Last Cavalier marks the end of an era at Lordstown

The going away party was held two months ago in the parking lot of the General Motors Lordstown plant, when thousands of people turned out on a beautiful, sunny day to look at hundreds of old Cavaliers and Sunfires on display by collectors, to see who would win the raffle for the last Sunfire produced at the plant, and to get a close-up look at the plant's new product, the Chevrolet Cobalt.
The end came this Tuesday, when the last Lordstown-built Chevrolet Cavalier rolled off the assembly line.
It was the bittersweet end of a run that began 22 years and five million cars ago.
The Cavalier and its sister cars, known as J-bodies for production purposes, were the life blood of the Mahoning Valley's economy. But they were also a source of pride.
Anywhere in the United States that a Lordstown employee went, he or she would see a Cavalier or Sunfire on the road. Keeping a sharper lookout would yield the occasional older model, perhaps a Cadillac Cimarron, Oldsmobile Firenza, Buick SkyHawk or Pontiac Sunbird or J2000.
The Mahoning Valley, no doubt, is the Cavalier capital of the nation. They are on every road, in every parking lot, in thousands of driveways. That's due, no doubt to a combination of factors. GM discounts for employees have made the Cavalier a very affordable first car for two generations of Mahoning Valley students and recent graduates. The people who made the cars took pride in owning them. And, thousands of other area car buyers have recognized that buying Lordstown products was a valuable contribution to the Valley economy.
Through this weekend, the Lordstown plant is quiet. Most workers got a few extra days off while preparations are made for a complete changeover to production of the new Chevrolet Cobalt.
About 400 of those cars have been produced during training runs at the plant.
The true beginning of the next era for the Lordstown complex will begin within two weeks, when the assembly line is fired up and Cobalts replace Cavaliers as the Valley's most recognizable product.