Packard Motor Cars

At Testing Grounds, Packard Owners Stage a Homecoming

SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — From Pebble Beach to Amelia Island, golf course fairways — particularly those near large bodies of water — seem to be the favored locations for the display of historically significant automobiles. Though pleasing to the eye, such landscapes are sorely lacking in automotive context.

That was not the case here at the second annual Cars ‘R’ Stars classic car show, held Sunday, roughly 22 miles north of downtown Detroit at what remains of the proving grounds of the Packard Motor Car Company.

In the late 1920s, the Packard Proving Grounds spanned a square mile and included a 2.5-mile banked oval track and several other roadways, paved and unpaved, where automobiles were honed by engineers before going into production.

Packards were among the finest automobiles of the era, so good that the company’s advertising slogan became a simple request to “Ask the Man Who Owns One.”

Engineers from Rolls-Royce came to Michigan in the 1920’s to learn how to create proper steering geometry from their American counterparts.

Edmund Meurer Jr., who had several cars, Packards and other marques, at the Cars ‘R’ Stars show on Sunday, shared the story of the visit by the Rolls engineers. An automotive enthusiast since he was 7 years old when his father brought home a 1936 Ford, Mr. Meurer Jr. said his Packards “drive like something 20 years beyond” vehicles of the same vintage.

The company’s test facility was considered as well-engineered as the vehicles that left it. After winning the 1928 Indianapolis 500, Leon Duray drove his Miller Special around the Packard oval at 148 m.p.h., a speed record that stood for nearly two decades. The architect Albert Kahn, who later designed Ford’s gargantuan River Rouge plant, is credited with many buildings at the Packard facility. The design of the entry boulevard was modeled after the iconic Packard automobile grille.

The grounds also once included a landing strip, a testament to Packard’s development of aircraft engines. Two years after crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Charles Lindbergh was here to test a Packard-powered airplane. The proving grounds’ aircraft hangar bears Lindbergh’s name.

After Packard’s demise as an independent automaker, the aircraft building firm Curtiss-Wright bought the property, but sold it just three years later to Ford. After more than 30 years of stewardship, Ford decided to develop the property for other uses. However, 14 acres, including the primary buildings, entryway and a 458-foot section of the oval track and its timing tower, were preserved by the Packard Motor Car Foundation , which also moved the Lindbergh Hangar to a location within that 14-acre site.

Packard Motor Car Information - NY Times: Cars-R-Stars at the ...

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