Nearly four months after the nation s long-running automotive manufacturing plant was closed, demolition has begun at the original Toledo Jeep factory at Central Avenue and North Cove Boulevard.

The factory made mostly Jeep Wranglers, cranking out about 11 million vehicles in its 96 years. DaimlerChrysler AG, which moved operations to a new factory a few miles away last summer, has said the entire structure and smokestacks that date back the heyday of Willys-Overland Motor Co. will be torn down. The automaker is expected to sell the site but has not announced a time frame.

First Published October 20, 2006, 10:48 a.m.