LARRY'S RAMBLE: The walls come tumbling down..

Friday, December 7, 2012

The walls come tumbling down..

Packard Plant, Detroit MI, then and now - click to enlarge
Photo Brian Kaufman, Detroit Free Press www.freep.com

Packard Motor Company manufactured cars from 1899 to 1955 in Detroit, at this factory complex. It has sit idle since and has become a crumbling wreck. The City of Detroit is taking step to demolish the plant complex and have level ground to offer for development.
Packard also built engines during World War Two, with license from Rolls Royce, Packard built the engines for the P51 Mustang. Also it built Packard V12 engines that powered the PT Boats, each boat had 3 Packard engines.
When I was a boy the mailman (Rural Route Carrier), Bob Rand, drove a Packard, probable for the weight in the winter, he was also a large man, tall and barrel chested kind of guy. I have always admired the cars made by Packard in this factory, after a merger with Studebaker cars were made in South Bend, Indiana for the 1956 through 1958 model year - they were just overdressed Studebakers, and didn't have the "Packard look".