Willow Run Transmission

Willow Run Transmission
Willow Run Transmission plant, taken shortly before its final closing (2010)
Operated	1953–2010
Location	Ypsilanti Township, Michigan
Coordinates	42°14′32″N 83°33′04″W / 42.2422°N 83.5511°W / 42.2422; -83.5511
Industry	Automotive
Products	Hydramatic and automatic transmissions
Owner(s)	General Motors
Defunct	December 2010; 13 years ago (2010-12)

Willow Run Transmission (also called Ypsilanti Transmission Operations, YTO) was a General Motors factory in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan.^[1] Acquired by GM in 1953, it produced Hydramatic and other automatic transmissions for use in vehicles built by General Motors and other automakers. The factory first opened in 1941 as the Ford Willow Run facility, which built B-24 Liberator bombers during World War II, and its original building (still preserved within the fabric of the GM Powertrain plant) was designed by noted architect Albert Kahn.

Following the war, the bomber plant was sold as surplus property to the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation, a partnership of construction and shipbuilding magnate Henry J. Kaiser and Graham-Paige executive Joseph W. Frazer. From 1947 to 1953, Willow Run built Kaiser and Frazer cars for Kaiser-Frazer and its successor Kaiser Motors. Kaiser also produced cargo planes during the Korean War at Willow Run under license from Fairchild Aircraft, including the C-119 Flying Boxcar.