Ken
No. The Baltimore & Ohio, Canadian Pacific, Rio Grande and Amtrak F-3's were all made in Hillside. The first Michigan-made F-3's were the Preamble, Milwaukee Road and Southern.
Were the first MPC F3's made using the existing parts bin from Hillside? had any production occurred at Hillside since 1967ish?
They definitely weren't "parts bin" creations. Hillside train production continued through December 1974. All remaining tooling and work-in-process parts was transferred to Michigan by May 1975. Notable things to come out of Hillside in the early 1970's were the F-3's, 8206 steam locomotive and many accessories.
Were the first MPC F3's made using the existing parts bin from Hillside? had any production occurred at Hillside since 1967ish?
Not 100% certain on the first question, but it seems likely. In answer to your second question, Lionel MPC did indeed maintain limited operations at the Hillside factory (and as a consequence occupied less square footage since the bulk of production moved to Mt. Clemens) up until 1974 when they closed the remainder of their toy train production there. Lenny Dean continued his tenure with Lionel at Hillside as well if I recall correctly.
Lenny and the Service Department were based out of Hillside until the plant closing at the end of 1974. In 1975, the "Service Center East" opened in Little Falls, NJ, which is where Lenny operated from until the closure and consolidation to Michigan in May 1979.
Were the first MPC F3's made using the existing parts bin from Hillside? had any production occurred at Hillside since 1967ish?
Maybe. The tooling was changed for the B&O F3 eliminating the nose louvers.
Check out this book for a detailed history of Lionel's factories:
Bob does a great job of covering the various US factories over the years. I'd also recommend the TM Volume 4 1970-1980 book for interviews with key employees of the period. While the info isn't 100% accurate, it does a good job of telling the story of the late New Jersey and early Michigan years.
Hope this helps-
Todd
