This post is for my Father...

He reads this blog regularly and happens to collect Packard cars and has for years. I found these digging through You Tube and I thought he would be surprised by reading this. He is a noted historian of the marque.

There is also a "father and son" reference in this so I couldn't resist.

This is from a company film regarding quality control. The year is 1954. Packards would be made in Detroit until 1956. Production shifted to South Bend, Indiana as a result of Packard's ill-fated merger with Studebaker. 1957 and 1958 "Packards" were on Studebaker bodies. Production of Packards was halted completely after the 1958 model year.

Packard was one of the last independent automakers to succumb to the competitive pressures of the industry - courtesy of the Big 3, including GM of course. A preservation effort was launched related to the Proving Grounds that are featured in these clips. Most of the older Packard manufacturing plant in Detroit is still standing and vacant - waiting for some sort of redevelopment attempt (many have come and gone). If you want to wade through You Tube yourself, there are a couple of self-guided tours of the plant as it stands now. I am not posting them here, as they are a little off-topic and the language used could be referred to as "street", and that is a charitable assessment.

Anyway, I hope you find this of interest.