A "Rust Coast" Scenario?

Heh!
Heh!
Your "Rust Coast" title is closer to the truth than you realize .... if you consider the Great Lakes to be the Northern Coast of the USA.
OTL the bulk of the American steel and auto industries were in Great Lakes states.

As for your original question .... just expand WW2 industries north along the Pacific Coast from Southern California, up the Williamete River Valley and into Puget Sound. Mild weather would keep housing costs down. The next step is for Pacific Coast industries to stagnate, the same way Detroit clung to V-8 engines long after rising fuel prices forced drivers to trade in their muscle are for miserly, tiny, Japanese-made cars.
Next question: which portions of the American auto industry would build factories in Puget Sound?
 
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