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Margeret Dunning - the original and one and only. She lives in suburban Detroit - Plymouth, Michigan.

She has a ton of great stories and she sure can talk!

Now are you coming??

How big was the inside of the test track?

Could the grand ave plant fit inside it?

Question: How big was the inside of the test track?
Answer: The southern boundry was at 22 Mile Road and the northern boundry was at 23 Mile Road and there were "bump-outs" on each mile road to allow for the track, i.e. the roads were not straight. So the N/S measurement is somewhat less than 5280' - allowing for the width of the track. By scaling the Google Earth map from W to E I get 2520'.

Question: Could the (East) Grand Ave. (Boulevard) plant fit inside it?
Answer: My opinion would be YES. N to S the PMCC was advertised as one mile in length. Scaling Google Earth I got 5050'. West to East at its widest point along EGB is Mt. Elliott to Concord St. and that measurement is 1550'. At the southern end (south of EGB) the PMCC is 635' wide from Beaufait St. to Concord St. So, yes the PMCC could fit inside the high speed test track.

BTW, the W to E width at the PPG is from Mound Road to VanDyke Road - a distance of one mile or 5280'.

What a happy occasion, and great thanks to my former employer, Dick Kughn are due. John MacArthur should be singled out for his outstanding work to save the Proving Grounds as well. John and I met up at the St. John's Concours and he remided me of my participation in the rescue.
About 10 years ago Motor City Packards held their annual banquet at the Edsel and Elinor Ford Home in Grosse Pointe, John MacArthur was the guest speaker after dinner and his talk was quite glum--the Proving Grounds were in their darkest hour, Ford Land Co. was selling off parcels of the Proving Grounds (finally-and quickly) and all efforts to contact someone high up at Ford Land to discuss saving/donating/purchasing the historical portions of the proving grounds were unsuccessful, John and Neil Porter kept calling, and were stuck at the admin for a junior manager, everyone else they talked to was not interested.
I sat there listening to John's talk and thought "he needs to talk to Dick Kughn" whom I worked for at that time.
John did not know it, but Dick has an association going back to the late 1960s with Ford Land Development, having built the Fairlane Shopping center with them in the mid 70s, the residential development north of Fairlane that many Ford Executives live in, the conversion of the Salinas Ford plant into a shopping center and numerious other projects over the decades. I approaced John after the dinner, made him aware of this, and told him to call Dick the following Monday morning at 10:00 AM. I told him "I get there at 9:00, I'll brief him on the situation and I'm sure he will get you through to someone very high at Ford Land"
I did as I promised, filled Dick in, John Called and within minutes John,Dick and the head of Ford Land were in a conference call and the property was on its way to being saved. Dick went far and above in his own personal efforts to secure the proving gorunds, at one particularly difficult moment he came through in a way very few others could have. He brings multiple units from his collection of fine Packards to any event there.
He is one of the truly great guys of this hobby.

Nice to hear about the PPG. Those up in the area, and those who helped save it should be proud of what has been accomplished.

Hope to see it again next year, at the PAC national.

Quote:

It's on the "Top 5" of my list of "Things to do in '13" assuming the Mayans were wrong - and I do.

Way to go Mr. Pushbutton!

Fantastic story and truly demonstrates how to get the impossible, possible.

Hello Jim L.

Top 5 is good enough for me.

We will see you in the Motor City and more specifically at the PPG next June.

As the Director to the 2013 National Meet I will promise you a good time. Make sure and look me up.

--Roger--