Re: New "What Ifs?"
Posted by Steve203 On 2014/8/12 23:15:51
All of this history is really interesting, I enjoy this topic just for that.
Alrighty, tho not Packard specific, this does concern Willow Run, to a degree.
Kaiser-Frazer was a joint venture between Henry Kaiser and Graham-Paige, of which Joe Frazer was President. Kaiser providing money, Frazer providing Graham-Paige facilities and equipment.
Willow Run was initialy leased from the government. The lease called for progressively rising rent. For the first couple years, the rent on W-R was a paltry $300,000/yr, then it would step up for the next couple years, then step up again.
Meanwhile, the government needed a warehouse to hold the large inventory of war surplus machine tools that it wanted to auction off. Kaiser offered the Graham plant in Dearborn, which was not needed because of the lease of W-R, for $300,000/yr. The government figured that was a good deal and took a two year lease. Bottom line, K-F had two years in W-R with the rent paid on W-R offset by the rent the government paid on the Graham plant...so W-R was effectively free.
When the government vacated the Graham plant, it was snapped up by Chrysler, who happily rolled DeSotos out of it through the 50s. When DeSoto was dropped, the plant became the home of the Imperial through 63, then was used for decades as a parts warehouse.
Part of the plant is still standing at 8505 W Warren in Dearborn.
Photo: 1960, when the plant was reassigned to Imperial production. 1M sq ft, all production areas on ground floor, contained paint shop and assembly line.
Attach file:
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Alrighty, tho not Packard specific, this does concern Willow Run, to a degree.
Kaiser-Frazer was a joint venture between Henry Kaiser and Graham-Paige, of which Joe Frazer was President. Kaiser providing money, Frazer providing Graham-Paige facilities and equipment.
Willow Run was initialy leased from the government. The lease called for progressively rising rent. For the first couple years, the rent on W-R was a paltry $300,000/yr, then it would step up for the next couple years, then step up again.
Meanwhile, the government needed a warehouse to hold the large inventory of war surplus machine tools that it wanted to auction off. Kaiser offered the Graham plant in Dearborn, which was not needed because of the lease of W-R, for $300,000/yr. The government figured that was a good deal and took a two year lease. Bottom line, K-F had two years in W-R with the rent paid on W-R offset by the rent the government paid on the Graham plant...so W-R was effectively free.
When the government vacated the Graham plant, it was snapped up by Chrysler, who happily rolled DeSotos out of it through the 50s. When DeSoto was dropped, the plant became the home of the Imperial through 63, then was used for decades as a parts warehouse.
Part of the plant is still standing at 8505 W Warren in Dearborn.
Photo: 1960, when the plant was reassigned to Imperial production. 1M sq ft, all production areas on ground floor, contained paint shop and assembly line.
Attach file:
(185.91 KB)
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