Even before joining General Motors in 1917 as their Ford-fighting division, the Chevrolet Motor Company considered Kansas City a strategic point for distribution. They had already set up one of their first two zone sales offices here in 1915.

In February, 1928, GM announced the purchase of 32 acres in the Leeds District (south of 37th Street between the railroad tracks of the Missouri Pacific and the Kansas City Southern) at which they would build an assembly plant. General Motors spent $2,451,596 constructing the 390,000 square foot facility. Chevrolet Division president William S. Knudsen as well as the mayors of Kansas City Missouri and Kansas City Kansas attended the dedication and formal opening on February 6, 1929.

The Leeds plant uniquely housed two factories under one roof, divided by a wall: a Fisher Body plant and a Chevrolet assembly line. The two divisions operated separately, with different workers, managers, and engineers. The only things shared by the two plants were the cafeteria and a hole in the wall through which Fisher delivered car bodies to the Chevrolet chassis line.

The first Chevrolet rolled off the Leeds assembly line on January 3, 1929. 2,494 Chevrolets were built in that first month; 79,042 in the first year. The plant supplied dealers in eight states: Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado.

1929 was a significant year for Chevrolet products because it was the first year for the overhead-valve, six-cylinder engine. Advertised as “A Six in the price range of the Four,” the 1929 Chevrolet Series AC International, available in ten different body styles, cost only $10 more than the 1928 four-cylinder model. The “stovebolt six,” as it came to be called (because its slotted-head bolts resembled those on an unvented, wood-burning stove), was Chevrolet’s main engine for 25 years, remaining in production until 1986.

63,650 square feet of space was added to Chevrolet in 1935. Constructed at the same time were a 73,920-square-foot second floor for Fisher Body, and a 61,250-square-foot parts warehouse. The plant was expanded by an additional 40,200 square feet in 1939. By 1940, one million Chevrolets had been built at the Kansas City Leeds Plant.

Before World War II ended all civilian automotive production, the last Chevrolet rolled off the Leeds line on February 3, 1942. During the war, the Chevrolet side of the plant became storage space for North American Aviation and Frigidaire. The Fisher side was leased to GM’s Oldsmobile Division for contracted defense production. Manufacturing of 75mm, 90mm, and 105mm high explosive shell casings began on the fourth of July, 1942. 14 million were made before war production ceased on June 26, 1945. The first postwar Chevrolet built anywhere in the country, a 1946 four-door sedan, was assembled at Leeds on October 3, 1945. The immediate postwar period was booming times for the Kansas City Leeds Plant and Chevrolet manufacturing.

[ Our grateful appreciation to the Missouri Valley Special Collections for photographs, Kansas City Public Library ]

Image Left Top:
The close ties between Chevrolet and Fisher Body were even maintained in advertisements like this one from 1940.

Image Middle Bottom:
During WWII, high explosive shell casings were produced at the Fisher Body side of the Kansas City Leeds Plant.

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The immediate postwar period was booming times for the Kansas City Leeds Plant and Chevrolet, America’s best selling line of cars and trucks at the time.

Image Middle Top:
GM’s Kansas City Leeds Plant was a divided manufacturing complex with Chevrolet’s operations on one side and Fisher Body’s on the other, separated by a wall.

Image Middle Middle:
During WWII, high explosive shell casings were produced at the Fisher Body side of the Kansas City Leeds Plant.

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The 1929 Chevrolet was intended to leapfrog the gains Ford had made with the introduction of its popular Model A the previous model year.

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The new-for-29, overhead-valve, “stovebolt six” was smoother and more powerful than the Model A’s four-cylinder engine, and remarkably was still available in some Chevrolet vehicles as late as 1986. Outstanding Chevrolet of Chevrolet History

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The 1929 Chevrolet, “A Six in the price range of the Four,” was available in ten different body styles. It cost only $10 more than the 1928 four-cylinder model. $595 THE FOUR

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On June 18, 1969, a 1929 Chevrolet was brought back to the Leeds Plant as part of the celebration of the 5 millionth vehicle built there. GM 5,000,000 GM

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This sedan was one of the last Chevrolet’s built before civilian vehicle production halted in 1942.