One of the treats of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" broadcast from Detroit Thursday morning were the taped segments they did on local topics, including the iconic Packard.
The car, not the factory.
While the factory ruins have become a visual cliche in Detroit, the car is much less known, and "Morning Joe" puts the spotlight on the role Packard played in American industry, culture and, yes, decline.
The plant employed 30,000 workers at its peak, and the shining product they turned out was sought after by the global elite of the 1930s. Babe Ruth, Clark Gable and Eva Peron owned one. The Packard outsold the Cadillac during its heyday.
"It was the premiere auto brand in the United States," Joel Stone, of the Detroit Historical Museum, is quoted as saying.
During the war, Packard turned into a aircraft-engine plant, and churned out 54,000 motors in less than four years.
The car had drive-by roles in various aspects of American culture, especially movies, including in "The Godfather." In the famous scene amid amber waves of grain, with the Statue of Liberty in the background, Peter Clemenza tells Rocco Lampone to "Leave the gun. Take the cannolis," after Lampone executes Paulie Gatto, Vito Corleone's former chauffeur, in a Packard. Gatto is left slumped against the steering wheel, bleeding and lifeless.
There a few shots of the 3.5-million-square-foot shambles on E. Grand Boulevard, but they seem appropriate in telling the Packard story.
"There's nothing like it, anywhere, I think, on earth," says Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin.
Packards are prized possessions these days. Local businessman Dick Kughn keeps a bunch of old Packards in his four garages.
