Faces of GM

Kevin Carriere – For the Love of Cars

August 10, 2010 at 4:26 pm

Kevin Carriere is a virtual analysis engineer on the Virtual Analysis Manufacturing Group with a very interesting pastime. We caught up with Kevin at this year’s employee car show at the GM Tech Center in Warren, Mich. with his ’68 Oldsmobile 442 W30 where he shared with us, his love of cars.

I’ve always had an affinity for building things, especially cars. My father was very technical- minded and I had an older brother who was really interested in cars.  He piqued my interest and led me down the same path. It was all about creating things for me, so naturally I enjoyed manufacturing, even to the point that I eventually built my own house.

I was 12 years old when I purchased my first car, a 1934 five-window Chevy Coupe which I turned into a street rod. I worked on that car for four years and finally got it working when I got my license.  I just kept going from there.

I’ve probably restored about a dozen cars from Chevelles to GTOs to Grand Prixs, selling each car to help fund the next project. I find that it’s the challenge of restoring the cars that I enjoy, rather than keeping them.  Once I got married and started my family, the car-building projects were put aside.

A number of years later, a friend of mine called me with a deal I couldn’t turn down, the chance to restore a ’68 Oldsmobile 442 W30. The car is a limited production vehicle so it had a pedigree that made it attractive to restore to its original condition.

Having that passion for building things has really helped me at General Motors. I feel lucky to work here because I love what I do. I’ve worked my way into the engineering side of the car business as a tradesman. My background and experience as a tool and die worker really helped prepare me for my current position.

Today, I work on the C-Flex project. As a manufacturing engineer, I help validate new car builds into existing equipment and try to increase the agility and flexibility on our plant lines. I also handle virtual analysis and validate pre-production product to make sure there are no assembly issues and develop manufacturing studies to make sure new product can be produced by the tools we have at plants.

Kevin Carriere with Family

When I’m not working, I’m still building things in my tool shop at home in Hartland, MI and spending time with my wife of 30 years,  Kim and my son Matthew and daughter Megan.  Matthew, who’s about to get his engineering degree at Lawrence Tech, owns a ’96 Camaro Z28 which I’ve helped him restore. It’s great to see that building cars is still a family thing.