The Willow Run manufacturing plant, located between Ypsilanti and Belleville, Michigan, was constructed during World War II by Ford Motor Company for the mass production of the B-24 Liberator military aircraft. The date on the dedication plaque was June 16, 1941.
After the war, ownership of the assembly plant passed to Kaiser Motors and then to Ford rival General Motors, which owned and operated part of the facility as Willow Run Transmission. In 2011, A.E. Equities Group Holdings offered to buy the plant from RACER Trust.
GM's Fisher Body division was also located at Willow Run, and built bodies for the Chevrolet models assembled there. Among the better-known automobiles assembled here were the Corvair and Nova. Corvairs were assembled at Willow Run during the car's entire 10-year life span. The media was invited to Willow Run on May 14, 1969, as the last Corvair came down the line, against GM's standard policy of not permitting reporters to visit their manufacturing facilities.
In 1968, General Motors reorganized its body assembly divisions into the monolithic GM Assembly Division (GMAD). GMAD absorbed many Fisher body plants, but Willow Run was one of the plants where Fisher continued to build bodies until the 1970s.
The plant has given its name to a community on the east side of Ypsilanti, defined roughly by the boundaries of the Willow Run Community Schools district.
Read more about Willow Run: History, Guns Made At The Willow Run GM Transmission Plant
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