My grandfather immigrated from Italy and worked there from the 1920s until they closed it. That plant/company gave my family a healthy start in the US, so thanks for helping us celebrate that history!

My dad was an old car nut and owned a few classic Packard cars. If he were still alive today, he would have been interested in this video. Another great video, Jake! 👏🏻

Packard had air conditioning and automatic transmissions before Ford and most of GM did. In fact Packard was one of the few that had a deal with Kelvinator in the 1950s, where Nash-Kelvinator, their parent company, would produce air-conditioning units to Packard. At cost. Which is part of the reason why their cars were so expensive. But Cadillac had the first *hydraulic* automatic transmissions in 1941, something which was insane to conceive of at the time and also incredibly prone to failure. Packard wouldn't have one until 1949, although they had vacuum operated automatic transmissions that were class leading all the way from 1936 until 1950. And they were the only ones to develop an automatic in-house, as GM and Ford both outsourced the design. Packard's main downfall was twofold. One was that GM and Chrysler were flush with cash from military contracts during World War II and the Korean war. GM built everything from aircraft tugs to amphibious assault vehicles, while Chrysler built everything from the famous Deuce And A Half to radar operated anti-aircraft flak cannons and air raid sirens. This meant they could both sell their cars at a loss in order to make up volume. This also meant the two companies could waste money on lavish and extensive styling changes from year to year. Ford wasn't as strong off the back of the two wars as GM and Chrysler, but they definitely weren't struggling and often placed third in sales with the Ford and Mercury brands. Packard (and by extension Nash, Hudson, Rambler, Studebaker, Kaiser, Frazer, and Willys) struggled to keep up due to the spiraling costs of restyling their cars year to year. Packard's second hit was that their chairman was a stubborn fool. He didn't want to leave the company, and the CEO James Nance fought against him for almost every inch of progress Packard made between 1949 and 1953. The chairman's decisions delayed the launch of their overhead cam V8 engine, something that would've given the Packard Patrician and Caribbean a massive advantage in 1953. He also cost Packard their exclusivity contract with Briggs Body Manufacturing, choosing not to negotiate rates and letting Briggs sign exclusivity contracts with Chrysler. Third, he and the other members of the board refused to retire because for the entirety of Packard's existence nobody had ever thought to install a pension plan. Thus when Nance formally introduced a pension plan the extra decade and a half the board members had worked accrued them a ton of money that nearly bankrupted Packard in 1954. All of this led to the discussions of a merger with Nash-Kelvinator, one of their suppliers. George Romney, (yes, Mitt Romney's father) had discussed during Chrysler's 1953 price war that Hudson, Nash-Kelvinator, and Packard all merge into a larger company with Nash at the bottom, Hudson in the middle, and Packard at the top, a la the Sloan ladder method GM used with Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, La Salle, and Cadillac. But by the time Romney was made CEO of Nash-Kelvinator and Packard came to the table in 1954 they were a disgusting bloated mess, bleeding money and without anything to offer. Thus Romney turned them down, knowing they would cost his new coalition too much money. Studebaker, screwed in many of the same ways Packard was through extremely similar events, initiated a doomed merger that Packard hijacked, with James Nance assuming Studebaker was flush with cash since *they* were the ones that started the merger. Little did Nance know he had just sold his company as a sacrificial lamb to another dying elder god desperately trying to stave off oblivion. Thus Packard died, with Studebaker struggling on until 1963 with the Lark, Champion, and Avanti that used some of Packard's technology.

As a car guy this is one building that hurts to see go. On the other hand though most of it’s really too far gone to be saved. Hopefully some of the special pieces like the doorway inscribed with Packard and at least some of the water tower are kept intact.

In my opinion, I think that when the plant is actually confirmed to start demolition, an amazing send off to the plant would be a Packard/Classic American car cruise around the edge of the site. This plant has become a landmark for Detroit, and it's automotive history is widely known, so seeing as it's located in the motor city, it would be a fitting farewell to the plant.

The raves thrown in the Packard plant were absolutely legendary. Hawtin’s JAK parties come to mind.

I grew up in Warren, Ohio where the company was originally founded. There is still a museum near the location of the original factory. There are also a lot of buildings that used to belong to General Motors executives as the Warren area stretching to Lordstown was a major part of GM. Unfortunately, they have abandoned that area. Maybe you could look into those plants for a future episode.

As someone who grew up in the Detroit area and still lives in the area today it is sad that building will be demolished, but the shear magnitude of this building and grand scale will always give me a feeling of awe no matter what condition it’s in Good video and glad you covered this place

in the mid to late 70's I was required to make a trip into the Packard plant to make the legally required inspection of some companies postage meter. Even back then the complex appeared to be mostly in ruins. That whole area of Detroit was no where you would want to go unless you had to. Finding this obscure little company in there was no easy task so I got a real good look at the place before finding the little business an completing my task. It was cool to see the place but I was really glad to get the hell out of there!

As someone who frequently visits abandoned buildings in Detroit it’s really cool to see you guys cover this icon, while Detroit still needs a lotta work they have really been trying to clean up the city many icon abandoned buildings have been torn down or renovated. It is the best feeling when an abandoned building that you got to explore gets a new life and is transformed into something new and it also makes you kinda feel special since you were lucky to get to see a before and after unlike most of the general population

Just visited the plant last week, late June 2023. They are tearing parts down, but slow going. They have large water cannon blowing mist into the air, probably to cling to dust so it falls and doesn’t remain airborne. Can you imagine all the EPA hazards floating from that place? My point: it’s gonna be a slow process. Yet: still so heartbreaking to see. The history of rise and fall is tragic. Revitalization will take decades, if ever. The potential in Detroit is incredible. Will it ever materialize?

I need more of Jake and Bright Sun Films exploration into the basic abandonment of metropolitan Detroit. There are a number of places begging to be examined in more detail.

A new Defunctland AND a new Abandoned? This is a good time for this, despite the fact that I barley had an interest in this subject before watching this channel.

how did he stay cooped up for eight months?? food? water? bathroom/showering?? I have a lot of questions

Fantastic video and storytelling as always man! Was happy to have a hand in this project! Your drone footage turned out amazing!

I used to work not far from that place and I've been to hundreds of raves in that place too. Great memories of Old techno Detroit.

My grandfather worked at this plant for years until he died in 56. He and my grandmother lived right down the street on Comstock until she passed in 89.

My Grandfather was the head Comptroller at Oakland Motor Cars in 1911. In 1929 before the great depression his salary was $1200.00 a month. Oakland Motors became Pontiac Motors when General Motors was being put together. Grandpa was gone by then, but my Dad had some great stories about life before and after having money.

Pretty sure I went to a rave here. The thing I remember is just how many cars were parked in this unlit, overgrown field. You could hear windows breaking in the distance. Friends and I surveyed the vast sea of cars, weighed the odds, went in and partied until dawn anyway.

This sort of thing drives me absolutely insane. I *HATE* seeing such cool old buildings turn to ruins...but like you say, there was never much that could have been done. Just too big. A building like that has to learn how to pay for itself...

What an insane story. Kudos to Dominic on his persistence 😂😂😂 so curious as to how he lived there permanently. Also crazy that Banksy was there, too

Packard himself summered in my hometown (long before I was around). He had a huge mansion on the lake there. It stood empty for some time as well, but now it is condominiums, and quite nice ones, so at least they did something with it. Lots of things named after him in the town, in fact I grew up playing my football at Packard Field.

This is a genuinely good series, some of the most in-depth looks into some places I've never heard of, I love learning new things from this channel, Thank you so much for making this series

In my fictional world, this place never gets abandoned and still successful

I can’t believe I’ve been watching this series for 6 years. Keep up the good work!

Don't know how many remember, but Grandpa Phil from Hey Arnold! Drove a Packard. That was the first time I heard of the brand and it wasn't until much later when I wached a Jay Leno's garage video that I realized that it was a real car company.

As a car guy, this was a great watch! Fantastic Video! 👍

FINALY!!! i've been waiting for this one. Here's a few more abandoned places that might interest you: -Michigan Theatre, Detroit (now the world's most ornate parking garage) -I-84 Stack Interchange, Connecticut -Michigan Central Station, also in Detroit

Man... thank you... thank you for all you're hard work. We can tell you really enjoy and love what you're doing. It shows very clearly through your work and greatly appreciate it. Again thank you and you deserve all the good fortune' wealth that comes from these video's. You're awesome man. 👊

Me and my friends would go here back in high school to get good pics. Was a nice spot to adventure around

I went to some raves in abandoned industrial buildings in the late 90s but I bet the ones at this place were RAGERS.

It’s crazy, I had great aunts and uncles who literally lived by that plant (one of the houses shown) and I always wondered was what the history abandoned building. Sadly due to the crime (especially and projects that never happened) my family and many other residents were forced to relocate.

I visited in early april and it was an emotional experience. A couple weeks later i read in the news about the demolition order and couldn’t believe i got to see it just in time. The weirdest thing was the tens of thousands of old shoes dumped around the buildings in the oddest spots.

Man you can have an entire series of videos on the city of Detroit.

I filmed a documentary on this place a while back. It is really cool but will soon be gone. Nice video!

I worked on one of those films that shot there. In the film, a boy living in Modern Detroit was learning about Ancient Rome; He Imagined that the plant was certainly once Augustus’ palace. That comparison has stuck with me. The plant is one of the great Ruins of the modern age, on par with the Parthenon and Colosseum. For all the very legitimate talks of property value and safety, I can’t help but feel like tearing down the plant would be akin to tearing down either of those earlier examples. The packard plant, along with Ford’s similar temple on Woodward, are important cultural landmarks and should, at least in some ways, remain as such.

Being from the Detroit area, I love seeing abandoned building from Detroit. The city has made great strides recently, but there is still so much to be done

The Packard automotive plant, a facility I used in a scene in my 2nd Twisted Saga trilogy story, Aftermath. What happens in that scene sets up the Detroit Massacre.

I think of all the meetings, high pressure presentations, laughing, arguing, successes, failures. All so quiet now. Makes me sad. Im 68 and i long for that time. They are the good 'ol days.

One of so many sad and even painful stories of the decay of the once great City of Detroit. Few today truly understand what a pioneering and innovating city Detroit was, and how much of an economic force it was for our country from the 1900's to the early 1970's.

When you mentioned the raves, it immediately clicked that this place was where Detroit Techno got its start.

It’s funny to live in Michigan and hear your family talk about visiting relatives in Detroit when they were my age. They talked it up so much, how beautiful it all was and how many jobs there were. My moms cousin and uncle worked at Packard/ GM. But they left the city with everyone else right after the riots

You should do a video on the old Dan River Mills site in Danville, VA which was once the largest textile plant in the world, then sat abandoned for years and is now being reborn as a Caesars Palace resort and casino. I'm on the City Council here and would be happy to help you get information. It's a great story.

If you want to learn about the issues that caused Packard to close the East Grand plant, read "The Fall of the Packard Motor Car Company" by James Ward. It explains a lot and contains some great stories.

I visited this place, it’s unbelievably gigantic

They probably can’t save the whole building, but maybe than can just save the walls, I live in Seattle, and many old run down buildings get gutted and then investors just build an entire new building with just the facade of the old building, it’s a far stretch but I’m pretty sure that this could ensure atlease some of the building can live on.

I have pictures of my Great Grandfather and Grandmother, and my grandfather being presented their franchise certificate at the Packard plant. I have memories of my grandfather talking about the dealership, and how Packard operated. But this is gut wrenching to see as both a Michigan resident, and the family connection to a man that I admired so much. I enjoyed this very much and I appreciate the care you put into it.

Update; on October 27th 2022, demolition on the plant began. Most of it has been demolished but some small parts remain. However, much of the facility is privately owned by Palazuo and several others so they’ll likely remain.

Here's some updated information for anyone watching this from now: Demolition of the factory began on the 29th of September, with the city aiming to domolish the first building by December and the whole industrial area within 3 years.

Love your videos of your down under neighbors. I’m from Virginia back about 400 years. But I love your take on our northern industries. If you ever wonder down south here, let me know if I can be off help. Different culture, same country.

This reminds me of the massive Gates Rubber Factory we had here in Denver. It was a landmark here in Colorado but they tore it down and made those yuppy condos in it's place. Just heartbreaking.

That. Was amazing. Thank you, Jake. The prestigious mark Packard, lives on at the highest of all class car shows strewn around the country, called Concours. I.e. Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, and The Quail. Packard set the early standard for American luxury to rival only Rolls Royce.

I've been there a few times with friends who knew the plant. Luckily we went before the overhead tunnel between the two buildings collapsed .

I'm from the UK, but I still find it heartbreaking how places in the US that once stood as the ultimate city's have become so down-trodden and _almost_ forgotten. The government really needs to re-invent these amazing places.

If cities keeping up their old buildings is history paused in time, then Detroit and it's buildings is history played in time. I admit there are many, many buildings there that should go, but as someone who grew up right outside of the area, it's always really interesting to see the toll time plays on what was once proof of humanity's great marvels. It's a reminder in a way, that past history will always be present, yet we live in a different times.

I was born and raised in Detroit and still live nearby. I have driven past this building many times and love to hear the story from your prospective! Thank you.

Thank you for this Jake. I’m from Warren, OH and Packard is basically what we were known for.

JAKE! I can't tell you how much I have BEEN WAITING for you to cover this. And just in time too! Thanks so much. Do you still do merch? I need a Bright Sun tshirt in my life.

My dad used to go to Redford High School in the Redford area of Detroit. It's gone now, all that's left, as of the last time we were there, was the scoreboard. The house he grew up in is blue and covered with polka dots with a hole in the roof from a fire.

Another EXCELLENT video Jake. I can't tell you how much I enjoy your videos, the way you present the information and tell the stories is straight forward and to the point with no nonsense. I still watch Closed for Storm and learn stuff I missed the other times I have watched it. Keep up the great work ! I also am really jealous of that giant model Disney cruise ship you have, we cruise Disney a lot and would love to have that model.

I can't lie there's a lot of videos I need to catch up on. Thanks for continuing on the good work.

Great video man, would love to see more topics surrounding abandoned Detroit!

Love your documentary! Yours so far has the best! You stuck to the topic and didn't get off into other stuff about Detroit! Thank you 😊❤️!

We used to throw Rave Party's in that old Packard Plant back in the 1990s. Place was a death trap and alot of kids got hurt in there over the years.

Always love these high quality videos keep it up!

The best example I ever heard someone explain Packard’s demise was put it through this way: they got catfished with the purchase and then subsequently merger of Studebaker. Packard fell to its knees to save the other company, and the irony is Packard "united" to survive. The reason they went bust was so Studebaker could survive.

I was SO excited to see this episode and it came out amazing! Drone footage usually makes me motion sick but yours is so smooth, very well done!!

For the next episode of abandoned, you should do like Fiesta Mall in Mesa, AZ or Hayden Flour Mill in Tempe, AZ.

I can't believe you didn't mention the documentary done about the building and the man living there full time... It's probably about 20 years old now.

Great Video! Keep up the good work Jake!

Here's an abandoned place that recently became a mega super market very recently. The Hudson River State Hospital opened in 1873 until its closure in 2003. 293 acres of land, it had 2 massive fires (2007 from a lightning strike, and an accidental one in 2018). As a kid, I would have seen the building in the distance barely going up Route 9 to Hyde Park (FDR's Hyde Park). Demolition began in 2016, it completed sometime in 2020-2021 & a Mega Shop Rite was put in its place & opened in Early October of 2021. Besides the big supermarket, several other places opened up & in the future it will have up to 750 residential units & 150 hotel rooms with a conference center built. This shop rite holds 125 employees too.

I've been reading nailhed's articles for a few years now. Great photos, great writing on pretty much anything abandoned in Michigan.

10:13 Was he really selling drugs, or was he "selling drugs"? I.e. did the cops pant drugs on him to get him out of the way for the city? This is Detroit, after all.

Amazing video! Enjoyed that a lot!

I lived in Detroit in the late 80s to early 95 and went to a lot Of parties at the Packard Plant. Legendary DJs, epic parties. Amazing time.

Please do more of these! I live about 45 minutes from Detroit and find all of the abandoned property fascinating

I was hoping you'd do this one. Thanks Jake!

Another awesome video Jake, as a car enthusiast and someone who grew up with some knowledge of packard and studebaker vehicles it’s really cool to see where everything started, really sad to see how it ended up. Hopefully something else that helps the world, the people in surrounding areas get jobs takes it’s place for the future.

Abandoned and bankrupt series on your channel are my fav!! Always look forward to your uploads !! 🙌🏻👍🏻

I've been by the plant many times but this video contained a wealth of information that I was previously unaware of, good job!

Needed this after my EOC today, thank you Jake!

Being a Michigander, I instantly liked the video before watching!

I always love the way this guy explains the history of these abandoned places, between BSF and Defunctland they are keeping the memory of these places

I have been WAITING for this!!! obsessed.

RIP Packard and the Packard plant. For some reason, while watching this my bright idea is divide it up into three divisions of development, three people revitalize each part, and then later merge to help complete it. But that will never happen, even if it was a group of friends and investors with money and time to do something like that, its just wishful thinking on my part. Definitely looked real nice back in the day with the people going to and from work at the plant and driving past and somewhat through it to get to other parts of the city. The whole city was once beautiful too, but everything sadly feel into ruin and may be lost to time. For some reason I predict Detroit becoming a city that will just fall off the map to disappear forever and would need a miracle, or a moment like in the movie “Cars” to save it.

My grandfather worked at the Packard Plant from 1925, till his retirement in 1952. My grandparents along with my dad, moved to Detroit from rural Arkansas, dad was only 6.

Nailhed is an iconic Detroit urban explorer! His website has incredible photos and stories of the many places he's visited around here. It's definitely worth a visit to check out his site!

I remember seeing this on one of the episodes on The Grand Tour. It was breathtaking but sad.

It's sad to see how these things were abandoned and other parts of the country were growing so fast we cannot hold up

Detroit as a city has been largely abandoned

I live about an hour north of there. About 10 years ago my friends band shot a music video there.

As a Detroiter, I wish you would do Boblo Island in Canada one day!!! Loved going there as a kid in the 80s!

Its tragic it has to go, but the buildings look beyond repair, maybe they could save the water tower as a landmark (the bridge is gone which is a huge loss), but I'd doubt it :(

If the plant wasn't literally collapsing they could renovate it and sell the building to Hollywood as Soundstages

My friends and I explored that a couple summers ago. It’s such an interesting place. We spent an hour or two and then security chased them us out. Got some amazing photos and went into the tunnel bridge before it collapsed

Yet another outstanding abandoned mini doc Jake, you never cease to amaze.

Abandoned Three Mile Island or Abandoned Michigan Central Depot? Very good video.

You didn't even have to mention the plant, just make an entire Abandoned episode about Detroit.

I live not to far away from the Packard Proving Grounds and I was able to tour the property and learn its history. The amazing upside of the visit was that since I could drive stick we were able to fire up one of the cars they had and take it for a ride on the property. I only wish the track was still intact out there though.

I did a photo tour of the plant a few years ago. It was really cool to go inside and explore it. There was a demolition company starting to clear out the admin building to turn them into apartments but that never happened. I remember walking over the bridge you can see at 6:10 wondering if it would still hold my weight.