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1920s Product display at Yellow Sleeve Valve Engine Works

Written by Joan [Jo] Birthrong Roy, 2008

My father worked for Yellow Sleeve Valve Engine Works in E. Moline, Illinois and was moved to Pontiac, Michigan with several other families in 1929 to work at the GMTC (GM Truck Company). We ended up in Birmingham, Michigan during the Depression. I was only 3 yrs old at the time. His name was Everett [Bert] Birthrong. He became superintendent of the Motor Division when WWII started, retired in 1956 and died in 1967. I have the papers to verify this.

Then I married John H. Roy, who attended GMTect and worked for Pontiac Motor Division. His father was also an employee of Pontiac Motor in the Lab department. His name was Earl J. Roy. My husband John and I retired in 1980 and moved to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas in 1980. We recently moved to Wisconsin, where we are closer to our children. John is now 85 yrs of age.

Note: John D. Hertz added the R&V (Root and VerDerVoort) Engineering Company of East Moline, Illinois (maker of Silent Knight four-cylinder sleeve-valve engine) to his group in 1923 and renamed it Yellow Sleeve Valve Engine Works. General Motors bought control of Yellow Cab Co. of Chicago (made Yellow Coach buses, one of the most important names in the bus industry) from Hertz and his associates in 1925 and merged its GM Truck Company manufacturing operation into Yellow Cab. The Yellow Sleeve Valve Engine Works was closed; engine production was transferred to Pontiac and incorporated into GM Truck manufacturing operations. Bus manufacturing followed in 1927, and the Chicago plant was sold.

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