Its hard to find any information on those items because of the huge collector market and people wanting to know where they were built. Google only wants to direct me to ebay. Hows about telling us what happened to these two companies that I know very little of!
Here's what I know . . . Chris Craft used to build boats (BIG boats) in a building that had once been a spinning mill on the corner of Dodds Ave. and East 34th St. They started building them there right after WWII. I used to admire the big boats sitting in the back lot anytime I went down Dodds Ave. The first time I saw them would have been 1970 or 71 (we moved to LaFayette in late 1970 - I was 10). A few years later (probably 73 or 74) I started seeing folks with picket signs in that area. Sometime in 1975 the people with picket signs and the boats vanished. Chris Craft still builds boats in the US . . . but hasn't built them in Chattanooga since 1975.
I know a little less about Cavilier. I know that there are a lot of old Cavilier vending machines that are worth a small forutune. I know at one time they built vending machines in Chattanooga. I was supervising at Synthetic Industries in the late 80s and got a new employee on my shift that we later found out was on strike from Cavilier. She was a troublemaker from the time she showed up until she was escorted off our property by one of Walker County's finest. I went to a Lookouts game at Engle Stadium once and saw folks with picket signs with bad stuff about Cavilier written on them. Cavilier doesn't make vending machines in Chattanooga anymore.
You draw your own conclusions. All I know are the facts. Stuff being made and good paying jobs are scared of people with picket signs. When one shows up, the other tends to leave.
