Packard Clipper
Detroit’s output of automobiles is a fraction of what it once was. Still, it isn’t terribly uncommon to see the remnants of those factories cruising down Woodward, in local car shows and meetups, and outside houses parked in the yard covered in the transparent guise of restoration intent.
While exploring Detroit, some are more plentiful than others, but it isn’t hard to find them. Cadillacs that rolled off the Clark Street Assembly line, Monocos, Chargers, and 330s from Dodge Main, and the occasional (and often rusted) Grand Cherokee ZJ from the Mack Assembly plant. However, cars that rolled off what would become the largest abandoned manufacturing facility in the world are much harder to find cruising the Motor City.
The story of the Packard Motor Car Company has been told habitually by Detroiters lovingly and outsiders scoffing at its current state for decades.
Long story short—Packard was founded in Warren, Ohio, in 1899. While many companies tried to make their cars as affordable as possible to move more product, Packard was a luxury brand, so their numbers weren’t nearly as high, but their prices were. By 1903, the company had moved to Detroit, constructing the first building of what would become a 3,000,000+ square-foot eyesore some century later.
After releasing outdated models post-WW2 and purchasing Studebaker in 1954, the company fell into financial hardships, and the Packard name was defunct by the early 1960s. Their slogan, ‘ask the man who owns one,’ has become much harder to do over the years after the closure. However, if you know the owner of these scrap lots on the east side of Detroit, you can do just that.
I believe this Packard Clipper is of the 1953-56 variety, but I’m not sure. The Clipper was produced through the 1957 model year. Throughout the 1950s, the car was one of the cheapest offered by the company, and it didn’t have all the luxurious features that made other Packards famous.
Today, this Clipper sits a half-mile from the factory that produced it, so long as it isn’t a 1957, the only model year to be made in South Bend, Indiana. It might be less than a two-minute drive, but generations of manufacturing outsourcing, disinvestment, and urban decay separate this car from the factory that produced it.
This Packard has been sitting here since around 2014. Given the sheer number of historic cars in the various salvage yards nearby, it might have been moved from somewhere else. I’ve photographed these yards dozens of times in recent years and posted images from there at least once or twice. With every snowfall and thaw cycle, it’s hard to justify not snagging more photos, even if the weather means more decay for these automobiles.
The city of Detroit is currently demolishing a large portion of the Packard Plant. It’s probably time for Goliath to fall; however, it’ll be a sad day when the Packard name has been completely wiped from the landscape of Detroit.
