Thank you again for the comments! Friday now, I was supposed to meet Carmine from Moparts a bit later as he was able to do me a huge favor! A Warren Truck plant tour!!! I hadn't seen enough of downtown yet and not even the Michigan Central Depot! So, I head down south with the trusty MoPar V10 (God I love my carbon footprint, I want to make a statue of it!) and I see a lot of interesting old factories on the way once again. I should get in touch with some Detroit historians for my next visit, it bugs me that I miss out on a lot of stuff!
This is the site of the recently demolished DeSoto/McGraw Glass plant...I was only a few months late...couldn't even get any artifacts since the site is completely fenced. Maybe they knew I was coming?
http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2011/05/a-very-belated-obituary-for-desoto/
Approaching the Michigan Central Depot is a surreal experience! One can only imagine how it must have felt almost 100 years ago for a country boy to see something like this. What is really sad is the fact that it only took 10 years for the criminal elements to break almost everything in this huge structure. I really think every single one of them should have been shot on site. Luckily it seems now that the building will be renovated, there were crews working on it when I visited.
http://mc.net/~louisvw/depot/det-mc/det-mc.htm
The Book-Cadillac Hotel was once also completely run down, now it is fully restored for $200 million!
http://www.bookcadillacwestin.com/http://www.forgottendetroit.com/caddy/index.html
The Horace E. Dodge and Son Memorial Fountain can be found in Hart Plaza. It is a great site for remembering the great influence The Dodge Brothers had on Detroit but in my mind the fountain is ugly beyond belief...sorry, someone had to say it...
Windsor, Canada is connected to Detroit by a tunnel, didn't go there as I wasn't sure if my loaner truck would cause issues...wanted to see the Challenger plant though and the Ford St Thomas plant that recently closed...they manufactured the Panther platform cars, Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Marquis and Lincoln Town Car...the last real American sedans. The street scene will not be the same soon...even New York has horrible imported cabs...that should be illegal!!! Looks like visiting Hong Kong or some other plastic city...I'd never set my foot in one, that's un-American...rant off...here's Windsor seen from Detroit;
A beautiful riverboat;
GM:s Renaissance Center is pretty impressive even if I'm more of an old school guy be it cars, buildings or what have you;
Imported From Detroit! OK, the clock is ticking, can't keep an Italian fellow who has an offer you can't refuse, waiting! Besides, he drives Imperials...
