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Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113159
11/15/11 02:13 PM
11/15/11 02:13 PM
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Chicken coop
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I didn't know you were at the Donut Cutter. Somehow I missed you. Of course I parked my Duster in the back anyway.

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: dustergirl340] #1113160
11/16/11 12:21 AM
11/16/11 12:21 AM
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Turku, Finland
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I am humbled by all the kind words, thank you! Since it is only 2.30AM I have an hour or so to post pics before going to work Rhino, I'll get back to you about the trans etc etc

Here we go again with more Chrysler stuff. I had a few hours in before an afternoon appointment so I took off north where I was heading anyway later. I am sure that many are not familiar with the fact that Chrysler had already built a new corporate headquarters in Troy back in 1974 but was forced to sell when the hard times arrived soon after. It was designed by Yamasaki & Associates who were also responsible for some buildings at the Highland Park site. It is situated just along I-75, a bit south from the current Auburn Hills HQ and on the opposite (west) side;

http://900tower.com/



I had visited the WPC Museum before but I thought that they'd have some new items on display and if all else fails there is always the gift shop The WPC is a must stop really. When visting, be sure to drive the loop around the headquarters as well, it is unbelievably huge!

http://www.allpar.com/corporate/factories/CTC.html

wpchryslermuseum.org/











I still need parts for one of these;

http://www.victorysiren.com/x/index.htm








Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113161
11/16/11 12:02 PM
11/16/11 12:02 PM
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Kingston, IL USA!
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Thanks for posting the pic of the 67 Monaco 500. I have one and you and I (and the guy driving the one in the pic) might be the only three people in the world that like it.

Get on with the pics already.


Mr. Norm's "Fanatic" (idiot)
71 Mr. Norm's Demon GSS
77 Mr. Norm's personal B250 GSS van
76 Mr. Norm's KZ900 Motor Sports Special
69 Mr. Norm's M code Dart GTS
69 D100
68 Barracuda
64 Valiant V200
07 Charger Daytona SST 6 speed test mule.






Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113162
11/16/11 12:14 PM
11/16/11 12:14 PM
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Chicken coop
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More pics please!

By the way, another place you might find interesting if you come back to this area is Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester, Michigan. It was built by the widow of John Dodge and her second husband.

http://www.meadowbrookhall.org/

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: dustergirl340] #1113163
11/16/11 12:49 PM
11/16/11 12:49 PM
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Turku, Finland
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Quote:

More pics please!

By the way, another place you might find interesting if you come back to this area is Meadowbrook Hall in Rochester, Michigan. It was built by the widow of John Dodge and her second husband.

http://www.meadowbrookhall.org/




Now, that's funny right there, I don't care who you are! Kneeling over the Greater Detroit area map and looking...let's see..he went to see the Yamasaki Chrysler HQ...then Auburn Hills...where would he go next? Yes, there is no other possibility, it must be Meadowbrook Hall!!

I was looking forward to seeing some of the magnificent homes that people in the auto industry built all over the Detroit area, had stacked info on them but unfortunately Meadowbrook Hall was the only one I managed to see. It is unbelievable...once again, the grounds themselves are so big that it is hard to comprehend....and the house is a work of art! The clock was ticking so I could not do the inside tour but I did see a little bit and I have no words. This is a must see if in Detroit! And please read some of the Dodge Brothers history, they were bigger than Henry Ford!





Yeah, this is where I usually hang out when in Detroit






Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: dustergirl340] #1113164
11/16/11 12:51 PM
11/16/11 12:51 PM
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LMAO! I give up, I think you've seen and done everything.

I haven't been there in years, but I loved going to Meadowbrook when I was a kid.

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: dustergirl340] #1113165
11/16/11 01:02 PM
11/16/11 01:02 PM
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Turku, Finland
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Quote:

LMAO! I give up, I think you've seen and done everything.

I haven't been there in years, but I loved going to Meadowbrook when I was a kid.




I managed a lot considering that I was in Detroit only for a week...but seriously, I only scratched the surface! There is so much to see it is unreal...but more to come, Thursday at noon so far...now where am I headed next...there must be something big going on in the northern suburbs if one is skipping the inside of Meadowbrook Hall and runs through the WPC?

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113166
11/16/11 06:43 PM
11/16/11 06:43 PM
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Turku, Finland
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Well, at least it was big for me! I had been talkin to Roger, a great guy I happened to get to know on the Detroityes forum, he is a Packard man and knows a lot of the automotive history in Detroit. I asked him if there was any activity at the Packard Proving Grounds during the week before Woodward Dream Cruise and he mentioned that we could figure something out. He actually arranged Sue, a very friendly Packard volunteer, to do a full tour of the complex just for me!! It was almost embarrassing...thank you again good people...there is so much talk these days about people having changed and that old time good will and generosity is gone but I witnessed quite the opposite on my trip. I wish I can return the favors one day! The test track grounds were originally 560 acres of which 14 remains today. It is evident that the area is quite different to the Packard plant one as the buildings sat almost forgotten a long time, yet there was no major damage done there in that period. Again, so much history here, the track was also completely leased by Chrysler for tank testing during WW2, thus the "Chrysler Building" in the middle.

http://www.packardmotorfdn.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_Proving_Grounds



What is shown above (and remains today) is what can be seen up in the middle of this aerial photo from the 1950:s;



This shot is from 1949;



I wonder if someone has tried to recreate this shot from 1955 inside the tank building?;



This is what you see when entering the grounds from Van Dyke, at one point there was so many trees in front that you couldn't even see the buildings from the road...that might be one factor that helped in saving them;



This is another work by Albert Kahn, it is amazing how much he influenced Detroit;



The interior is being worked on, it is very nice now and it will be a great time machine when finished! You can see a great deal of old photos and stories on the walls aboyut the family who took care of the complex along with stories about other Packard employees that worked there;



There was so much cool historic Packard stuff inside, a few of these chairs were saved from the plant, Sue did not know when that happened. I always wondered how long there was actual Packard stuff inside the plant after Packard left in 1956;





The garage and engineering building;





The original water tower;



This is the back side of the Chrysler built tank facility, the largest building on site;



My favorite Packard, in a great color combo, inside awaiting restoration...it was in great shape already!;



Lots of space here...another time machine, a fantastic place!;



Not to mention what else was inside...the Packard entrance missing from the plant is here..both of them! Along with light fixtures, doors, windows...so happy that some of it is in good hands instead of blood sucking scavengers!;



What about a NOS Packard engine, somewhat bigger than usual!;



Yours truly in the restored timing tower and the short part of the test track that was saved is in the background;



Yeah, got me a piece of the wooden Packard Plant assembly floor too! Thank you again for the tour guys!


Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113167
11/16/11 07:07 PM
11/16/11 07:07 PM
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Kingston, IL USA!
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Pretty neat! I hope you took a long trip this past summer, I'm looking forward to more.


Mr. Norm's "Fanatic" (idiot)
71 Mr. Norm's Demon GSS
77 Mr. Norm's personal B250 GSS van
76 Mr. Norm's KZ900 Motor Sports Special
69 Mr. Norm's M code Dart GTS
69 D100
68 Barracuda
64 Valiant V200
07 Charger Daytona SST 6 speed test mule.






Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113168
11/16/11 07:30 PM
11/16/11 07:30 PM
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St. John's Newfoundland
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Sorry about your mom.

I love your pics and story. I too have a fascination with this kind of stuff and your enthusiasm for it really comes through in your posts. I hope to take similar trip someday myself.

Love that 67 New Yorker too.

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113169
11/16/11 07:48 PM
11/16/11 07:48 PM
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Turku, Finland
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The day wasn't over yet though! I had to perform an oil change on Jim's truck and thought he'd get a kick out of that being done at what seems to be the site of the old Jimmy Addison Sunoco of the Silver Bullet fame! This Valvoline oil change facilty is located at the legendary intersection of Woodward and Taunton;







At Woodward and 13 Mile Road Chrysler was out in force and setting up shop. In this area I spent a lot of my time at the cruise walking up and down on Woodward;



















Just a short distance to the north GM also had their stuff pretty much ready;



Great display of their new engines;



And an even better one of the classic ones. Very cool!;



Couldn't stay long here either though because now it is ice-cream time! Roger, the friendly Packard man, told me that the yearly Packard ice cream social would be tonight and that I would be welcome to attend! Since I'm not the one saying no to sweet things it's a done deal! Great cars present and great people as well! Thank you goes also to the hosts, Roger and Sue (different ones than the ones previously mentioned ), the ice cream was great and your house is beautiful!









I saw a Kaiser Darrin earlier at the cruise and thought that was pretty special...but here's another one! Cool cars for sure! Check out the doors, they slide into the fenders...



Bowling anyone? Lots of entaertainment and cool stuff here;



John who played the massive organ (the size of a good sized garage!) is also an organ player at the downtown Fox Theater and an automotive historian. I don't know anything about playing music but this guy was impressive!



http://www.historicdetroit.org/building/fox-theatre/



With my stomach filled and a bunch great new experiences richer I had some time still at Woodward. I was getting a bit excited though as something really spectacular would be going down on Friday! BTW, many people warned about Detroit and I have to agree. There is dangerous stuff around...the Bloomfield Hills mosquitoes will draw blood out of you faster than the scavengers can kill the Packard plant!




Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113170
11/16/11 08:17 PM
11/16/11 08:17 PM
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Iowa - a member of the rustbel...
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Absolutly awsome post The pics of the old buildings with the history is pretty neat!

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113171
11/16/11 09:09 PM
11/16/11 09:09 PM
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Turku, Finland
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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...


Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113172
11/16/11 11:19 PM
11/16/11 11:19 PM
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Charlotte, NC
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Thank for posting pictures! Lots of interesting stuff even the non-Mopar stuff. No shortage of Hemis and Danas

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: 446acuda] #1113173
11/16/11 11:36 PM
11/16/11 11:36 PM
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Racine, WI
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Quote:






What's the story on this 440 GTS? Was this in WI a few years ago?

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: AKA] #1113174
11/16/11 11:39 PM
11/16/11 11:39 PM
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Round Lake Beach, Illinoisy
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Quote:

Quote:






What's the story on this 440 GTS? Was this in WI a few years ago?




Yep, we got it from Al Wiedemeir, he raced it a couple of times at Da Grove. We parted it out to restore another one. Eventually it will be restored too...hopefully...


The funny thing about science is that if you change one miniscule parameter you change the entire outcome to the way you want it.

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Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Rhinodart] #1113175
11/16/11 11:46 PM
11/16/11 11:46 PM
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Racine, WI
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Yep, we got it from Al Wiedemeir, he raced it a couple of times at Da Grove. We parted it out to restore another one. Eventually it will be restored too...hopefully...




That's what I thought, it looked a lot better when Al & John had it, one of the few cars I can say that about.

Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: AKA] #1113176
11/17/11 03:05 AM
11/17/11 03:05 AM
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Turku, Finland
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At the Chrysler display Carmine had his gorgeous Imperial ready and we hitched a ride back to Warren Stamping with a friend of his, Bill, who is another Chrysler nut with interesting cars in his collection. Thank you again for the ride, the Charger is unbelievable (a low mile original)!



Lots of cool vintage rides at the Chrysler display now including some really famous ones;





















THe WPC Museum had this gorgeous Fury on display and the museum giftshop had various goodies for sale;







This is it! We're going in!


Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113177
11/17/11 05:09 PM
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I mentioned that visiting the old Chrysler Highland Park HQ site was the climax of my trip and it was, due to the fact that pretty much everything cool had its start there. But there were many other things that ranked just beside it, the tour of Warren Stamping and Warren Truck were absolutely way up there too. I owe Carmine big time for this but there were many other people involved that made it happen for a nobody from a faraway land! I even got to shake hands with the plant manager of Warren Truck, sure appreciate the hospitality Sir! And what's too cool is the fact that so many people in the plant have classic MoPars themselves. It is a first class operation in all respects and I could have spent weeks or months here to see and learn everything! I also enjoyed the fact that the truck plant is so rich in history, I have several trucks that were made here so it added to the excitement! Of course the plant looks different outside than it looked back in the day (bummer) but that's what companies tend to do, make things look modern. I guess what has kept it running for so long is the fact that it is a one story factory unlike many of the older ones. This is the main reason why the old factories in Detroit are gone, they represent a different thinking and the new ones need a lot more acreage to build. That is one major reason why the factories moved to the suburbs...or why a lot of Hamtramck was leveled to get GM to build on the old Dodge Hamtramck site and its surroundings. OK, enough talking, let's get inside where it all happens, first Warren Stamping;

From back in the day, the area was so different then;



Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue!



The whole place is clean as a pin;



A lot of the production here goes to Warren Truck next door but also to other Chrysler factories (and no, the Schuler presses are not Daimler-related, they were in place before);



History is not hidden in these halls;



Walking through the parking lot/shipping area to Warren Truck we find something cool, the monthly employee car show!





A true gearhead has cars on display all over Detroit...that is Carmine's beautiful Imperial in the foreground!



Chrysler had a couple of cars to show too;



A lot of cool cars in this little American vehicles only show with a great relaxed atmosphere;


Re: 4 week MoPar Midwest tour with lots of pics! [Re: Forwardlook] #1113178
11/17/11 05:36 PM
11/17/11 05:36 PM
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Turku, Finland
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OK, goggles on and I'm ready! The lighting conditions were not ideal since we were in a hurry to get the full tour before the 10 mile conveyor is stopped during change of shifts and I hadn't coughed up enough cash to buy a better lens but I hope there are a few pics good enough. A flash is pretty much useless for pics like these. There are a lot of stuff from Dodge City in the links below, much better pics than mine and a lot of details about the factory and the assembly process!

http://www.allpar.com/corporate/factories/warren-truck.html

http://www.allpar.com/trucks/dodge/ram-factory.html



This gives an idea of the size of the complex;



Here's an awesome photo from back in the Sweptline days;



The management tools around in style...a cool shot from inside the factory!







Yeah, it will get a Hemi!



























Yes, withouth the European protectionism that makes the prices of these trucks skyrocket here I would already have one! Get them while you can, the gubmint might take that right away from you!

A few more from the paint shop which is in a separate building;







This completes the Warren Truck plant tour, thank you again for all parties involved! A day I will never forget!




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