Cold War Castoffs General Dynamics Sells Convair Division Assets

In General Dynamics’s heyday, some 40,000 workers here built jet planes, bombers and cruise missiles. Its Convair Division supplied the military from World War II through the Cold War.

But this week, Convair is absorbed in a wholly different production: It is auctioning off every last lathe, drill press and router in a grand going-out-of-business sale.

More than a thousand buyers from around the globe have attended the auction, which started Tuesday and continues through today. About 12,000 lots of machinery are up for bid at the 2.5 million-square-foot plant on San Diego’s harbor front.

“We have a lot of aerospace manufacturers, but there’s the whole gamut,” said Robert Levy, president of auctioneer Norman Levy Associates. “There’s every type of manufacturer you can imagine because the equipment is general purpose equipment.”

So far, prices have run from $10 for inspection equipment to $250,000 for a giant grinder.

Levy’s firm, which is based in Southfield, Mich., has handled auctions for McDonnell-Douglas, Lockheed and Eastern Airlines resulting from the collapse of the aerospace and defense industries.

The 44-year-old business, which recently opened an office in Northern California, has witnessed economic cycles among various regions of the United States.

In the 1980s, most buyers from the East and West coasts traveled to buy up manufacturing equipment from the Rust Belt. Today, many buyers travel from the Midwest to buy machines from failed West Coast industries, Levy said.

“People need this equipment because the economy is strong,” said Levy shortly after he auctioned off some inspection gauges. “They come here today and buy this equipment today and put it in their shop tomorrow.”

Although the demise of large plants like Convair spelled unemployment for thousands of workers, expanding businesses and dealers show up at the auction to find bargains.

“Southern California has been hit really hard with aerospace,” said Steve Hernandez, a partner with Reliable Tool, a West Covina company that resells machinery to other businesses. “It’s been good for me because many of my customers … have long-term contracts with me.”

Convair will shut down in January, when its last airplane fuselage is completed. Its buildings will be demolished, and the land will be returned to the Port of San Diego.