There’s an awful lot of footage on YouTube of car factories, from silent old newsreels to gorgeous, modern, HD productions. Our vehicles have become incredibly advanced, but for me, there’s something endearing about how casually Citroën 2CVs were made in Portugal—you’ll see what I mean in a minute. Here are some of the most interesting and watchable factory films we could find:
It was awfully nice of Porsche to release behind-the-scenes b-roll footage for those of us who enjoy watching other people work on cars. You’ll get just a few minutes in and realize how intricate this supercar is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKJPFRNO344
Jaguar’s factory tour film, One Leap Ahead, makes a great case for lusting after these sleek machines—though is is just me, or do you wish what the workers were saying to each other when cameras weren’t on the floor?
This Is Triumph attempts to prove, once and for all, that its cars are well-built. But once you see its hilarious foam “trash test” dummies, a large pocket of doubt should fill your head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvAH-Yskyio
Chevrolet, 1936: Master Hands shows the daunting industrial processes that literally shape raw materials into cars. I’m not sure if I should be more afraid or impressed!
Of course, there’s silent home movie footage from someone’s 1967 trip to the Ferrari factory. I watched the entire thing and didn’t see much work being done…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTNarQKd_Ug
Citroën 2CVs were made in Portugal for a long period of time, and if you can get past this clip’s awful soundtrack, you’ll be amazed at how delightfully casual the whole process is. Partly-assembled body shells are flipped by two men, dragged across the floor, and the guy who gets to drive cars around carries an entire steering column with him like a cane. Somehow, the hands-on build process only made the 2CV stronger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzUpm0MJRlQ
With Lamborghini (left) and Pagani (right) profiled by National Geographic’s Megafactories series, here’s a question: who’d you rather have build you a car?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8iuBPYgTvs
Was the Porsche 918 B-roll not enough? Here, workers assemble the new 911.
It’s well past five minutes in before you realize, “Hey, they’re making Ferraris!” I’d call that a spoiler, but trust me, you probably wouldn’t have watched that far in if I didn’t mention “Ferrari”.
Image source: olivierhess.com
