The 100 Millionth GM car finds its way back home

JANESVILLE, Wis. – In time for its June 16 Father’s Day car show, the Rock County Historical Society plans to put its newly donated 1967 Chevrolet Caprice back on display.

The Caprice represents an historic milestone in General Motors production as the 100 Millionth car produced by the automaker. For many decades, it had been a permanent part of the Sloan Museum of Discovery’s collection in Flint, Mich. Since the Caprice was built at the Chevrolet-Fisher Body assembly plant in Janesville, Wis., the county seat of Rock County, the Sloan Museum donated the Caprice last fall to the Rock County Historical Society.

“We asked if we could borrow it [in 2022]… and then we asked what it would take for it to stay here, and they donated it,” said Daniel Mezera, campus caretaker of the Rock County Historical Society.

The car was officially donated last fall, but isn’t truly the 100 Millionth car—it’s actually number 100,000,001. Three identical cars were built for the celebration marking the occasion, and the fate of the other two, including the actual 100 Millionth car, has been lost.

“They were all built April 5 [1967] and they drove them back and forth to Edgerton,” said Mezera, who studies the history of the Janesville Chevrolet-Fisher Body assembly plant. “The other two kept breaking down and this one didn’t… this one didn’t have the defects, so they stickered it up and on April 21st, 1967, it was part of the celebration.”

The forthcoming exhibit featuring the Caprice will be part of an exhibit showing never-published images taken during the construction and celebration of the car’s completion, as well as original footage of the car rolling down the assembly line.

Mezera says that, during the society’s previous display of the car, many former Janesville employees came to see the car, rekindling memories of their time assembling cars and trucks on the line in Janesville. Some even recalled assembling the actual 100 Millionth car itself.

“A lot of people that had built the car have come through,” Mezera said. “One guy said, ‘I put the fenders on.’ Another said, ‘I put the seats in,’ or ‘I put the air conditioning in.’ I try to treat those people special. We try to keep it as pristine as we can, but we let them sit in the car and have their picture taken. It only has 1,600 miles on it.”

For More Info

Rock County Historical Society
426 N Jackson St.
Janesville, WI 53548
www.rchs.us

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