AMERICAN ALBUM : A resurrected factory builds up town’s hopes Residents look to Sony to succeed where Chrysler and Volkswagen failed.

When Sony Corp. of America announced last month that it would begin making television tubes in a huge abandoned plant in this economically strapped, semi-rural region of western Pennsylvania, the news brought both elation and a chilling sense of deja vu .

“It can be a golden opportunity,” said Timothy Long, 29, a part-time security guard who also baby-sits for friends to help make ends meet. “The basic job you find around here pays you nothing but minimum wage. If you do get a job that pays good, you either inherit it from somebody or get it by luck.”

At the same time, the legacy of big-name manufacturing companies in that plant is a bitter mix of dashed hopes and broken dreams.

In 1968, amid much hoopla, Chrysler Corp. began construction of the plant to build autos. But two years later, before the floor equipment was installed, the Detroit auto maker hit a business slump and decided to abandon the project.

In 1976, as the steel industry hit the skids in this region, Volkswagen, the West German auto maker, took over the scrapped Chrysler facility, finished it off and began churning out VW Rabbits and the successor Golf and Jetta models by the thousands. At the peak of its production, Volkswagen employed more than 5,700 workers.

Then, in 1988, buffeted by increasing small-car competition and declining sales, Volkswagen called it quits. The 2,700 workers still with the company were thrown onto the unemployment rolls as the first foreign auto manufacturer to open a plant in the United States also became the first to close one.

Now comes Sony with plans to invest $300 million in renovating the abandoned facility and turning out big-screen color television picture tubes for domestic and export sales. Sony officials estimate about 1,000 jobs, many in fields such as engineering and computer science, will be created in its first three years of operation.

“The big question around here is whether Sony is going to permanently engrave their name in stone here or are they coming here to pull a boner like Chrysler and Volkswagen,” Long said.

Most residents find the promise too tantalizing to dwell on their fears.

“I wouldn’t miss putting in my application for anything,” said Teresa Kaczynski, 22, a waitress at Silver Penny’s Inn in Mt. Pleasant. “I don’t want to waitress the rest of my life. Out there at Sony, it would be different--even if it doesn’t last a lifetime.”

Most would-be Sony employees also say that, if hired, they are going to do everything in their power to make sure that Sony stays in business for a long time. The closing of the Volkswagen operation taught many people never to take any job for granted.

“Employee relationships are going to be very, very comfortable,” said Gerald Lucia, 44, a former Volkswagen employee who now works as a workers’ compensation claims examiner and who hopes to find a job with Sony. Lucia, who also serves as mayor of Mt. Pleasant, a community of 3,500 people, also noted that employee relations have been smooth at other Japanese plants in the United States.

Applicants for Sony jobs are not deterred by the rigorous screening process the Japanese company is expected to make, with oral and written interviews and psychological tests.

“I’d be willing to try,” said Barry Shrum, 34, a Mt. Pleasant resident who works as a bench assembler for a small electronics firm in Greensburg, Pa. “My wife and I watched a program on the local educational TV channel that had an interview with the owner of Sony, and his philosophy of business sounded good.”

Prof. Richard Florida of Carnegie Mellon University helped allay the fears of many residents in a recent interview with the Greensburg Tribune-Review.

“The Japanese in the U.S. have a record that is impeccable,” said Florida, a specialist on Japanese investment in this country. “I cannot name one Japanese company that has shut down” since opening in the United States.

Local merchants also welcome Sony’s arrival, but they predict those hired at the new operation are going to be more prudent in spending and taking on credit.

“VW’s closing left a lot of people with deep financial problems,” said Basil Hawanchak, controller at Levin’s Furniture in Mt. Pleasant.

Sony officials themselves say that the company is not coming here with any intention of leaving soon.

“We view this decision as a significant, long-term investment in the economic future of the Pittsburgh area,” said Masaaki Morita, chairman of Sony Corp. of America, calling his company’s investment in Westmoreland County “one of the largest single investments that Sony has made in a factory.”