Before and After – The Sad Story of the Packard Plant

[t-head]

We have put together a post on The Old Motor using photos above from the Detroit Free Press showing the past and the sad state of
affairs at the Packard Plant today. The situation that whole complex is in, remains very serious and it now appears that the great
majority of it may end up being razed. Take the time to stop by and see many more photos of the plant at its prosperous times and
today, close to death after being taken off of life support.


You can also see the many incredible photos and a video that we have linked on the Detroit Free Press website that YOU NEED TO SEE.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Supposedly Packards were extremely tough cars.

In about 1947 we saw & photographed a guy with his four (4) door cars at the base of Pikes Peak -- he had several cars, only Packards, offering Pikes Peak Tours.

My Dad asked him why he had only Packards running up & down Pikes Peak whereby his response was that he had been offering these tours for years, had tried many different vehicles, but only the Packards could stand up to continuously ascending & descending the gravel road going up Pikes Peak all day long.

We went up on the cog train, again in a Packard, & another day in our 1942 Desoto -- few years later, went up again in our 1948 Desoto -- the same old Packards were still being used in this Pikes Peak touring business.

These "were" the days when millions of top quality products were mostly made in America by Americans, who were "producing" excellent products to sell for a "profit" to foreign countries.

If one wanted top quality in those days, America "was" the place for foreign countries & foreign investors to shop.

These early photos depict what "was" America's Golden Age that we lived through.

Today we have thousands & thousands of more U.S. Government employees shuffling useless papers & producing nothing to sell to foreign countries, & thousands of more & more non-producing people on welfare.

Some are going in circles, scratching their heads & wondering why our America is very slowly sliding downwards.

Articles like this are very educational if responsible individuals in future generations ever become interested in our America making a come-back.

[oliverguy]

I personally don't want to work in an autoplant. There are jobs for the educated and motivated.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Well stated H.L.!
We are becoming a nation of paper pushers instead of production.
I try to buy things of quality made in the U.S. or Europe, but it's getting harder all the time. That's why I like to shop swap meets and garage sales, where you can still find used things made with quality.

[allen]

I have four Packards they are great cars too bad the government in 1956 did not do bail outs

[tdlmomowers]

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I worked in an Auto Stamping plant for 32 years. They closed us down in 2009. I am thankful for all the years I had working with some great people. I was 54 years old when we shut the doors, way to young to completely retire. I loved working there and could not have asked for a better job. I was an Industrial Truck Mechanic, and we maintained over 400 pieces of equipment.

[shall]

My 46 Packard Clipper two door is tank! (as most cars were back then) Plenty of extra metal for the sake of styling, room in the trunk or back seat to sleep a family of 4, and a torque monster 6 cyl under the hood. I'll be glad when it is back on the road. At work so a picture isn't handy, but you can see it here hiding between the A and the Lincolnlac in the bottom picture

[H. L. Chauvin]

Tom,

It really helps in rebuilding Model A's to get sound advice from people like you, Marco, Tom Endy & many others, (even Model A parts vendors), who often recommend trying to re-use "durable" usable original Model A parts made years ago.

For example, our 1946 Frigidaire refrigerator is still operational while never needing any repair -- the original rubber door gasket is still pliable & not cracked -- & furthermore, today. when my wife & I see somebody a few cars ahead of us at a MacDonalds opening his car door to get a hamburger, we already know it is most likely an American made car with faulty electrically powered windows -- my wife had to changed her expensive power window motors many times on hers -- she lately taped up all window controls.

Education is not only gained in our schools. Model A Forums & Model T Forums are definitely a tribute to the World Competive Giant & Great American Henry Ford.

Also on these Forums, in seeing the very successful progress made during the Model T era & into the Model A era, etc., one can also notice that this progress is also an educational tribute to America's past, (which was envied once for leading the entire World), in continuously striving to improve on a high degree of quality U. S. Manufacturing Standards.

As Henry Ford & others knew, our former better made American products used to easily sell themselves with very little advertising.

[700rpm]

The sheer scale of these old manufacturing plans is amazing. It took a tremendous amount of capital and faith in the country and the company to build all that, and every auto plant in the US was similar.

Another interesting thing in the photo is how the houses are built right up to the plant (or vice-versa). I guy could walk across the street to work, go home for lunch, and later be back at home 10 minutes after his shift. You can't hardly do that anywhere today.

[harleyjj]

very interesting overlays of historic plant pics over modern plant pics in the Detroit Freepress. http://www.freep.com/article/20121202/NEWS01/120814070/

I live about an hour from the Packard plant and visited it many times over the past fiftten or so years. Very sad indeed!

[jeep44]

Originally Posted by oliverguy

I personally don't want to work in an autoplant. There are jobs for the educated and motivated.

I spent 31 years in an auto plant,starting as a Diemaker, and ending up as a Pipefitter. Some of the smartest, most creative and resourceful people I ever met were my fellow Tradesmen. Not every job in a plant is boring and repetitive. When an assembly line goes down, it starts costing the company thousands of dollars a minute,all eyes turn to you, as a Tradesman, and you had better have a real good idea of how to fix the problem, quickly.
As far as education, all of us had at least two years of college, and some,like me, much more (I already had a BS degree before I started, and got a BSME while I was working at the plant).

[ericr]

an ironic sight for those of us who had parents who were young in the 1920s-1930s and dreamed of owning a Packard. Hadn't the plant been closed since the early 1960s while the Big Three were prosperous so I'm not completely sure today's economy relates much to the demise of Packard but I don't want to start World War III on this site.

[ericr]

Originally Posted by 700rpm

The sheer scale of these old manufacturing plans is amazing. It took a tremendous amount of capital and faith in the country and the company to build all that, and every auto plant in the US was similar.

Another interesting thing in the photo is how the houses are built right up to the plant (or vice-versa). I guy could walk across the street to work, go home for lunch, and later be back at home 10 minutes after his shift. You can't hardly do that anywhere today.

I've wondered about the size of the plants myself and particularly the Ford industries since they were producing cars that retailed for only several hundred dollars, having what?, a 18% mark-up for the dealer? It's hard to believe the Company's profit was great on each car though I have read that during the '20s each family shareholder got about $25,000.00 a day just in dividends.

[H. L. Chauvin]

I worked in Detroit for a short while years ago in 1966 on West Grand Boulevard & Woodward Avenue, across from the Main General Motors Office Building.

Albert Kahn who designed the above Packard Plant also designed many of the Packard Dealership Buildings in major cities throughout the U. S., as well as Detroit's Fisher Building across the street from General Motors, connected with an underground tunnel under W. Grand Blvd.

I was single & lived near Virginia Park, in a multi-story apartment building between Woodward & 2nd Avenue whereby I met an interesting, elderly retired Ford Manufacturing Plant worker & his lovely wife. What wonderful & interesting people.

Having already owned & driven a Model A for several years, this gentleman had wonderful old Ford manufacturing stories that could fill a book. Everything seemed so amazing.

Just as mentioned in reply #12 above, he said many of the Ford inventions & improvements came from workers on the assembly line as opposed to only from the design engineers working in offices.

He said Henry Ford was a great "listener" who had profound respect for all the ideas of his employees, & would like trying many their recommendations. He said they felt like a large Ford family & were just so thankful to have a good paying job during such difficult times.

He talked about the starving unemployed people in the 1929 & later soup lines, and how in 1929, with so much poverty, a weekend outing was to picnic in the park, followed by spending Saturday night while sleeping on newspapers -- no drugs, hence naturally no crime, no murders, & nobody locked their doors.

In 1966, Detroit was extremely dangerous -- nothing like 1929 when people were drug free and had nothing.

It appears that when America became so depressed, Henry Ford had what America lacked, self-determination to prosper & never give up -- in a way, his Model A's are similar to miracles.

[TudooR31]

I'm very glad I bought my 1st Model A just this last April. All the American history it represents and the details I've learned about it, how it developed, and the stories I read about it makes it more than an old car. It opens a window to my parent's world who were teenagers when the A appeared. To me the car illustrates the spunk & determination many folks had to drag through the Great Depression and create the garden of opportunity I grew up in.

[Rusty Homestead Fl]

Forever the scrounger, I found an old Packard at the side of a lady's house completly covered with trees, weeds and junk, as was her house. She said I could have the whole thing if I wanted and it ran when her husband parked it, but I couldn't figure out what I'd do with it. I think she said it was a 1951. My Uncle had several and loved them so I just took a few momentos. The car soon went to the scrapper. That was 30 years ago or so....seems like yesterday.

[69daytona]

That is sad to see. I have 2 Packards and work on 3 more V12 Packards. They are one of the only old cars I would jump in and drive across country without worrying about breaking down.
My Grand Father just gave me a 1940 180 that was the show car for the 39 worlds fair in San Francisco. He has drove this car 4 times up the west coast across Canada down the east coast to Florida then back home to Sacramento and the car still runs like a top.
I plan on taking it back to Mississippi to see my Grandkids in a year or two, to many projects and family in bad health right now.

[Garage Dog]

I folowed all of the links on the old motor and looked at pictures and video. Sad to see it ending put unfortunaty it looks like its time is past

[Clem Clement]

I proudly own a 29 Packard touring. What a thrill to drive! Mechanicing is also a thrill. I take my time as parts are scare so I is fix and repair, not replace. Momma hates the car so I guess it has to go.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Clem Clement

I proudly own a 29 Packard touring. What a thrill to drive! Mechanicing is also a thrill. I take my time as parts are scare so I is fix and repair, not replace. Momma hates the car so I guess it has to go.

One of the first antique car shows I attended in the early 70's had a 29 Packard touring, and that struck me as one of the most beautiful cars ever built. The restoration on the car also looked perfect. The lines of the hood and radiator shell add much to the good looks of Packards.