packardaustralia.com

On East Grand Boulevard in Detroit Michigan stands the remains of the old Packard plant. On the west side of the boulevard is the main entrance to the plant. This served as the main greeting lobby of the factory during its operation. The old factory, it looks like, has its days numbered. So I was wondering if anybody, or group of people, in Australia that are in the Packard collection and restoration scene would entertain the idea of contacting the city of Detroit which is the owner of the building today, and see if it is possible to take the stonework down around the main lobby entrance, at least the stonework where the Packard name is engraved above, and then shipping it to Australia for the hopes of one day preserving it as an entrance to a Packard museum there

Here is a picture of the entrance in this link at the top of the page. http://www.white-history.com/hwrdet2b.htm I think this is on East Grand blv. but maybe on one of the surrounding streets instead.

A noble idea but highly impractical. The logistics of this in dismantling, transporting, etc, etc large blocks of stone to Australia from the United States make this sort of project only feasible to a multi-millionaire philantrophic Packard benefactor. And I don't know of any of these type of individuals residing in Australia. Have a look at this link to a thread in PackardInfo.com where action to preserve these features of the old Packard plant has already been taken by Packard enthusiasts in the USA. http://packardinfo.com/xoops/html/modul ... 18&forum=4 Besides that thread there are a number of similar topics on the PackardInfo Site.

Appreciate the feedback. Btw that link seems to be dead. I do not see any breaks in the one you posted, so I am only assuming at this point it is actually dead. Is there another one by any chance that I could use instead?

The cost for the arch dismantling and replacement of the structural value is between 120k and 150k USD. The shipping at today's rates would take only one 28 foot container. The shipping I found was only a few thousand; calculated again in U.S. dollars of course.

About the need for a wealthy person having an intrest in the philanthropy area of Packard automotive history preservation, I am a firm believer in the idea that one wealthy individual is equal to a dozen determined average individuals.

May our descendents smile back on us.

G'day again,

Sorry the link didn't work. Go directly to www.packardinfo.com, then to Main Menu, then to General Forum, and on Page 9 there you'll find one thread about the dismantling of the Packard Plant doorway. There are also some similar threads but I haven't got the time at present to track them down. Hope this helps you.

I checked out the link, I talked too much on the internet it looks like. This had been something I wanted to see saved long ago, but all the people I talked to here in America said it was not worth it until the complex was in the process of being demolished, I did the cost figures on it and everything, but after awhile I just gave up on the whole idea. Then I ran across your site purely by accident, and thought I would run the old idea by you guys down under.

I was wondering why all of a sudden recently over the past few years people were going there to take pictures. Uh, I do now.

I guess no one really was concerned years ago. They thought its just another building and its not until something happens to it that everyone realises how important that part is. The same thing happens over here. I bet no one has done anything to preserver anything from the Australian Packard dealerships if there is anything left there.