Great history, yet sad indeed. I own a ‘56 Packard “The Four Hundred” 2-door Hardtop. Beautifully styled car, and very innovative. Thanks for sharing!

My great grandfather Alvan Macauley was Pres. and Chairman of the Board; My grandfather Edward was Packard's chief designer. My mom as a young girl sometimes answered the switchboard and played on the shop floor. Great video and narrative....

@HotMetalVideos

9 жыл бұрын

Hi Johnathan, my great grandfather, Carl Smith, and his 3 brothers all worked there in various departments, both my grandmother and great aunt worked in the offices for a time. My great grandfather was one of the drivers in the Lincoln Highway Association, the 299 Packard race car, the trip around the great lakes to prove the reliability.. . I'm certain that they knew each other. He had worked closely Col. Jesse Vincent for many years as well.

@michaelatoz580

4 жыл бұрын

My mother would stay at Myrtle Fruehauf house when she was home from boarding school! She was form the George Osius family who has a Municipal Park named after him in Grosse Point, also known as Shores Park. Her mother was a concert pianist named Gizi Szanto who was brought to America by the Joy Family to teach there children piano. The deal was they bought her a 1925 Steinway Piano set her up in a studio in Indian Village to teach the Joy kids piano who were thought for free. She could use the studio to teach other students to make her money. When she finished her obligation the piano was her to keep, and to this day our family still has this piano. This just goes to show how money was spent for the betterment of a community form the industrial family's. In the summer time she would teach at Interlochen and McDowell Colony for the arts.

@effectivelearning581

3 жыл бұрын

michael atoz .

@benbird2100

2 жыл бұрын

@@michaelatoz580 My grandfather worked as an engineer from 1950-1954 at Packard Motor. Although I wasn't old enough to to talk to him about it at the time, he left behind some really cool documents that are incredibly cool to read through.

Thanks for sharing this and I'm so pleased to know of your family's connection. And yes, I sure they interacted and I know 'Pa' knew Vincent quite well. Mom who only recently died (the last of the Macauley's of that generation) tells of Alvan and Edward taking one of the Packard speed boats for a spin over to Windsor in the 20s, dropping her of with a nanny on an island for a picnic...while they picked-up a load of liquor they'd bring back under a tarp! Those top guys were all hunting and fishing buddies up on the UP. Thanks again and best wishes.

Once a community has been through this type of loss, you really can appreciate the damage that is done beyond the plant closing itself. For us near Baltimore, it was Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point. The loss of all the ancillary businesses are further reasons to mourn the loss of the anchor business. Great program. Thanks.

My dad had a '27 Packard Phaeton with dual windshield, brown leather interior, and a rich red and tan body color combination with tan convertible top that he restored (with help). I LOVED that car - it was in my life since my first memory and was sold in 1969 in White Plains, NY prior to moving to Lake George. It was only a 6 cylinder but as a kid from a toddler until 12 years old, the car seemed huge. I would love to find it today - have no idea who he sold it to. He was in the AACA and we knew many people with cars - all pre-war wth few exceptions - MGA's, 49 Caddy and a true beauty - a 58 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham with a brushed stainless steel top. An average cat could have a few cars like this in the garage in those days. Now, the average person couldn't afford to live in White Plains.

@anthonymitchell2354

6 жыл бұрын

John Sattler Hey John, that Cadillac Eldorado your talking about cost more than a Rolls Royce when it came out, around 5,900 dollars. It would be worth about 500,000 today!

Fascinating video. Thanks so much!

My father worked at the Packard plant on Grand blvd and latter in the final coupla years on Connor from 1939 til it closed in 1956. He went to the Ford Sterling Axle Plant in 1956 til 1986. He told me that Packard was a great place to work and was very disappointed when Packard closed and went out of business.

@drsmetal2747

3 жыл бұрын

Automation has taken many of the jobs and it's still happening.

@michaelsurant3858

3 жыл бұрын

@@drsmetal2747 Yes it has! The computer chip has changed everything in today's world

I was here today and it was crazy, sad how bad it is now.

If you love cars, and Packards especially, this is a very informative half hour. The before and after photos are spectacular, illustrating the rise and fall of an American icon. Great job guys.

This presentation offers a historical description and has great Value for this purpose, for future minds. Well done!

My Grandfather and my mom worked for Packard in the 1940s..he was a foreman and she worked in the offices.

@shrineheart87

3 жыл бұрын

they had to be caucasian then.

@Bloxwatch_180

3 жыл бұрын

Lol Awesome

@michaelsurant3858

3 жыл бұрын

My father worked at Packard from '39 to '43. He was drafted into the Army and after the war worked until 1956 when it closed. He went to Ford Sterling Axle.

There is underground tunnels and I went in , it was so spooky

@mattparr3038

4 жыл бұрын

Tell us more..

Oh yea, I used to work in an old car lot off SR16 in FL. They had all kinds of packards and two gold wing Studebakers. Even had an old Studebaker delivery truck. Corvair too. One of the packards even had an old belt driven supercharger. So crazy to think about, I never knew about these cars (85' kid) but now having seen them I have wondered. That Packard plant is a relic.

When my grandfather was alive he could take an engine apart and put it together like nobody’s business, and back in the twenties he was approached by Packard to be a test driver, quite an opportunity back in the day but alas he declined the offer because how many times would you have an opportunity to work for a prestige car company back during the depression. I’d jump at the chance but that’s why I’m such a car enthusiast

Nice history, many thx.

Great video. Very interesting and informative but also very sad. The Packard plant shut almost 60 years ago but is still standing rotting away? That shows how depressed Detroit has been for a long time.

@eastonschindler3959

7 жыл бұрын

Jake Green the plant has not been completely abandoned for 60 years, up until just a few years ago there were still tenants in the industrial park that was created after Packard left

What a terrible, terrible shame! If only the company had survived. Imagine the engineering, and styling innovations there would be today. They would still be trend setters! RIP Packard.

@michaelsurant3858

3 жыл бұрын

You hit nail right on the head "Ask the man who has one"

It would be interesting to update the building to be rehabbed and a pull-a-part bone yard like Parts Galore to set up inside.

Are you still around I loved walking around inside the packard plant

There's a KZread video that extols American Airlines DC-3 cross-country service showing a great arial view of the Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard.

The original Packard Electric was founded in 1890 in Warren Ohio and later became a part of GM, then Delphi. Packard Electric founded Packard Motor Car in 1899.

I agree with you. I'm from Detroit.

The Packard Plant has a new owner and he plans on restoring it into a whole new neighborhood in Detroit...The Michigan Central train Station is also on the list to get revitalized.Also a new neighborhood is gonna be built along i75 and Woodward an M1 light rail train and also MI Train are gonna be built.Detroit os coming back

@michaelreece458

5 жыл бұрын

That was until dead bodies were dumped there at the Packard plant. They are dumped from as far away as Chicago. Detroit's "comeback" is a fad....FBI has rated it as the second most violent city in America.

@MOCave7

5 жыл бұрын

@@michaelreece458 It will take years but it can be done with a lot of will and determination. It happened to most of the old, dilapidated and quite frankly scary buildings in downtown Durham. It looks sooo much better today because of hungry investors and developers with stars in their eyes. Bought the land and buildings for cheap decades ago when it wasn't worth dirt and made it into a habitable area where you can now live, work and play SAFELY.

Still want the one Doc Brown had in Back to the Future. Believe it was a '48 or '49.

@LazarusLongification

10 жыл бұрын

1948 PACKARD CUSTOM EIGHT VICTORIA CONVERTIBLE

@dondesnoo1771

7 жыл бұрын

eldo59 saw a pix of the two from back to future holding USA today says trump wins 2016.😉

great video, what a shame, just bought a new chevrolet, looked at many cars and imports, but that was my thought , buy american and just mabye it will help fellow americans out, my car was mad in lordstown Ohio, would love to go and tour that plant, praying detroit comes back to be the great american car city it used to be :)

@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823

7 жыл бұрын

thomas ankner I've had an 81 Olds, 87 Jimmy, a 94 Honda, a 97 Honda Accord, an 08 Sable, and an 09 Challenger with a HEMI. The US cars have cheaper parts, bit they make funny noises that apparently aren't dangerous, but the mechanic can never find them to fix them. US cars rust WAY faster than Japanese do. I doubt if I'd go that way again, as I need the car to not rust out from under me. If US companies would make a better made and more solid product...I had both Hondas 15 years from new. They were barely touched by rust at all, unlike the Sable at half that age. Minor issues, but rare. No high mile cars.

The narrator acts like he is shocked that the popular conception of labor in a factory is wrong, and that the work 'really is hard' , but he is good enough to engage well with the historian, who presents a much more realistic tone. It is interesting to learn the real 1950s as opposed to the 'good times' image of booming 50's America we get. 1956, Elvis, we think it must have been all roses - Eisenhower's highways to heaven, but the reality is that Packard was on it's knees, and Detroit was being outsourced.

@EdP402

8 жыл бұрын

+TommyTwobats If you do not think the work is hard, you should try it.

@js4187

5 жыл бұрын

tommy twotwats ..... the 50's were booming . the economy was racing . There were good times to be had . Packard was just a victim of its own bad decisions and the fact there were 16-18 different car companies just in the big 3 of GM ,Ford, and Chrysler . The imports werent even a factor then .

@timothykeith1367

5 жыл бұрын

@@js4187 Studebaker wasn't forthcoming is presenting how bad off the company actually was. Packard was in a stronger position and might have survived had the merger not occurred.

SO SAD THAT THE BRIDGE COLLAPSED BACK IN 2019

Thanks interesting

I would love to see Packard return and rebrand themselves as an EV company.

@mikebas7325

Жыл бұрын

Even cooler if they saved the old plant and built them there.

Eye openers.. and you know what they say, if it doesn't work out then it wasn't meant to be.. but then what the hell is meant to be?

The US diverts its resources including human capital into government supported industries primarily healthcare and military. They do this to a much greater extent than the German, Japanese and Korean counterparts. If you want to help the US auto industry cut the government waiste. Huntsville Alabama (rocket town) currently has the highest per capita engineers. That's a problem for Detroit.

@JackF99

8 жыл бұрын

Dude turn off Fox News and do some research. Unions were biggest single reason the US middle class was once so strong. War on unions is part of the war on the middle class.

@christopherrowe2632

8 жыл бұрын

+beloog99 Dude. I don't watch Fox News. It's non stop propaganda aimed at diverting our resources away from productive means towards waste and the lining of the pockets of those that are contributing to the destruction of the industrial midwest.

@MrKennyanders

7 жыл бұрын

Universities are socialist indoctrination camps

@bigstuff52

6 жыл бұрын

imdah..you old baby boomer...go take a prozac,sit down and STFU..

@bigstuff52

6 жыл бұрын

kenny...same goes for you you old baby boomer fuck...take your prozac,go sit down and STFU..

17:45 that beautiful bridge looks a lot different today. It collapsed onto Grand River last week.

I like how these fossils always say "this is what happens when you don't support your community and buy domestic". Packard went under because they were slow to change and made some really bad decisions. They lost out to Cadillac and Chrysler. Not the overseas market. There were no Hondas and Toyotas driving around the USA in 1958.

@michaelsurant3858

3 жыл бұрын

My father said Packard was a great place to work. They tried to compete with a working man's car but could not catch up to Ford and GM who were way ahead in technology and affordability to produce large volume. Packard tried but never stood a chance. Packard like the old saying go's "was a dollar short, [lotz] and a day late i'n the fast 1950"s. So sad. Today all there is left is a mile of derelict abandon buildings that once was the glory of the Packard Motor Car Company

@neorev01

Жыл бұрын

I think you left out European cars and the Marshall plan.

had to bail, intro to long

Who says America was never great...

Thanks for uploading. Too bad Studebaker was cookin' the books. It was Studebakers's owners deceptive greedy business practices that killed Packard, not union workers that stood up for the right to a safer, better workplace.

@edarcuri182

5 жыл бұрын

Studebaker management used deplorable accounting techniques to hide their mismanagement. However, the union in South Bend had pushed costs (largely through the requirements of the very long list of "work rules") to the breaking point. Management should have pushed back, of course, rather than to cave in to every demand as many were not in the long term interest of the company or its workers! A GM cost accountant once priced out a mid-fifties Studebaker model and opined that GM could build the same car for $600 less. That was an enormous sum when cars could be purchased for $2,000 or less new. Had Packard joined with Nash, as Nash management originally proposed in the late 40's, Packard would have been combined with another company that had some cash and a complementary product line. Nash, renamed as American Motors, survived until 1987.

🥱🥱🥱🥱 😴😴

John Clor is not a household name for a reason- he was not good at this.