The US car industry in Michigan - then and now

1900: Henry Ford in his new T Ford model in front of his car plant in Detroit Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

1903: The first mass production centre of the Ford Empire, on Mack Avenue in Detroit, Michigan Photograph: Keystone Features/Getty Images

1913: Workers on an assembly line inside the Ford Motor Company factory at Highland Park, Michigan, constructing steering systems Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

1922: William C. Durant, original founder of General Motors and, in 1922, Durant Motors, stands proudly by the Durant Star, a direct competitor to the Model T Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

1926: Ford factory smokestacks, Detroit, Michigan Photograph: E. O. Hoppe/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

1928: Assembly line workers inside the Ford Motor Company factory at Dearborn, Michigan Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Walter P Chrysler and the first Plymouth that was built in 1928. After his first car was denied entry at the 1924 New York Auto Show, he parked his prototype for the 1924 Chrysler Six in the lobby. It became the first affordable car with a six-cylinder engine, the most powerful of its time. He founded the Chrysler Corporation on 6 June 1925 Photograph: Baldwin Ward/Getty

Company vice president BE Hutchinson shakes hands with founder Walter P Chrysler in Detroit to celebrate the production of the millionth Plymouth in 1934. Innovations like 'Fluid drive', a forerunner of automatic transmission, helped Chrysler turn a profit in 1934 and maintain growth throughout the 1930s Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

1937: Workers on strike occupying a Fisher Body plant in Flint, Michigan. One of the many industrial disputes to effect the US car industry Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis

Rows of army ambulances sit in a parking lot at a Chrysler Dodge Dodge truck plant in Detroit, Michigan. Sometime after the company's founder died in 1940, the luxury-oriented 'Town and Country' model was launched. But in 1942 car production was halted and factory resources were diverted towards the war effort. Chrysler supplied the Allied forces with goods ranging from tanks to aircraft engines and trailer-mounted anti-aircraft guns Photograph: Arthur Siegel/Getty Images

1950: Men lined up outside Cadillac employment office in Detroit Photograph: Leonard McCombe/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

Assembly worker at Chrysler factory in Detroit in 1952. Photograph: Jerry Cooke/Corbis

1953: A young American apprentice being taught a trade in a General Motors factory under a government training scheme Photograph: Keystone/Getty Images

1965: A couple posing on either side of a silver Pontiac GTO convertible sports car Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

1969: Lincoln Continental Mark III on the assembly line, one of the gas guzzlers which became unpopular during the energy crisis of the 1970s Photograph: Philip Gendreau/ Bettmann/Corbis

1970s: Auto workers wearing protective masks at a General Motors assembly factory Photograph: Owen Franken/Corbis

1982: Signs at the United Auto Workers parking lot reflect union sentiment toward Japanese car imports Photograph: Bruce Dale/National Geographic/Getty Images

Men work on cars on a modernised assembly line at the Chrysler Auto Motor Factory in Michigan, in 1996. In the 1990s, the company merged with Daimler-Benz to form Daimler Chrysler. Photograph: Bill Pugliano/Getty

1998: United Auto Workers Union lead a strike at the General Motors plant in Flint Photograph: Porter Gifford/Getty Images

2008: A female worker checks the door molding on Chrysler's new 2009 Dodge Ram pickup in Warren, Michigan Photograph: Carlos Osorio/AP