The beginnings of the Packard Motor Car Proving Grounds, Part II

Continued form the previous post. Taken from Menno Duerksen, “Testing the Product: The Packard Proving Grounds,” in Beverly Rae Kimes, ed. Packard A History of the Motor Car and the Company (General Edition, 2nd Printing, Automobile Quarterly, 1978), pp. 682-695. Images from the Detroit Public Library. 

Still, the board was unconvinced, so the land was sold, eventually becoming Selfridge Field, a U.S. Army Air Force base – and the proving grounds idea lay dormant for nearly another decade, until steadily mounting traffic congestion, speed laws and outraged cries from the citizenry dictated a little fresh rethinking. In 1924 General Motors opened its gigantic proving grounds at Milford, thirty miles west of Detroit, and soon thereafter the Packard Motor Car Company concluded as well that Henry Joy had been right all along.

Alvan Macauley, now Packard president, found the necessary land near Utica – no longer could it be had in the sprawling industrial center around Detroit – the eventual 640 acres bisected by a highway, leaving 504 acres on one side of the road, this area to be where the major Packard activities were to be centered. Albert Kahn, Inc. was contracted to design and supervise construction of the facilities. 

Portrait of architect Albert Kahn studying a blueprint. Autographed on front: "To David J. Wilkie, in sincere appreciation, Albert Kahn."

Principal among these, of course, was the speed track. As James B. Forman, one of the men who would be employed at Utica, recalls, the result was a beauty: “The track was so perfectly banked that you could drive the curve at either end full throttle (about 100 mph) and take your hands of the steering wheel and the banking would guide the car around the curve and onto the straightaway.  The drivers liked to initiate the new people on the test crew by demonstrating this.

View of construction of the track at Packard Proving Grounds in Utica, Michigan, several male workers pictured with shovels. Handwritten on back: "Packard Motor Car Co. Proving Grounds, Utica, Michigan. Track construction, 1927-28."

View of workers resurfacing the track at the Packard Proving Grounds in Utica, Michigan. Equipment is from Julius Porath & Son, Detroit, Mich. Typed on back: "Proving grounds, track. Top elevation." Stamped on back: "Sep 5, 1946." Handwritten on back: "Packard Motor Car Co. Proving Grounds, Utica, Michigan. Resurfacing track."

 

In addition to the track, there was the lodge, a residence for the proving grounds manager and his staff, shops and testing laboratories, hills of varying gradations, plus mile upon mile of gravel, dirt and sand roadways. 

View of the lodge at the Packard Proving Grounds in Utica, Michigan. Tudor-style l.odge was designed by Albert Kahn. Typed on back: "Proving grounds, lodge views." Handwritten on back: "Packard Motor Car Co. Proving Grounds, Utica, Michigan. 1927. Lodge shortly after completion. Designed by Albert Kahn, Inc."

Workmen scattered boulders the size of watermelons along some roads, shoveled loads of sand into muck holes on others, devised a devilish stretch with railroad ties embedded crosswise at one-foot intervals, built up hills so steep a car might seemingly bound into the blue when topping the crest. Though some of this had the look of a medieval torture rack, the whole was couched into a beautifully landscaped and utterly grand setting. It had to be. Packard had a rather plush reputation to protect.

 

These were Packard’s golden years. The marque was outselling every other luxury car built in America—indeed the world. And Packard profits were as lush as its products; the company barely missed the better-than-a-million dollars that was expended outfitting Utica.

 

Put in charge at the Packard Proving grounds was Charles H. Vincent, a man whose career had included being test driver and mechanic for Thomas -Detroit shortly after then turn of the century and later experimental engineer at Ferro machine and Foundry in Cleveland, and with Hudson in Detroit during Super Six development days. He was a well-trained, self-educated engineer, and was Jesse Vincent’s brother – which factors combined to bring him to Packard in 1916. Save for a brief sojourn to work for a bank in Tulsa and to set up a Packard-Reo agency in Arizona, both of which failed during the depression at the end of WWI, he would remain at Packard through 1947.

Packard Co. file photograph of a 1934 Packard three-quarter front view, note 1933 Michigan license plate #Y-3895, two men standing at front driver's side, one taking notes, the other with papers in hand. Inscribed on photo back: "Packard 1107 twelve, eleventh series, 12-cylinder, 160-horsepower, 142-inch wheelbase, 5-person coupe (body type #737), prototype, note 1932-33 twelve bumpers, photographed by timing stand Packard Proving Grounds, left to right: Charles Helm (Charlie) Vincent inside stand, J.A. Gilray, Harold F. Olmsted.

 

At Utica with him was the redoubtable Tommy Milton, hired in April 1927 at an annual salary of $7500, $2900 more than Charlie Vincent was making at the time – and a figure reflective of Milton’s stature in the automobile field, his celebrity as a racing. Driver and his position as a ramrod of the Packard Proving Grounds project. Day-to-day operation of the facility was the charge of Charlie Vincent; overall inspiration was provided by Milton. 

Packard Co. file photograph of a 1932 Packard left side view, top folded, owner Tommy Milton standing at side. Inscribed on photo back: "Packard 905, twin six, ninth series,12-cylinder, 160-horsepower, 142.125-inch wheelbase, 4-person phaeton (body type #571), standing by car: Tommy Milton, setting Packard Motorcar Co. Detroit, Mich."