Nostalgic footage shows how Chevrolets were made in the 1960s in the United States

Footage uploaded onto an American YouTube channel shows various Chevrolets and General Motors (GM) cars being built in the 1960s.

USA Production Lines uploaded the footage showing manufacturing at GM’s Norwood Assembly Plant.

While the footage goes all the way up to the 1980s, the most interesting segments are from the 1960s.

In the past, most of the work was done by humans rather than robots, which do much of it in 2025.

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1960s Chevrolets consisted of fewer parts than modern models

As the video shows, the manufacturing processes for cars were much simpler in the 1960s.

That extended to the number of parts used, with a typical 1960s GM product containing around 14,000 parts.

In 2025, cars can contain up to over 30,000 parts, depending on their make, model, and size.

As the YouTuber’s video shows, around 900 people were responsible for assembling Chevy cars in the 1960s.

Chevrolet and GM models produced at the plant in the ’60s included the Impala, Biscayne, Caprice, Camaro, and Pontiac Firebird.

The GM plant in Ohio might have produced countless cars, but it was also susceptible to labor strikes.

In 1972, a 174-day strike resulted in 1,100 vehicles being broken up for scrap.

The plant began operating in 1923 and remained a hub of GM vehicle construction until 1987.

The YouTube video shows East German car production as a comparison

A segment later in the video, around 26 minutes in, contrasts with the production from the GM plant.

The segment shows the production of the infamous Trabant in East Germany, a car that was very much a product of the Soviet Union.

Thanks to its Soviet leadership, East Germany wasn’t as wealthy or as advanced as West Germany.

The Trabant reflected this, being very crudely and cheaply built, cheap to buy, and infamous for all its faults.

Its lightweight duroplast body was perhaps its one saving grace.

Incredibly, the Trabant remained in production in various forms from 1957 until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

While clearly not as well built as the 1960s Chevys in the YouTube video, it’s interesting to see how one of the world’s most infamous cars was put together.