The River Rouge plant itself is immense, and includes glass- and steel-making operations. After a quick ride around the whole complex, we were taken into the plant itself.

"The temperature rises there to 110 degrees," said our guide. "So anyone who would prefer not to make the trip through can meet us in the air conditioned lounge over there where we'll be at the end of the run through the plant."

The steel operation starts from scratch. To make a hot story short, the process begins with raw iron which is heated at 2500 degrees. The softened ore is sent through assorted rolling, cooling and stamping processes and ends up all the way over on the other side of the same building where it's made into auto parts which are sent to the assembly line.

The temperatures in the plant seemed a lot higher than 110, and one worker standing near the spectator's catwalk suggested that visitors touch the metal floor above one of the rollers to get an idea of how hot the place is. Most of the workers on the floor ignored the tour and went on working; one ate his lunch and worked at the same time, and the only woman we saw on the floor waved as she carried some fenders away from a machine.

On the way out, the tour guide told us that workers in the plant made an average of about $5.80 an hour. He also noted that the parking lots held 20,000 cars, "and we're proud to say that most of those are Fords."

After the tour was over, we checked the lot which was connected to Gate Four by the famous overpass. No marker acknowledges Reuther's battle.

But the battle isn't over (and probably never will be). In the current issue of Solidarity, the UAW's paper, a group of Ford, G.M. and Chrysler workers call for an end to compulsory overtime, one of their major gripes now against the Big Three auto companies. "The foremen are just lazy," complains the President of one Ford local. "They could get all the people they need to work overtime voluntarily, just by asking more people. It's easier for them to point to workers, like they do now, and say, 'You gotta work, or else.'"

The Spirit of Gate Four lives on.