  Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6668 Registered: 10-2003 |
Has anyone heard about this? http://jalopnik.com/398552/pac kard-plant-facade-to-hit-the-a uction-blocks I know that the auctioneer in the story is a reputable dealer in antique and collectable cars... | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 2352 Registered: 12-2005 |
The auction date is strategically scheduled for the day before the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance. It would be good if one of my fellow Packard enthusiasts would buy the doorways for the Packard Proving Grounds in Utica, preserving at least one shrine to the marque. I know the RM guys, they are first-rate. Very, very interesting. | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1729 Registered: 04-2006 |
WARNING: Aiw, whaddya posting here?? I clicked the link, the first thing I read was "Sex in Car", and I immediately closed it. If I have my IT guys get mad at me or get me fired for surfing porn.... | ||
Ndavies Member Username: Ndavies Post Number: 3019 Registered: 10-2003 |
Detroit planner, Jalopnik is pretty much all about cars. There is nothing there to be afraid of. While I haven't looked at that video their stuff is usually no worse than PG rated. | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 13446 Registered: 12-2003 |
Gosh, I didn't realize having sex in a vehicle was so tough for some people. Even from my first... | ||
Sciencefair Member Username: Sciencefair Post Number: 117 Registered: 10-2007 |
WTF? | ||
Detroiterbychoice Member Username: Detroiterbychoice Post Number: 54 Registered: 04-2008 |
Im going to scavage it and save it from auction demise. Whos got a truck? | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 2959 Registered: 01-2004 |
"If I have my IT guys get mad at me or get me fired for surfing porn...." If you havent been fired yet for wasting your bosses bandwidth here at Dyes, then your IT dude aint gonna say shit about no link. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 309 Registered: 11-2006 |
right on Mauser!! | ||
Django Member Username: Django Post Number: 1332 Registered: 10-2003 |
Dbychoice. Your gonna need a hi lo. | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 2398 Registered: 12-2005 |
Update: the facade is going to Dayton OH, to a Packard museum there. | ||
Leland_palmer Member Username: Leland_palmer Post Number: 598 Registered: 08-2004 |
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll /article?AID=/20080807/COL27/8 08070354 | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 2399 Registered: 12-2005 |
Interesting, the Freep article says the entrance was sold to a party in Texas. A friend who was at the auction told me that the Dayton interest was the successful bidder. | ||
Wolverine Member Username: Wolverine Post Number: 559 Registered: 04-2004 |
"If you havent been fired yet for wasting your bosses bandwidth here at Dyes, then your IT dude aint gonna say shit about no link." You won't get in trouble for visiting DYes and using bandwidth You will get red flagged when certain words pop up on a website. I'm working on my company's server right now. That site got flagged. (Message edited by wolverine on August 07, 2008) | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 2643 Registered: 10-2006 |
Got the impression that someone in Texas bought it for that museum in Ohio. | ||
Burnsie Member Username: Burnsie Post Number: 1458 Registered: 11-2003 |
OK, WHO actually owns the facade and how did they get it? I ask because the last company on record that owned the complex hasn't technically existed for several years. (Freep article from yesterday) | ||
55packardconv Member Username: 55packardconv Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2008 |
That's a very good question -- I would like to know how this is even legal. | ||
Roadmaster49 Member Username: Roadmaster49 Post Number: 82 Registered: 01-2008 |
44packardconv, This is Detroit, not a normal metro environment. Basically whoever holds the Deed to the property has the right to sell whatever is on the property. Detroit has a tax claim on the 'sale' of the property - when the Deed changes hands. But unless the City put up a big stink with a court order, then contents could be sold for years. I've never been, but do understand this facade to be perhaps the only "monument" type landmark on the property. NO one should be upset by this change of location because in Detroit, these landmarks are often stolen, removed from their historic buildings and sold or when found out - destroyed. So this is a good deal. Here is probably what happened, negotiations were done behind the scenes between some big money Packard collector(s) and the museum. Kind of blank check git r'done type of deal. | ||
Roadmaster49 Member Username: Roadmaster49 Post Number: 83 Registered: 01-2008 |
Sorry "55" Packard conv - still have half a cup of coffee to go, my bad. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 1618 Registered: 07-2007 |
That sucks! How come I didn't steal it?  | ||
Frankg Member Username: Frankg Post Number: 547 Registered: 08-2007 |
I drove by there today just before noon and it was already taken from the building. The truck was still there, with the facade laying on the ground ready to be loaded up. | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 467 Registered: 07-2006 |
Kathleen and I got some photos of it just a few weeks ago. Did it look like they were going to leave a big hole? It's not like the structures are secured in any way anyway. | ||
Mortalman Member Username: Mortalman Post Number: 126 Registered: 03-2007 |
I guess everything's for sale! | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1439 Registered: 11-2005 |
"I guess everything's for sale!" Including our City Council! | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 468 Registered: 07-2006 |
For whoever owns the property, that is more money than they will probably ever make on the building for any other purpose. What the city has allowed happen to that property is an abomination. | ||
Rjlj Member Username: Rjlj Post Number: 652 Registered: 11-2003 |
Agreed 110% Cman710. How many Packard museums does Detroit have and how many does Ohio have? | ||
Masterblaster Member Username: Masterblaster Post Number: 205 Registered: 03-2005 |
This is an absolute abomination, a travesty, that this facade is being taken from that building. I could understand if the building was being demolished, and they wanted to preserve its facade. But this building is still standing! Isn't it kind of strange to place the facade of a building in a museum when the building still stands? How would you explain that to people visiting the museum? This is Detroit history being taken away. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 344 Registered: 11-2006 |
I live just up the road from the Packard Plant and every summer since I got my Packard 15 years ago I've said I was going to take my Packard there and get a photo. DAMN!! I guess I just figured it would be there forever. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 2498 Registered: 12-2003 |
Better back in Ohio where Packard was started then in a rotting building in Detroit. | ||
Soomka1 Member Username: Soomka1 Post Number: 119 Registered: 02-2007 |
In the good old days we used to loot the historic treasures of other cities. I feel very fortunate that I was able to spend so much time at Greenfield Village as a kid. It would be ironic if the Packard facade winds up in Dayton after Henry Ford hauled the Wright Brothers shop up here from Dayton. (Message edited by soomka1 on August 28, 2008) | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 2646 Registered: 10-2006 |
"Better back in Ohio where Packard was started then in a rotting building in Detroit." Yes. Believe it or not, Detroit isn't the only place that has automotive history. What's wrong with a piece of a facade going to a museum where it can be preserved and honored? It wasn't doing much for the plant anyways. Heck, there will probably be a sign next to it saying that it came from Detroit. It will be a beautiful piece to represent Detroit! | ||
Cman710 Member Username: Cman710 Post Number: 470 Registered: 07-2006 |
"I live just up the road from the Packard Plant and every summer since I got my Packard 15 years ago I've said I was going to take my Packard there and get a photo. DAMN!! I guess I just figured it would be there forever." Norwalk, I believe that the auction just involved the sale of the main Packard facade. There is another doorway with "Packard" etched in the stone, too, if I am remembering correctly. So you could still take a picture of your car in front of that doorway. | ||
Mortalman Member Username: Mortalman Post Number: 138 Registered: 03-2007 |
Carpe diem, Norwalk! | ||
Aarne_frobom Member Username: Aarne_frobom Post Number: 73 Registered: 10-2005 |
Just in case anyone wonders where it went, the "Lincoln Motor Company" lintel blocks from the old Lincoln plant were last seen temporarily installed outside one of the barns at the Classic Car Club of America museum at Hickory Corners, Michigan. These were removed by a historical society devoted to the Lincoln car, before demolition of the building. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 349 Registered: 11-2006 |
I thought there were 2 entrances.If I recall 1 was in better shape than the other. I'll have the Packard out this weekend. I always take it to the Dally so I guess I'll pay a visit to E. Grand as well. | ||
Mortalman Member Username: Mortalman Post Number: 152 Registered: 03-2007 |
$161,000 F.O.B. E. Grand Blvd.! | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 2430 Registered: 12-2005 |
The Packard plant doorways, the Elgin Marbles of Detroit.   | ||
55packardconv Member Username: 55packardconv Post Number: 4 Registered: 07-2008 |
Both doorways have now been removed from the building. One (the smaller one) has been hauled off the property. The larger entryway is still in process. Also looks like more window frames on the administration building have been kicked out... very sad. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 350 Registered: 11-2006 |
Any one know what happened to all the Blue Prints that were stored there. My son and his friends used to go in the Packard Plant about 8 years ago and he told me there was a room full of blueprints. He brought home one of them and it was from Albert Kahn's company and it was an addition to the building from the 1930's | ||
55packardconv Member Username: 55packardconv Post Number: 5 Registered: 07-2008 |
I'm surprised that any blueprints survived there for 44 years, although it would make sense for Essex Wire or one of the other later tenants to have building layouts around. Maybe that's what he found? | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 351 Registered: 11-2006 |
He still has them I remember they had building #'s and he was pissed because his friend found the ones for the pedestrian bridge. he did say they were all in one room. at least he better still have them. I let him use my Packard for his 1st prom so he was pretty excided to come home and show me his find. The funniest thing was he also brought home a car cigar lighter. I'll be damned if it wasn't the same one in my "51" | ||
55packardconv Member Username: 55packardconv Post Number: 6 Registered: 07-2008 |
Well, I received a surprise -- and a pleasant one, at that -- when I opened up the latest newsletter from the Packard Motor Car Foundation, the caretakers of the Packard Proving Grounds site. It seems that a consortium of Packard enthusiasts led by Dick Kughn bought the smaller arched employee entryway, and their plan is to incorporate it into a new construction that will link the 1942 defense building to the original 1927 Packard repair garage at the Proving Grounds. I'm very glad that this artifact will stay in Michigan and on Packard property. Although I would have loved to have seen some better use come out of the office building and some of the factory buildings at East Grand, it simply was not to be. This is the best "Plan B" that we could hope for. Thanks, Mr. Kughn! (Message edited by 55packardconv on September 24, 2008) |
