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I received word the other day, via email (the modern way!) that my long time friend Robert "Bob" Duerr passed away that morning. I met Bob in the mid 1970s through my other affliction, the theatre pipe organ. Our local theatre organ group took over my old neighborhood movie house, the Redford theatre, to save the organ in its original home. Bob and his late wife Ginny joined the group after we took over the theatre. He was a machinist/machine repair man at a drill bit factory north of Detroit, and was very handy with mechanical things. After knowing each other for several years he found out that I liked Packard automobiles. One day Bob casually mentioned "I used to work at Packard" I stopped immediately, and started a barrage of questions. He started in 1940 as an "office boy" he was the boy-Friday of a finance executive. One of his jobs was to ride with his boss from the office building on East Grand Boulevard to the (old) City-County building downtown so that his boss could register Chattel mortgages (loans for Packards) with the county clerk. Bob was a passenger until they pulled in front of the building, then put in the driver's seat and told to circle the block until the boss came back out--parking spaces were at a premium then. He told fondly of driving several 1940-'42 180 models and how he felt as a very young man behind the wheel of those cars.
The United States' entry into WWII found Bob in the service, as most all young men his age were, and after serving until the war's end he came back home, and went back to Packard to get his job back. Like his contemporaries, the home and work life he left was entirely different when he returned. When he went into the offices at 1580 East Grand Boulevard he was no longer a boy, he was now a man. His old boss had a new office boy, but the boss liked Bob and said "you are too old to be an office boy, but you were a good worker, go and see Mr. __________ and tell him that I said he should find a job for you here" Bob did so, Mr. __________ said "your last name is Duerr, right--that's German, isn't it"? Bob answered in the affirmative. He countered "Germans are good at machinery repair, I think I'll put you in that department" and he took Bob to that area, introduced him to the shop foreman, who took Bob without question into his department. Bob spent the next 11 years of his working life at Packard repairing machines. He told me of a machine operator who came to work in suits every day, wearing absolutely white starched dress shirts and ties, he took off their suit coat and put on an apron and worked an entire 8+ hour shift, turning out parts and he left with his shirt as clean as it was at the beginning of the shift . He told about the two brothers of Appalachian heritage (well, actually he called them "hillbillies") who attempted to steal a Packard straight eight engine "one part at a time" like the Johnny cash song, by dropping a part or two a day out a fourth-floor window. All was going well, management was none-the-wiser until the day they dropped the engine block. Game over, two less hillbillies working at Packard. Unlike other production workers at Packard, Bob's employee badge granted him access to almost every area of the East Grand Boulevard plant, later the Utica plant and Conner plant. In May of 1982 Motor City Packards had a tour of the plant, we all drove our Packards in a caravan from a restaurant in Troy (MI) to the plant and parked inside the building, some outside on "Packard avenue". By that time I had introduced Bob to Motor City Packards and he joined. That day he came along on the tour. I recall vividly a member who considered himself an authority on Packard and the plant telling us what happened on a particular area we were in at the moment, Bob very quietly said "No, that was two buildings over, this was connecting rod machining, from this column to the end--right here was a _________ grinding machine"
The rest of the tour Bob did all the talking and it was fascinating, and I could see a mist in his eyes at times.
That year, on my birthday, I went to the Redford theatre, and Bob and Ginny were there, they asked where I was, then approached me and handed me an envelope. A fat, bumpy envelope. Bob said "Happy Birthday young man" and I opened the package to find a pristine 1941-'47 Clipper script, the only souvenir Bob ever took home in his lunch pail. I still have it to this day and it is a precious memento.
Bob was instrumental in the set-up of the Utica plant, at first for the J-47 program and later for the V-8 program. He had the highest regard for the machinery that was bought for the V-8 program. He told one story that he once had to specify an emergency repair part (a feed screw) to be shipped in overnight, when that was not a commonplace thing (and even more expensive than it is today) and that he made the call to the manufacturer from his shop at the East Grand Plant machinery repair department, and specified the part from memory. Later that night at home he had a sudden panic, he told his wife that he had mistakenly ordered the part with left-hand threads, and that it would arrive at great expense and not be right for the job and that production would not resume and that he would be out of a job. The next day he ran out to Utica, went to the machine and discovered that the failed part was left-hand threaded!
He was a certified Nance hater from the word go and there were no ambivalent discussions about the man with him. In Bob's estimation, and from what he said, many old timer rank-and-file types all thought that Nance was deliberately spending the company out of business, and that Packard's demise was his doing, almost exclusively.
He sensed in the early spring of 1956 that the gig would soon be up at Packard and resigned, taking a job at National Twist Drill in Rochester, several miles north of Detroit, where he worked until his retirement in the early 80's. I recall him taking my front axel spindles from my MGB to National and pressing the new bushings into place then reaming them to fit the kingpins--gratis, of course.
Living in this area it has been my pleasure to meet many former Packard employees, some of whom held positions of note. Bob was one of the rank-and-file guys I knew best, and had the kind of mechanical intuition and discipline that made Packard the automobile it was.

"taking a job at National Twist Drill in Rochester, several miles north of Detroit, where he worked until his retirement in the early 80's. "

He probably knew Wally Komondy of the Indian motorcycle world. Wally would be his generation contemporary and a machinist too.

There are just some people that deserve to live forever. Wally, and i'm sure Bob are two of them. Unfortunately it just doesn't work that way.

John -

Sorry to hear of your friend's passing, but I'm sure you'll appreciate the time that you spent with him all the more.

Those happenstance encounters with people from the industry's rich history are priceless.

I can't fully agree with Bob's dislike for Nance, though. Without Nance, the Packard V8 might never have come to be, and your friend would not have had such a memorable experience of tooling up for it at Utica.

Decades later, I'm glad to hear that Bob got to put his recollections to use for the benefit of others - even if only that they they might remember the past correctly. Ah, if only we could have sat him down behind a map of the plants and plot all those memories.

Thanks for relating your tale here at PackardInfo; I'm sure many will share in your loss, but enjoy the story behind it.

John, Sorry to hear of your friend's passing also. You were very fortunate to have had this gentleman as a friend. Thank you for sharing a few of his reminisences with us also as they are priceless and invaluable if we are to keep the history of the company for future generations.. It is unfortunate that the memories of the old time employees are not recorded for posterity. I am involved with a military museum/historical society and one of our projects is to visit the veterans and record their war stories but so many pass on before we get to them or their memories have faded away.. It is unfortunate that so many of the Packard employees, with few exceptions, are leaving this world with a treasure trove of knowledge about the operation of the plant etc. that is not preserved.

I'm sorry for your loss.

His Packard legacy lives on through you, and it would have been a greater loss for you to never have known him.

A toast to a Bob Duerr, Packard Machinist!

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John, sorry to hear about Bob's passing. I'm sure he tinkering in that big garage in the sky.

John, thank you for posting your memories of your friend Bob Duerr, As with any company, the people are the ones who make it a success. Your friend Bob, was obviously a winner and your posting of the insights you gained by having him as a friend are a great memory.

John

My condolences to you on the loss of your friend and to his family for their loss of a dear family member.

Even in your sadness, take comfort in all the wonderful memories you shared with Bob, and can record so they won't be lost to history. How hugely fortunate you both were, for Bob, to be able to tell his experiences so they can be passed on to future Packard enthusiasts, for you to have such a good and generous friend. Fortunate, as well, are we for your sharing those memories and this fine tribute to Bob.

RIP Robert "Bob" Duerr: your work made Packard the outstanding automobile was and always will be.

Steve