Hi, and thanks for buying a Solara. I work at the plant!

[Sentinel]

You're in Kentucky? I think mine was made in Canada. Oh well.

Greetings!

[woa_its_j3ff]

welcome to sg.
You help make our cars? wanna build me a replacement :p

no seriously..

[Sebas007]

Gen 1 have been made in Canada...Gen 2 in Kentucky

[SleeperSolara]

Welcome to SG.org

[mcsoccer7]

Welcome to SG...it's great to have another Ky native on the forum.

^^I'll second that^^ Welcome and enjoy the forum.

-Michael

+3. Welcome. It must be nice having first hand experience and info!!

[Biggi_e]

hey welcome to SG

[oldkystude]

I will post some responses to the regular discussion areas per your groundrules, and may sneak in a photo of my Lexus SC400 and my 34 Studebaker Dictator! You obviously have an active bunch, and I am glad to connect with folks who enjoy the fruits of our efforts. The Solara is the only "cool" car we ever really built here, (we built only Camry, Avalon and 1st gen Sienna van prior) and I hate to see it go, but it just is NOT selling and is considered a market failure by Toyota standards. We have had others: the 3rd gen (92-96) Camry Wagon and 3rd gen Camry 2 door sedan. The Solara was and is a greater success than those two, but in a company that considers the 1st gen Tundra a failure also, the sales standards are really high. Will discuss my Solara production experience in next post now since there is some interest. Thanks for the warm welcome, and is the KY guy a TMMK TM also??

[oldkystude]

Hey - thanks for stopping by and saying hi!

And thanks for being part of the team that built my car too!

So what are you going to be building in that plant after the Solara goes bye-bye??

You are welcome! And thank you for another 30 seconds of job security!

They are calling the replacenet the ACE right now. Hope that name changes. You guys have some info on this forum with photos somewhere. Crossover type, or the 21st century version of a Station Wagon. Be still my axious heart.. HP

[oldkystude]

Welcome. Got any pics of the classics?
And thanks for whatever part you had in making my baby. Yay KY!!

Thanks! 2004 model? I am proud to say that I worked on the 5CR press line that made the brackets that holds your taillights on. Remove the trunk trim and check it out. I can describe the process in excruciating detail if you wish. If you are like me and enjoy "How It's Made" on cable you will love it, but consider getting a life. HP

[kingkakyle]

^^^ "how its made" that show is pretty cool
i enjoy watching it almost every day

[MCOjerry]

Welcome. Got any pics of the classics?
And thanks for whatever part you had in making my baby. Yay KY!!

Thanks! 2004 model? I am proud to say that I worked on the 5CR press line that made the brackets that holds your taillights on. Remove the trunk trim and check it out. I can describe the process in excruciating detail if you wish. If you are like me and enjoy "How It's Made" on cable you will love it, but consider getting a life. HP

I have an 06 convertible. What part did you have in the manufacture of mine?!

[oldkystude]

Welcome. Got any pics of the classics?
And thanks for whatever part you had in making my baby. Yay KY!!

Thanks! 2004 model? I am proud to say that I worked on the 5CR press line that made the brackets that holds your taillights on. Remove the trunk trim and check it out. I can describe the process in excruciating detail if you wish. If you are like me and enjoy "How It's Made" on cable you will love it, but consider getting a life. HP

I have an 06 convertible. What part did you have in the manufacture of mine?!

Unless it was made in the last 2 weeks only the Stamping parts. I have only been in the Body Weld shop for 6 weeks and on the convertible line for the last 2. I am having to learn almost everything over. Different robot brands, different logic controlers, welding robots as opposed to handling robots, you name it.

Since the Solara is built on the same underbody as the old camry I have helped make a lot of those parts. The maintenance guys sometimes run the presses to check out robot changes we have made so I could have stamped and loaded you trunk floor and the floor sections under the front and rear seats, plus the firewall. I know those panels very well! They ran on presslines 1A and 4A. Almost forgot, we made the front section of the door inner panels on the 3A line. If you take a tour you will drive right past 3A. HP

[MCOjerry]

Well, even though it's an 06, I bought it in April of 2005...so it's early on in the model year.

[Paladin06Greg]

Welcome..

[NeFaRiOuS_SLE]

Welcome to SolaraGuy! Even though my car is TMMC, thanks for being a part of making great cars! Speaking of which, if you can custom-make cars, that'll be AWESOME!

I'm thinking of a 2007 SE Sport with an Option C, windscreen, and Charcoal Gray leather interior, Magnetic Gray Metallic paint... But with a 6-speed manual transmission..... OR BETTER YET... A 2JZ RWD version! If I can have it for $30,000 off the retail price, that'll be great.

Seriously though... The only reason it's probably not selling is that the 07 Camry has a more powerful engine (even the SE Sport Solara has the 3MZ NA while you'd expect it to have at least some form of FI, if not a bigger engine) and severely under-advertised; I rarely watch TV as it is, but every other ad is for the Camry or Tundra, while even sales specials don't have Solaras (a glimpse maybe, but no "Get $$$$ factory rebate for the sporty and stlylish Solara" or anything)... Just my $0.02.

Otherwise, it's an awesome car.