Re: Conner ave plant

Posted by Mr.Pushbutton  On 2017/3/24 10:10:51

Leedy--all good, salient points. In the photos I have of the plant taken in 1953, after Chrysler took ownership of the plant there is nothing but Packard work being performed there, and the operation is very luxuriously spread out, with huge aisles between lines. There isn't a whiff of any work for any other customer visible in the photos.
I could be 100% wrong in this memory, but wasn't there something in the AQ book (AKA "Kimes" book-erroneously) about Packard sending all of their body making equipment to Briggs at one point just after the war, on a handshake--with no paper trail, then having no body making equipment, and faced with the possibility of having to buy all new presses and equipment the lease and operation of the former Briggs Conner facility (full of the right equipment) was their only card to play to obtain bodies? I guess the auctions that would have taken place after the fall of the house of Packard would be an important piece of evidence that way. If there were no auctions of body stamping presses, etc. it could be that Chrysler just took them and moved them to other facilities like Mound road. When I worked at the Chrysler museum one of our stalwart volunteers was a retired production supervisor at Mound Road stamping. He told me that Chrysler had a standing order with Fisher Body/GM to buy any used presses that they were done with, so basically Chrysler's new presses were the ones GM didn't consider good enough any more to turn out quality work. I think they would have jumped to have Packard's presses and machinery.