Re: After the Packard plant closed...

Posted by Mr.Pushbutton  On 2010/9/29 8:04:57

Packard was making plans to leave East Grand Boulevard before things turned bad. There was discussion to build a body and car plant in Utica next to the Defense work-turned driveline production plant (AKA V-8 engine plant), this plant would have been optimized for production of the never-realized AMC "big car" line, not unlike what GM did in the "BOC" consolidation.
No major manufacturer (OEM) wanted "old" plants like the Packard plant, and the war left them with more production capability than they could use. They had multi-story plants of their own they would all gradually replace, some (Chrysler) taking decades to do this.
Just before the war the single-floor plant became the standard, Chrysler built plants in Detroit and Warren MI that set the standard, Warren truck (Chrysler) was considered a landmark design by Albert Kahn. Once the war started and the additional production facilities were needed asap the single floor plant became the norm. Packard somewhat bucked the trend by adding on to the EGB plant with multi-story buildings, a reaction to the lack of available land by that point in time. The newer plants built for the war were built further out from urban centers, Warren was still quite rural in 1940, Utica was like being up north in the woods!

As for the other independents and their plants:

The Hudson Plant on East Jefferson was vacated by AMC in '56-'57 and demolished in 1960

Kaiser-Fraiser used the (Ford-built) Willow Run (MI)bomber plant, GM bought it after KF went belly-up and produced Hydramatic transmissions, a easy solution to the devistating fire that destroyed the Livonia MI Hydramatic in 1953. It was valuable to K-F and GM because it fit the modern design, a single floor plant.

Nash autos were built in Kenosha, WI (hence the term "Kenosha Cadillacs")and AMC built cars there until Chrysler bought them in 1987, They finally demolished that plant, Chrysler still operates a (newer) engine plant in Kenosha.

Willys were produced in Toledo OH, and that plant was converted over to the production of Jeeps when the US Government (War dept.) awarded the production of Jeeps to Willys-Overland over American Bantam, who designed the Jeep in answer to a war dept. RFB. The Bantam design was chosen, but that firm could not produce the volume of Jeeps the War Dept. needed so the contract was given to Willys. Willys could only make so many Jeeps given their facilities and Ford was contracted to build Jeeps at the Rouge plant under licence to W-O. Ford introduced one production effiency--the grille on the original W-O Jeep resembled jail cell bars, and was made the same way, Ford brought the slotted, stamped grille that is so much the image of the Jeep today.
The Willys plant produced Jeeps up until about the 2005 model year, and was closed and demolished by Chrysler.
I attended the control demolition of the Willys-Jeep administration building in 1980, a large structure.