that railway terminal must have been really wonderful back in the 1950's...I had no idea there was so much devastation in the area.
When you look at a pile of **** thru rose colored gl***es it's still just a pink pile of ****, not cotton candy.... Sometimes actual facts are handy when 'teaching' history... ...Automobile production resumed in early 1946. Demand for post-war vehicles was immense, and management planned to increase the number of employees to 28,000 to meet the demand. But before the first post-war Packard could be ***embled, the government-owned defense machinery had to be removed and the automotive machinery reinstalled. Unfortunately, most of the pre-war Packard machinery was stored outside during the war years and was in deplorable condition. Packard had high hopes for postwar production with a goal of 200,000 vehicles per year, but the delay in getting the plant up and running, and a lack of raw materials available after the war, hurt the company at a time when the public was clamoring for new cars. Unfortunately Packard produced only 42,102 cars during 1946, and lost a golden opportunity as well as almost $4 million that year. The industry was in a sellers market, but Packard simply could not produce the volume of cars that buyers wanted. Eventually vehicle output rose, and by 1949 104,593 cars were produced. Packard was now employing over 40,000 people. The company continued to sell over 100,000 vehicles in 1950 and again in 1951, but the sellers market was turning into a buyers market and fewer than 63,000 vehicles were sold in 1952. Packard did its best to adjust to the new market, but more storm clouds were brewing. It wasnt only the changing market that struck a mortal blow to the company, it was the sale of Briggs Body Company to Chrysler that had Packard up against the ropes. In December 1953, Chrysler purchased Briggs. Briggs had been building bodies for Packard, but after the Briggs purchase, Chrysler advised Packard that they were not willing to continue body production. Packard needed to find a way to produce its own bodies at a time when cash flow was low, and many independents were having difficulty staying afloat. The East Grand Boulevard plant was now 50 years old, and could not be economically retrofitted to build the bodies in-house. With little money or time to build another facility, Packard moved vehicle production to an existing building one quarter the size of their current plant. The new plant was considered too small, but it was all Packard could muster up during these difficult times. The company soldered on for a few more years, but with little cash available, Packard struggled. A decision was made to find a partner and unfortunately, Studebaker was chosen to merger with. At first, the merger appeared to be a match made in heaven with Packard believing Studebaker would bring in additional cash, but the truth was that Studebaker had secretly cooked the books and was, in fact, in financial ruin. Officially, Packard stayed in business until 1958; however, most automotive buffs recognize 1956 as the last true year of Packard. Subsequent-year cars were actually re-badged Studebakers.
Yeah, I'm not privy to information from either side and its just a theory I heard. Regardless even if Banksy/555 Studio weren't in it together, the end result was the owner of this gigantic eyesore getting flushed out. Moving that piece made it completely worthless as the surroundings were part of the work. I know a lot of people in the art community (also something I'm not part of) were up in arms about its removal. A day after the removal another Banksy piece was found and suddenly there were a bunch of vehicles parked all around that area of the Packard. Its the one with the canary in the cage. I think somebody tagged "the canary has flown its cage" or something like that where Banksy's piece was. That's probably the pice that was preserved that you mentioned above. If you look at his collection of works, that little girl holding the diamond was also in Detroit. Unfortunately it was on the side of a completely intact building that was for sale. Some idots chisled out all the surrounding cinder blocks and tried to removed the whole piece from the side of this building! Unfortunately they also managed to destroy the artwork.
Beautiful entry in the photo. Surely that element ought to be recovered. And reused. What's not to love about a handsome old building, especially one that's a repository of grand memories of a better era? The unmentioned elephant in the room is the issue of someone getting hurt in and around these old derelict buildings. It's all lovely sentiment and nostalgia until some urban spelunker gets his *** killed or maimed. The liability issue is one part of the attractive nuisances - another is the cost of fighting fires set by tresp***ers, and endangerment to firefighters as they put out said fires. If a town's residents want to preserve an old building, they ought to have their local government designate it an architectural or historic landmark. Then they should be willing to pay for its maintenance and protection. If a city can't or won't put up the dough, then, well, money talks and BS walks.
Nice to see someone giving a more accurate version of the story (and I'm old enough to remember when all this happened). At one stage, Nash, Hudson, Studebaker and Packard were going to merge into a mini GM, but when American Motors looked at Studie's and Packard's financial situation they dropped the idea quick-smart. Simply put, what killed the so-called Independents was: - a lack of capital for new designs and tooling. Like Packard, the other Independents had old, worn-out machinery and no cash to replace it; - conservative management. Why would you want a boring, pelican-nosed, fat, slow, flathead powered Packard when you could by a flashy, V8 powered Caddy in 1949? The same goes for Hudson trying to sell flathead sixes in a market wanting V8s; - uncompe***ive pricing. If you compare value, dollar-for-dollar, GM, Ford and Chrysler could kill Studebaker, Packard, Willys, Kaiser-Fraser, Hudson and Nash. Higher production volumes and a lot of shared components reduced unit prices for the Big Three. In short, those companies didn't build cars that the marketplace wanted at compe***ive prices. I believe the same is going on today, as the likes of GM spent almost 20 years selling Americans light trucks (called SUVs) whose basic technology was amortized decades ago and not developed anything new. It kills me to see the old Packard plant, and the rest of Detroit, crumble into dust, but I think it represents what's happened to the industry that's inspired generations of us gearheads... ...and No, GM didn't kill Preston Tucker's business. Undercapitalization and bad management did. (Helicopter engines hooked up to old Cord transmissions - give me a break!)
Mazooma1 said : " The bulk of the population do not see things the way we do. We are recyclers and we appreciate the things that remind us of a simpler times, when quality and craftsmanship was king. We are a small, special breed, but the majority of folks just move along with the times....and they become the just a speck in the boring m***es. We're doing the best that we can working with our hands and preserving the hobby. .. " Words-o-wisdom " down to earth reality " Sad to see the plant go ... As so many others .. IF the building was located downTown NY ..it Probably would have been saved & turned into a gigantic shopping-mall .. ( Saved ... ) No harm in that .. Me & Gunn have saved one of the oldest Houses in my hometown ... ( If we hadn`t stepped up , It would have been looong gone ) My hometown will be 1000 yrs old in 2016 ... ( unless 2012 Kills us all ) Our house is 150 yrs old , ... Guess Fire & need 4 space burnt/tore down those small timber houses that should have been our " old " town .. Seems like all we can do is dooin`our part .. Let`s save what we can ... Klaz
The train station is one on my favorite buildings in Detroit, because it's only been abandoned since the 80's, also it was built with too much capacity to begin with because the top floors of the building were never finished. The city of Detroit use to have a population of nearly 2 million people in the 1950's plus the infrastructure to support them, now the population is around 900,000, less then half!! Image if you woke up tomorrow and 50% of your city's population moved away, yet all the houses, buildings and infrastructure designed to support them remained? What would you do? Which historical buildings would you save? What neighborhoods would you decide keep?
Some of you have seen "Life after people" that's half of Detroit. I lived there in the 50's and 60's and I miss her. Don't write her off just yet, my son lives in Indian Village, the oldest historic neighborhood in the nation and going strong.
I would find that hard to believe,,the toxic **** that would have leached into the ground from these plants ( far far less regulated way back then ) would still be present. There is an old Ford radio plant near us that the ground is so bad it can't be used
Not the factory sites. Neighborhoods with few houses would be consolidated, there are huge areas with few houses left standing. I don't see it working, who's going to work the fields? You'd think theft would be a problem.
Yes, many. I thought it would be was obvious that I was being sarcastic about tearing them all down. My point being that what if - all through history - whenever some building became old and unused that they had then gone & torn it down. Then we would never have had any old significant historic places left to appreciate. No Acropolis, no Tower of London, No Versai, etc. This is the path that America is on - in the future we will have few historic spots to visit and appreciate because they always tear them down before they ever reach the point of being appreciated or significant.
I agree with you. I would like to see some of it saved too. But be careful. In today's world where many people believe they have a right to their neighbor's wages, property etc. there have been many times when someone would sink their whole life savings into acquiring and starting such a project only to find themselves served with a court order from some neighborhood group demanding it be done only in a certain way, or demanding certain features THEY determined that they wanted. Many have been bankrupted or have lost their property and investment when others who don't have a dime in it start demanding things at the owner's expense. If someone starts a neighbor movement or historical concern, you could be in big trouble. It is usually safest to junk it quickly before anyone gets ideas. Those are today's Americans, I am sorry to say. They don't make things like they used to, but they don't make people like they used to either.
I'm sure this will sound really wrong,,but seems alot of ghetto in Mich. and does'nt seem like folks who live there even wanna take care of where they live,,,so yeah working the land ??? as if The world need to go backwards a bit,,and folks do more to survive than complain and hold out there hand.
There's also close to 40.000 homes in Detroit that are abandoned that need to come down. Homes that are all boarded up and a jungle growing around them.... Sad! The city can't even afford to keep the lawns in the empty lots cut.
Henry Joy was instrumental in the development of the Lincoln Highway. Today, that is Interstate 80. He stopped & observed a sunset in 1915 along I-80 and declared he wanted to be buried there .... Well, he didn't get his wish but it is a starkly beautiful spot where I took these pictures a few months ago .... Not all industrialist were SOB's Jim Henry Bourne Joy (November 23, 1864 November 6, 1936) was President of the Packard Motor Car Company, and a major developer of automotive activities as well as being a social activist. In 1913, Joy became one of the principal organizers and president of the Lincoln Highway ***ociation, a group dedicated to building a concrete road from New York to San Francisco. The effort, which was heavily promoted by his vice president, Carl Graham Fisher, succeeded, and a monument to Joy along the Lincoln Highway at the Continental Divide was dedicated on July 2, 1939. In 2001, this monument was moved to a more accessible location west of Cheyenne, Wyoming. His great-grandson, Henry Bourne Joy IV, is a film maker, drives on the PRO-Rally circuit and is a life member of the revived Lincoln Highway ***ociation.
Everything cannot be preserved. Your examples are the cream of the crop. Certainly some things should be preserved, but most should not. If we tried to keep every building, every artifact, every car, then eventually there would be no room for the next generation of "stuff". We would end up stuck in time. I'm a preservationist at heart, but most buildings, houses, and cars are not worth keeping past their useful life.
Yes, Ok I agree - not everything can or should be saved, and the examples I gave off the top of my head are the cream of the crop - I should have tried to come up with more mundane examples for a fair comparison. How about this - when they show an arial view of the Tour de France, town after town is FULL of old buildings that have been there for hundreds of years. Anonymous, mundane buildings that as a whole give you a view of what that little town has looked like for hundreds of years with very little change. They keep their old buildings and re-use them for the next use and as a whole it creates a continuum with ties to the past and - the past is valued. Not razed and forgotten. You won't see that in America (very rarely anyway) because no one wants an old building. Here, people will drive right past an OLD shopping Mall and drive an extra 20-30 minutes to go to the NEW mall, even though the old one has the same chain stores selling the same brands. But who the hell wants to shop at that old place? Here in Sacramento, they tore down this really cool old theatre (see photos below) to make room for a Safeway supermarket, which now, only 35 years later is slated to be razed to make room for a new shopping area. etc., etc., etc. Imagine instead if this cool old building had been the centre piece of that shopping centre - wouldn't that have had some value?
Not sure when it was, but this doesn't really help with the integrity of an old building (this is the Packard plant), especially when it has been empty for 50 years & nothing is done post fire to prevent further damage from the elements. They burn down so many vacant structures in detroit it's almost hard to believe, many times there will be an alarm at a structure, only to have responding engines come upon another involved structure on the way, or have one go up just down the street while putting out the one they were initially called to.
I guess it's better to demolish the Packard plant then for it to end with a fate similar to the old Studebaker Plant, which burned to the ground back in '05 Before After Images courtesy of http://www.themotorlesscity.com
Here's a link to trailer of a do***entry about the Detroit Fire Department and what they are up against. Features statistics about the #s of abandoned homes/buildings and some footage of the Packard Plant. Worth the 9 min. Also includes info. on how to donate $ to complete the do***entry. BURN Trailer
I recently was watching the BBC do***entary Requiem for Detroit where many of these same topics were covered. http://www.imdb.com/***le/tt1572190/ It is sad to see a city like Detroit fall into such decay. However the sheer amount of neglect is proving to be a huge negative for the city also. As much as I hate that the Packard plant might be demolished, its current condition is so terrible that there isn't really much in the way of hope for it to ever be possible to restore. If you get a chance to watch the do***entary, do it. While it does dramatize a bit (which I hate to say BBC do***entaries have a tendency to do) it really does give people a much better perspective of just what the area is up against.
CShroom- Watched that BBC do***entary last night. It was definitely a good look into what the City if Detroit used to be and what it is now. I hope for all the people that live there and what it represents as far as the history of the auto industry that Detroit will see it's way out of this.
The Jalopy Journal
