By June 1, , the Packard employed 6, The original machine shops, encompassing a half-acre, were demolished late in the year in favor of a far more significant reinforced concrete structure.
Packard sold 50, cars in , with a third of total sales going to dealers overseas. The Great Depression caused sales of Packard to decline, but the company did not drop financially due to strong marketing and lowered automobile prices.
But the vehicle was a success, selling , cars in It had refreshed pre-war cars for Additionally, the company started selling cars to the taxi cab and fleet car markets, further undermining the luxury marquee the company had once held. Sales began dropping after By , Packard was selling only 27, cars per year.
To survive, the company merged with Studebaker to save operational and manufacturing costs. It was then decided to cease production of Packard cars, and the last Packard automobile was moved off of the assembly line in Detroit on June 2. The last caretaker of the Detroit Packard factory was laid off in Packard Properties of Illinois took out a mortgage from Land and Norry Associates, a partnership of Edward Land and Irving Norry, and the buildings were reused for industrial and commercial warehousing.
The U. Dominic Cristini acquired bioresource in August after Portwood died. A second contractor was hired to remove nearly , tires that had been illegally dumped on the grounds. Demolition of the Packard began in January but was hampered by the discovery of asbestos and other containments. On May 12, , Cristini was charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs out of an abandoned school adjacent to the Packard and pled guilty in August A group of investors convinced James Ward Packard to move his fledgling car company to Detroit.
In early , architect Albert Kahn was hired to design a factory on 40 acres along Grand Boulevard. For his 10th building in the complex, Kahn employed reinforced concrete. After a moment of silence, J. Winton, I guess I 'll do just that.
Just six months later the first Packard lurched out of a shed and onto the streets of Warren. That was the start of the Packard Motor Car company, which would shape the course of the auto industry and forever change the city of Detroit. Packard would be a luxury car, built to the highest specifications and sparing no expense. The first models were built in a shed in a corner of their electrical plant. Wishing to avoid repeating their experience with the Winton, the brothers exhaustively road-tested their car to iron out potential problems.
The company found that early issues were usually caused by inferior materials and became fanatical about only using the highest quality materials, to the point of alienating suppliers by rejecting too many of their parts. The company learned the hard way, from mistakes.
One early model was an engineering failure, with a driveshaft that tended to drop out, lubrication issues, and an exhaust noise described as "heart-rending. It was an expensive lesson on the importance of quality control, one the company would take to heart going forward. Packard quickly outgrew its plant in Warren as orders for new models rolled in. Joy was a businessman from Detroit suggested moving the plant to Detroit, where many of the products needed to build cars — wheels, carriages, engines, tires, paint, and wiring were already being produced.
In March of , the company bought land along a railway on the east side of the city and hired noted architect Albert Kahn to design a modern factory. The plant was laid out in a hollow square measuring feet on each side, with manufacturing taking place in the outer building and finishing in the middle. Construction was completed in 90 days, at which point the Warren factory was packed up and shipped to Detroit by train.
Parts suppliers and other auto manufacturers followed quickly and by there were 17 manufactures of cars in the city, employing 6,, putting out 12, cars a year. The state of Michigan produced half the cars made in the country.
As demand increased the plant grew, straining existing construction methods. The space inside the mill-style buildings was cramped due to the need for roof supports. Albert Kahn adopted a method for reinforcing concrete with steel that had been pioneered by his brother Julius, which spaced the supports spaced further apart and allowed larger machinery. Building 10, which was the first reinforced concrete factory building in Detroit when it was built in became the template by which all other factories in the city were built and made.
Each car was built by hand by highly trained craftsmen who specialized in specific tasks. The partially completed car would move from station to station inside the plant, where work was checked and rechecked for quality. Wood used in the construction of bodies and wheels was cured in the open air for up to a year before being used. Painting was complex and time-consuming, with dozens of coats of varnish, primer, and color that had to be sanded between coats.
Packards became the favored cars of Hollywood stars, politicians, and the wealthy. Packard employees took a lot of pride in their work. After the final model was finished ahead of schedule, it was decorated with flags and driven around the streets of Detroit by workers. When an experimental model came back from a road test, workers from across the factory came to see how it had fared, ask questions, and offer advice on how to improve it.
The plant had its own brass band, baseball team, hospital, and fire department. A article in the Detroit Free Press noted that since the construction began in , "there hasn't been a week when building operations have not been underway. During the First World War the company built and shipped thousands of cars and trucks overseas.
Over 6, engines were built at the Detroit plant during the war, more than any other manufacturer. The experience gained in mass production of aircraft engines trickled down to the automotive side after the war ended, and hand production techniques were gradually discontinued. The plant was modernized starting in , introducing assembly lines and automated production equipment for the first time.
This reputation and its resultant demand led to further expansion of the plant, and technological innovations in automobile assembly led to continuing improvements of existing structures.
In the late s, the company installed a multistory automated assembly line to accommodate its tall structures which had become out dated in the face of new technology.
In , a bridge was built between the north and south halves of the plant. In , the Packard Plant joined other automotive factories in halting all car production and focusing on manufacturing for the WWII effort. The plant manufactured Rolls Royce aircraft engines, as well as naval engines for the United States and its allies. During the war years, the plant employed up to 36, people. The demand for engines and their production necessitated further expansion and upgrades to the plant.
By , however the multistory plan became obsolete and production of Packard's vehicles was transferred to a modern plant on Conner Avenue. In , the Packard Car Company went out of business entirely and in laid off the last caretaker of the plant on East Grand Boulevard.
The company then sold off parts of the plant and leased out others to retail and industrial tenants.
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