap their clay model in silver foil

so that they can tune the reflections.

- So Chevy, with the fifth
gen Camaro, made a statement.

So when it was time to
make the newest one,

the sixth generation Camaro,

how do you mess with that
lightning in a bottle?

What do you do with that?

- [Narrator] It's been a long, tough road

to bring an American icon back.

Now the question is
whether or not team Camaro

can finally build the machine
they've always wanted to.

The true working man's dream car.

(intense rock music)

The fifth generation
Chevy Camaro is a hit.

It reignites the brand's pony car passion

and secures the model's future.

But after a half decade run,

it's time to think about what comes next.

- You have to mess with success.

There are always room for improvement,

but you can't mess too much.

(tires squealing)

- [Narrator] Building
a better Camaro starts

at the Milford Proving Grounds.

(upbeat rock music)

Milford is the very first
automotive testing facility

in the world.

(upbeat rock music)

(car engine roars)

- Milford Proving Grounds is
a crucible for these cars.

This is where the engineers get
to push these cars to limit.

(tires squealing)

- [Narrator] The quest for
weight reduction continues

by combing over every part,

right down to the length of the bolts.

- If you find that you've got
a bolt that has 10 threads

that no one will ever
use, well, guess what?

If you cut it down to
three exposed threads,

you meet every requirement you need to,

and I just saved 25 grams

and it all adds up, believe it or not.

(upbeat rock music)

- [Narrator] Extra threads add up fast

when you have over 1,800 fasteners,

but the diet doesn't stop there.

The team also heavily revises
the multilink suspension

and shaves nearly 12 more kilograms.

Altogether, gen six
weighs in 90 kilos lighter

than its predecessor.

Weight reduction best seen

inside the Lansing Grand River Body Shop

where muscle meets metal,
and it takes over 700 robots

and eight hours to build
a single Camaro chassis.

They begin by welding the
front and rear crash structures

to the floor pan.

They are the first of
over 5,000 spot welds.

Then, robots move the
body sides into place.

(upbeat electronic music)

They add the roof

and doors

(tools buzzing)

before craftspeople grind
away any imperfections.

(upbeat electronic music)

While workers finish brand new bodies,

deep inside GM's virtual studio,

engineering hard points
meet artistic desires

in the digital world.

(upbeat electronic music)

- This is a file that our
Alias team will set up

with our engineering team.

The shock tower was one
that came up early on.

There was another one here,
what we call the pork chop,

that was up here at the cal.

Every program has these things.

Some are big and you'll know of right away

and then as you develop some things,

you kinda learn along the way.

On the alpha setup,
the hood is much higher

and the tire's much smaller,

so in that instance, we
really made this architecture

with this development much better.

- [Narrator] The team identifies an issue

with the new front grill.

- Since this is a supercharged engine,

it requires a lot of cooling,

so we design and sketch up a grill look

that we really, really like.

- [Narrator] However,
the initial grill design

doesn't allow enough air
to get to the engine.

- We need even more air flow
than our original design.

We actually had to thin
the grill up and widen it.

(car engine roars)

- [Narrator] The revised
grill increases the airflow

by 3.5 cubic meters per minute.

The extra air helps the
V8 produce 455 horsepower

and hit a government limited top speed

of 265.5 kilometers per hour.

But going fast isn't enough.

You've also got to sound the part.

(car engine roars)

- And most customers see the muffler

and they think a muffler's a muffler.

Well, a muffler's not a muffler.

- [Narrator] The unique Camaro sound falls

on the shoulders of Jay Pistana.

- We've spent years developing
the internal components,

developed in order to make
each Camaro sound distinctive.

- Someone like Jay,
his job is to make sure

that it's a legal sound 'cause
there are government rules

on noise pass-by, and we ride
the fringe of being legal

just to make the hair
on your arm stand up.

- [Narrator] The aggressive
exhaust note is defined

during the less regulated 1960s.

(car engine roars)

- Now we wanna make the
muffler sound like that,

but we use a lot of science and technology

in order to do what was
inherent to the muscle cars

of the sixties and seventies.

- [Narrator] The team
must satisfy two groups

on different ends of
the auditory spectrum.

Officials concerned about noise levels

and customers who want their car

to sound like a vicious, snarling Camaro.

- This is probably the 10th
car that we ever built.

We use this car for
exhaust tuning development.

(car engine rumbles)

- [Narrator] After measuring the sound,

they take the data back
to a listening lab.

- We subjectively made the decision

that not only was the
exhaust a little too quiet,

the induction system
was a little too quiet.

- [Narrator] An air induction
system feeds the engine

and increases the velocity of the airflow

while also reducing its turbulence.

- We siphon off a little bit of the sound,

and it goes through this
small, one-inch diameter tube.

- [Narrator] Creating
the prototype results

from a MacGyver-like solution.

- I went to your local
big box hardware store,

and I bought some washing
machine discharge hose

with some hose clamps and we
cobbled the system together

for the purposes of demonstration.

(car engine rumbles)

- [Narrator] While some sounds
are good, others are not.

To find objectionable noises,

the team uses a climate
controlled road simulator

that ranges from negative
28 to 48 degrees Celsius.

(upbeat music)
(car engine rumbles)

- So you wanna hear the exhaust,
you wanna hear the engine,

all the good stuff you love about Camaro,

but you don't want to hear things

that rattle or sound loose.

- [Narrator] The torture
test helps engineers

pinpoint the exact location
of an unwanted sound.

- So the tool I was using
underneath was a stethoscope,

and it just helps me hear noises

that transfer through the body.

It's pretty surreal. It's pretty unreal.

I mean, I'm only 26 and already getting

to work on this car is phenomenal.

I mean, it's like, where do
I go now? It's a dream job.

- [Narrator] It takes just
eight minutes to twist a car,

and each cycle can simulate

up to 10 different road surfaces.

(car rattles)

- Squeak and rattles are
basically made up of two things,

movement and contact, so
if the parts are moving

but they don't touch, no noise.

If the parts are touching but
they don't move, no noise.

But when you have both
together, then you hear noise.

So you can eliminate either
or and fix the issue.

- [Narrator] The team
retunes the dual mode exhaust

to remove all the unwanted rattles.

When they're finished,

those exhausts will be bolted

on three very different power plants.

A two liter turbocharged four cylinder,

a state-of-the-art V6,

and the 455 horsepower V8.

- This price range, it kind of
has its niche for everybody.

You can go with the V8.

You want fuel economy,
we have the 2.0 turbo.

Then, if you want kind
of the rough and tumble,

you go with the V8.

- [Narrator] While the V8 gets the glory,

it's the working man's 3.6
liter V6 that gets the job done,

a motor that comes to life

at the Romulus Powertrain facility.

(intense music)

- Romulus engine plant opened up in 1976,

and it was a diesel engine plant.

Through the years, became
small block V8 engine plant.

- [Narrator] Over the past 25 years,

this facility has produced

more than 17 million small block engines.

- And in this plant, we've
built motors for a lot of years.

And to be right here at
the Home General Motors

in the auto industry, it's a great thing.

It's really an honor, really,
to be able to do this.

- [Narrator] In 2013, GM
injects nearly 445 million euros

to retool the factory.

The commitment creates new
jobs and new opportunities.

- Generates income for
people all around this area.

People go home and take
their paychecks with 'em

and spend their money within 100 miles

of this radius of this plant.

It's a big deal.

Most of the people around
here, their mothers,

their fathers have
worked at General Motors.

- I've been working for GM for 19 years.

It's fun. It's a
different challenge daily.

It is a dream job.

- [Narrator] Nearly 1,000
employees use their muscles

and a variety of high tech machines

to produce 1,500 engines per day.

- So this is the beginning
of the assembly line.

- [Narrator] The build starts
by loading a fresh block

onto the line.

(intense music)

They swing the crank shaft into place,

(intense music)

then they install the six pistons.

(intense music)

(tool buzzes)

Finally, it's time to screw the heads on.

- Our team does everything
from putting the head gasket on

to installing the head,

and then there's some
inside installation of parts

that go on inside of the head.

It's been pretty rewarding, actually,

to see all the hard work come to light

and see the engines coming
off the back of the line.

- [Narrator] The team records
every part installed using

an advanced database system.

- We have a electronic tracking system.

It's captured electronically.

When that engine is built, we
can track the DNA so to speak

of all the components that
were assembled to the engine.

- [Narrator] The error
proofing is extremely precise.

- Tolerances are in microns.

The testing that we do is in microns.

The blocks that we finish

for our Camaro engines
is measured in microns.

- [Narrator] A single
micron is just one millionth

of a meter wide.

That's smaller than a red blood cell.

Back in the day, this level of detail

would be unheard of in Detroit.

Now it's the way they do business.

- Right now, we're on the
north side of loop one,

so as you can see, the engine
is almost halfway built up.

We assemble the valve train, oil pan,

and the finished cylinder
head subassembly.

(tools buzzing)

- [Narrator] It's a high tech power plant

built with old school passion.

- We're really proud of it.

This is the highest
tech, best quality engine

that I've ever worked on.

I've been working on these
for more than 30 years.

- We take a lot of pride
in it, the horsepower,

the quality that we put into it.

- [Narrator] Today's Motor City family

walks the talk thanks to
some ultra modern tech.

- Plasma treat's one of
our newest technologies

in GM Powertrain, and
it's essentially a process

that treats the ceiling surface
of our joints in the engine.

A significant improvement
in adhesion properties

versus our traditional means of sealing up

those components on the engine.

(upbeat electronic music)

- [Narrator] When an
engine completes loop one,

it transfers across the aisle
to the final testing area.

- The final part of loop two,

and that's our final functional test,

which we call cold test.

- [Narrator] In a cold
test, they run the engine up

to speed using air
pressure instead of fuel.

It takes just 80 seconds
to find out if the passion

and pride on the line have
resulted in a great engine.

- Cold test stations essentially check

for 1,585 test points or
characteristics of the engine

to verify final quality before
this engine gets shipped

to Lansing Grand River for the new Camaro.

(engine roars)
(tires squeal)

- [Narrator] Every day,
new engines are sent

144 kilometers northwest of
Detroit to Lansing, Michigan,

where a strongly bonded family

of craftspeople bring new Camaros to life.

(engine roars)
(tires squeal)

(engine roars)
(tires squeal)

The Chevy Camaro is an American icon

that's fought extinction only
to return with a vengeance.

- It's an iconic muscle car.

It's been around since the sixties.

We take a lot of pride in it

- So quite a bit of buzz
to see American flags.

Emblems have the red, white,
and blue on the Camaro,

- [Narrator] Red, white,
and blue passion is

on display daily.

(upbeat music)

- We're actually at the very
beginning of general assembly.

As the vehicles are coming
through, you'll see little kits

that are in the front of the vehicles.

Each one of those kits is assembled

to be part of that vehicle.

- [Narrator] Everything at
Lansing Assembly happens fast,

even filling new positions on the floor.

- We just hired 500 people.
Man up the third shift.

Well, that's people coming
into the gas station,

they're coming into the
stores, they're buying houses,

and we're working class people.

When you put money in
working class people's hands,

that's what makes the world go round.

(upbeat electronic music)

- [Narrator] The industrial
athletes aren't just builders.

Often, they're also buyers.

- People that work here are
special ordering these cars

and they actually build them.

We had a team member last
week, on second shift,

got to see her custom built
car come through here.

- This is our livelihood and
we're excited about the Camaro

and maybe one day I'll own one.

- I always wanted one growing up,

so once I got a job with General Motors,

I was able to kind of price
out some of the options

that I like, the color I
wanted, and the model year,

and I'll be getting one
of the new six generations

that we have coming up.

- [Narrator] At the end of
trim two, Erik's new ride,

along with every other Camaro,
transfers to the next line

where they install the interior.

One line later, robots glue
and mount the windscreens,

(upbeat rock music)

workers install the rear shocks,

(upbeat rock music)

and back bumper.

Meters away, workers bolt
the drivetrain together.

- There's about 14 stations in there.

It takes us about 35 minutes
to run one all the way through.

- [Narrator] They prep
the drive train on an AGV,

or automatically guided vehicle.

Every minute 50, a fresh sled
delivers the heart and soul

of the Camaro to the line.

- This is pretty challenging.
There's a lot of moving parts.

When it doesn't work, it gets
a little hairy real fast.

- In this area, we're putting in 10 bolts,

buttoning up the undercarriage
and the transmission

and the exhaust on these vehicles.

- [Narrator] Those 10 bolts
help the V8 equipped Camaro SS

catapult from zero to
100 kilometers an hour

in just 4.1 seconds.

The heady times on the
track are the result

of speedy installs on the floor.

- It's quick, but once you
get in the rhythm of the job,

it's like it doesn't
take as long to do it.

You gotta really be in
tune with what you doing.

When you're installing
the one bigger motor,

a little harder, especially if
you're dealing with a manual.

I get a inside joy myself just knowing

that I built something
and now I'm seeing it out

on the road.

Seeing something that you had a part in

that somebody else have.

They love it just as much
as you enjoy doing it.

(engine roars)
(tires squeal)

- [Narrator] The enjoyment felt by drivers

echoes the way the workers
feel about each other.

- We are like a family. I hear
about their outside lives.

We get together outside of work.

We talk about our vacations

and what we do with our families.

- We celebrate each other
birthdays. Just hanging out.

Even if it's just wanna
have a pot luck at work,

we try to keep it to
where it's just not work

because we spend so much time here,

it's almost like these people
here become your family.

So learn how to deal with everybody,

look out for each other.

- [Narrator] Next, the team
installs the headlights,

front and rear bumpers, and seats.

Then, it's time to bolt
on a fresh set of rubber,

tires that help a Camaro SS go
from 112 kilometers per hour

to a dead stop in just 44 meters.

- It's got wheels on it.

It's actually got seats, an interior,

and it's now starting to
come down to a lower level

where we're starting
to do the fluid fills.

Yeah, we're probably about 45 minutes

from a finished vehicle right now,

so we don't fill 'em up until
the very end of the process.

- [Narrator] Every few minutes,

freshly fueled machines
enter the body fitting area

where human eyes give each car a once over

to ensure they're exactly right.

- Can I fit all the gaps?

The deck lid, the hood, the doors,

make sure they shut right.

- [Narrator] It's one more place
where pride takes precedent

and family matters.

- I'm trying to think about
that customer perspective

and say, "Is this what they would want?"

Or, "Is this what I would want?"

And if it's what I would want,
then I've done a good job.

My kids are tuned into it real well.

They spot 'em out pretty good

and they enjoy seeing
what we do here at work.

So they're big GM fans.

- They thinking that I know

how to put the whole car
together, so my son, my son said,

"Hey, Dad, is that what you're doing?"

It's like, "Yeah, man." I'm
like, "That's what I did."

- [Narrator] Finally,
after nearly 12 hours,

a new Camaro is ready to
roll off the line on its own.

- Here's the fun part, right?

This is where kind of the
rubber meets the road.

- [Narrator] Over the
years, the Motor city

and its surrounding areas have
endured incredible hardships,

yet all the hurt hasn't
dampened the spirit.

This is a place where they're brought up

to believe in the family business.

- My dad has worked here for 38 years,

and I've always kind of
grown up learning the passion

'cause my dad has a passion.

It's built here in America,
right here in Michigan.

I think it's just really cool.

Lansing, Michigan, where we all grew up.

- It feels good to be a part of something.

It's a very gratifying feeling to be part

of such a classic car, and
it's a pretty rad looking car.

So it's definitely an American
classic, so I want one.

That's for sure.

(upbeat rock music)

- [Narrator] Just like the Motor City,

it's an American classic
that started strong,

hit a very rough patch,
and is bouncing back.

- This is one of the cars

that sort of typifies the
American car industry.

These are uniquely American cars,

and they're uniquely American
in the way they're built,

the way they drive,
and everything they do.

(engine roars)

- If this car didn't happen right now,

the automotive world would
be a very different place.

'Cause right now, the Camaro is forcing

the entire automotive universe
to look at GM and say,

"How did they do that?"

- It is an impressive product,

and when you think of all the hard times

that Detroit has fallen
on and you see something

like that kind of coming out of the ash,

it's pretty impressive.

- I can't speak for the guys at GM,

but if I worked as a chassis
engineer, this would be the car

that I would always dream
that a Camaro could be.

- [Narrator] A blue collar dream car

that starts at just 24,000
euros for a base model

and runs all the way up to 43,000

for a fully equipped V8 SS edition.

- First time I hopped in it
and drove up a curvy road,

I was shocked at how fast
it could go through corners.

- First time I drove this new Camaro,

I had my iPhone in my hand
so that I can take notes,

and the first three paragraphs
were nothing but expletives.

I could not believe that
General Motors is capable

of building a sports
car, not a muscle car,

a sports car that's this good,

- [Narrator] A surprisingly
good sports car

that's been resurrected by
engineers who never gave up,

fought through bankruptcy,

persevered until they had the tools

to build the machine
they always dreamt about.

- What's cool about this new Camaro is

that you have the team given a tool set,

the hardware to make this thing work,

at a level that is completely unexpected.

You have a lighter, smaller platform,

you have more power than you, frankly,

could ever want or need.

- It's somehow redefined what
a modern sports car can be.

Everyone needs to take notice of that.

- [Narrator] For over 50 years,

the Chevy Camaro has been
a pony car, a muscle car,

and a working man's dream car.

What it transforms into
next is anyone's guess.

(rousing music)

- Where it's gonna go from here?

I have no idea, but with
a dedicated fan base,

with good parts like
Chevy's been building,

and with a guy like Al
Oppenheiser pulling the reigns,

the sky's the limit for
the Camaro, I think.

(rousing music)