So, when an auction was held for the remains this month it was anything but certain an acceptable bid would come along. Today, parts of the facility have already caved in – partly due to the effects of time, but also due to vandals, fire and the city’s own on-and-off efforts to scrap the Packard plant. The old Packard facility served as both an assembly line, corporate headquarters and even had a test track on its vast roof. Nowhere is that more obvious than on Detroit’s crumbling east side, once the heart of its manufacturing base. Many of the factories that rolled out bombers, tanks and other war machinery are already long gone and of the few that remain, most are in fading condition.ī24s under production at the old Willow Run plant. military effort during both World Wars and during the 1940s earned the Motor City the alternate nickname as America’s Arsenal of Democracy. That manufacturing prowess was central to the U.S. Opinion Leader!Īt their peak, factories in Detroit and its suburbs produced millions of cars annually. ![]() Meanwhile, a third plant that saw the birth of the moving assembly line in the years leading up to the first World War may also be salvaged. Photo courtesy: Frank Wulfers, .ĭuring World War II they both anchored the mighty military production base that came to be known as the “Arsenal of Democracy,” but today, the old Packard and Willow Run assembly plants are symbols of the decay of the Motor City and its once-formidable manufacturing base.īut both factories could gain a new life in the near future, one as a reminder of the region’s history, the other returning to its original purpose, albeit producing modular homes rather than automobiles.
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