Hello Howard:

Yes, there are plenty of old automotive and parts supplier buildings still standing vacant in Detroit. And they are dangerous. Last week a guy fell 9 stories to his death in an open elevator shaft.https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2019/01/15/hide-and-seek-death-detroit/2581816002/

Remember this city has imploded, losing 1,200,000 people in the past few decades. Detroit is still losing 2,500 people a year. How many empty buildings would there be in your town if it lost two-thirds of its population?

The City of Detroit is screwing around with the American Motors Factoryhttps://abandonedrelics.wordpress.com/2016/10/29/amc-headquarters-in-detroit/ Even the venerable Ford Highland Park Plant is mostly vacant and looking for someone to save it. We have an oversupply of industrial buildings waiting for redevelopment or demolition.

Beside the industrial buildings, Detroit has between 44,000 and 72,000 (they cannot keep an accurate count) of vacant and blighted homes and small business buildings that should be boarded up or demolished.https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/despite-demolition-effort-blight-spreads-undetected-throughout-detroits-neighborhoods/Content?oid=17692371 Howard, do the math. It take about $20,000 to tear down a home, cart it away to an approved landfill and fill in the basement with clean dirt. So, $20,000 X 44,000 sites = $880 MILLION just to have vacant lots. The City has a goal of tearing down 8,000 homes a year, but they have fallen short of that goal the last few years.

Those This Old House episodes were aired in 2016, about a year after the City of Detroit exited Chapter 9 bankruptcy. I don't know where the City received those funds to help fix up that house. Any redevelopment activity has been centered around Woodward Avenue from downtown Detroit out to the Cultural Center just south of the old GM Headquarters. Very limited redevelopment has occurred outside of the city center.

So, for the most part, it has been wishful PR at best or outright propaganda.

Hello Desk Driver:

The PPG already has a fundraiser selling wood blocks from the PMCC plant floor. Please see below.

If you are interested, then call Mary Anne at the PPG - number is (586) 739-4800.

These are subject to availability, but can be made on short order.

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The article that Leeedy wrote is in The Packard Cormorant, Winter 2009 - Number #137. The entire issue was all about the Detroit Factory at 1580 East Grand Boulevard. Leeedy's article was the lead-off piece on page 3. At the 2013 PAC National Leeedy reprised this article and led a bus tour following EGB from Belle Isle to the PMCC and beyond.

IMPO, the bridge came down from neglect. Some mention the recent cold weather we've had the last few days. Well, it was the weather of the last few decades that did it in.

Palazuelo owned the building on the north side of EGB and the City owned the building on the south side - they shared ownership of the bridge. When the City sold the tax-foreclosed parcels in 2013 to Palazuelo it did NOT include all of the parcels once owned by the PMCC - again, only the foreclosed parcels. Palazuelo says he has been working with the City trying to acquire all the parcels and now claims the City has been slow to respond to his inquiries. Given the history of incompetence in the City, then I would tend to believe Fernando. How can you work on restoring half a bridge when the other side won't cooperate?

Coincidentally, there was an article in this past weekend's Detroit News that was examining a lot of unanswered questions. It is well worth your time to read it.https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2019/01/20/hopes-rise-packard-site-20-years-after-police-standoff/2406206002/

The questions in the article are still unanswered:
? Why was the city so interested in the Packard plant property?
? What was the danger that necessitated a round-the-clock police presence?
? And why did city officials continue trying to demolish the plant's buildings, despite a court order to stop?

Owen: The steel scrapping had nothing to do with this. They never touched the bridge and Palazuelo had guards in place the last five years.

Kevin: Hard to replace a bridge when you only own half of it - the city holds the other half of the answer. Come to Detroit, there is still the Packard Proving Grounds to visit and a whole host of other auto history sites.

Photo below is looking west down East Grand Boulevard toward downtown.

--Roger--

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https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2019/01/23/packard-plant-bridge-collapse-detroit/2660893002/


This is NOT good.

Edit: More here:https://wwjnewsradio.radio.com/articles/decaying-packard-plant-bridge-collapses

Edit 2:
The Packard Plant bridge over East Grand Boulevard in Detroit collapsed around 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Joseph Kopietz, a member of Detroit-based Clark Hill's real estate group representing the 3.5 million-square-foot plant's owner, confirmed the collapse to Crain's Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier Wednesday, according to Kopietz, some on-site construction crews reported bricks were falling from the bridge that crosses Grand Boulevard as part of the sprawling, blighted factory campus on Detroit's east side.

Edit 3
From Crain's Detroit Business Magazine
https://www.crainsdetroit.com/news/packard-plant-bridge-over-east-grand-boulevard-collapses?utm_source=crain-s-breaking-news-alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190123&utm_content=hero-readmore

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I have never had a problem with QC Coatings in Shelby Township, MI - about 2.5 miles from the PPG.

Take a look at their ceramic coatings:https://www.qccoatings.com/ceramiccoating

"....ceramic coatings offer excellent thermal barrier characteristics, which means reduced under hood temperatures, accelerated exhaust gas velocity and a longer life expectancy for the entire exhaust system."

Best of luck with your project.

Yep, David is definitely one of the good guys.

Rationing in the UK ended on July 4, 1954.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/4/newsid_3818000/3818563.stm

Ed Dalton At Classic Car Carriers has delivered several cars to the PPG and very helpful. Contact him at (877) 533-1897.

Equally good service from Reliable Carriers. Give John Golembiowski a call at (313) 550-5569.

Both cover MI, OH, IN, IL and PA

Hello David:

You're the best.

A certain Mr. "B" from Flint thanks you.

--Roger--

As the title says, I am looking for the part number for a 1939 TWELVE flywheel - this is for a friend.

Tried looking in my 1935 to 1941 Parts List (FYI, Big Kev has it saved on this site too) but that book does not list part numbers for Twelves - only goes up to Super 8s.

I believe as separate Parts Book is available for 1935 to 1939 Twelves, but I do not own one and I cannot seem to find one on this website.

Would appreciate your help and knowledge here.

Thanks, --Roger--