Discuss Detroit » Hall of Fame Threads » Continental Plant on Jefferson « Previous Next »
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

Post Number: 6
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 207.74.112.60
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 9:46 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't know if this is a newsworthy subject, but who knows anything about the state and ownership of the Continental plant (former auto company I assume) on the northeast corner of Jefferson and Conner? How long has it been in its current state? This has got to be one of the largest and ugliest pieces of blight around, and really drags down an improving east Jefferson corridor. I'm only college-age and don't know much about that factory's past, so please fill me in.
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Mikem
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Post Number: 1139
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.13.146
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 11:33 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The city property web site shows the parcels are owned by the:

METAL EXCHANGE CORPORATION
111 WESTPORT PLZ STE 704
SAINT LOUIS, MO
63146-3016

and the estate of Roy Ferguson?

Here's an earlier thread on auto plant stuff: https://www.atdetroit.net/forum/mes sages/18968/16874.html
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Hockey_player
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Posted From: 207.148.213.218
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 11:44 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It's Continental Aluminum. The old Continental Motors plant was torn down years ago. Though the auto plant was located near the one you're talking about, they are two different structures.
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Mackinaw
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Posted From: 207.74.111.81
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 12:29 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks for the info...according to that previous thread the jist of it is these are industrial sites of companies that are no more and that outsiders own the parcels now.
Do you think that the city should have a concerted effort to crack down on industrial blight in a similar fashion to how they've leveled so much residential blight? Obviously the site is being neglected by its owner who has distant if any ties or interest to redeveloping the city. Unfortunately it seems this site would probably fall under the category of hard-to-reclaim brownfields such as the former uniroyal tire plant site.
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Mikem
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Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 12:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I see that Continental Aluminum, now out in New Hudson, is a division of Metals Exchange, so they still own the property. Maybe the city is hoping Continental will come back some day.
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Mackinaw
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Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 12:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That would be something...major INDUSTRIAL redevelopment in Detroit. Any reuse of that site would be amazing, but would definitly be nice. I would like the city to do more than just hope, however.
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Cletus
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Posted From: 12.75.48.206
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 12:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That place would make for some excellent rave parties, now that the Broderick seems to be defunct and all...but sadly, I used to live near there and it was said that the ground is terribly contaminated from the aluminum smelting processes.
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Mackinaw
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Posted From: 207.74.111.42
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 2:15 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yep, that makes it an awful form of blight, what needs to be looked at is Brownfield redevelopment money. The Bush Administration has actually doubled funding to this program because it creates jobs and is a decent way to help the city...it's just a matter of local officials bringing home the dollars, which is hard to forsee.
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Sven1977
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Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 4:18 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here are some old factory shots. The first two are of the Aerocar/Hudson plant on Mack. The third is a shot of the Continental factory. I have a bunch of shots of old car buildings.

Areocar/Hudson

Aerocar/Hudson rear

Continental
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 1143
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Posted From: 68.43.13.146
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 4:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This was Aerocar? I thought it was part of Pfieffer. What else fo you have?

Aerocar?
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Sven1977
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Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 5:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'll double check my book at home because the building across the street looks almost the same. I have a shot of the Warren car plant which was briefly used to make cars around 1913.
I'll try to bring that to work on Monday. All my pictures are way to large for this site so I have to resize them on another computer in Photoshop. I'm surprised your shot could fit in at 55k. Besides the standard Highland Park Ford and Packard shots, I also have The Cadillac plant on East Warren, The Hudson/Cadillac plant on Conner, Some good EMF Studebaker and Ford shots on Piquette, a Briggs factory on Mt.Elliot, the Russell St./Anderson Electric complex, the REO powerhouse in Pontiac as well as the Oakland/Pontiac plant and Jewett factory (it may be where the car was made and it may not be but it says Jewett on the smokestack. I used to think I had an odd hobbey but I guess I am not the only one interested in decaying factories. I have shots of some places that I can't identify. I should post them and see if anyone knows what they are. You're shot above is great. I'm not sure which camera I used to take mine but I usually don't cut things off unless maybe I was in a hurry to avoid a street person from coming up to me.
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Mikem
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Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 5:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes that 50kb limit is tough, isn't it? I'm not saying your wrong about Aerocar, I just know I took this while photographing Pfieffer. What's the name of the book you are referring to? I'd be interested in the Briggs and E Warren Cadillac photos.
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Sven1977
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Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 6:07 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here are two Cadillac shots and the Briggs picture. I talked to the manager of the steel company that is using it now and he was the one who told me that it used to be a Briggs factory.
Cadillac Door

Cadillac on East Warren

Briggs
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Eric_c
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Post Number: 142
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Posted From: 64.139.65.98
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 6:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks, Sven.
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Mikem
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Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 7:28 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

So, what did Cadillac do at that location? I thought they were like jjaba; westside only.

The Briggs location on Mt. Elliot looks familiar - is it just south of Lynch Rd? I thought this was a Murray factory. Did Briggs takeover Murray before Chyrsler bought Briggs?

You've done a good job for a new guy, Sven, wecome to the forum! Now I have an assignment for you: Go find out who built this factory at the corner of Hoover and E State Fair and report back here.

Kahn?
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Taj920
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Posted From: 68.42.252.20
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 7:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think the property owners of Continental will quietly keep the building vacant and keep paying taxes. There is no way they want to get hooked into paying any of the clean-up costs.
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Aiw
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Posted From: 209.216.150.127
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 7:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mike, that factory looks like a Kahn...
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Mackinaw
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Username: Mackinaw

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Posted From: 207.74.112.113
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 9:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Taj920, that's a likely scenario. The city probably doesn't care about "busting blight" too much if they are still getting decent revenue off an empty site. But think of how much more revenue they'd get if the site was occupied and people worked there, whether for the current owner or for something new (tear-down and rebuild is best solution, but very long-term with the cleanup needed).
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Mikem
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Post Number: 1149
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Posted From: 68.43.13.146
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 9:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Andrew, you should see the Parduccis just up the block...;)
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Mikem
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Posted From: 68.43.13.146
Posted on Friday, February 18, 2005 - 11:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I forgot I had this in the heaps of crap on my desk:

Continental'15

The postmark is dated May 20, 1915.

Description says:

quote:

The Continental Motor Manufacuring Company is located at Jefferson Avenue, East and Betzner Avenue, and can be reached by Jefferson Cars marked Grosse Pointe, going East. The Continental is one of the largest of the accessory plants connected with the automobile industry. More than fifty of these plants are located in the vicinity of Detroit, near at hand to the greatest market for their products.


The sender, name illegible, sent it to Miss Emma Zuler in Bay City with the note, "Lots of places for girls to work."
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Cletus
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Posted From: 12.75.31.135
Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 12:35 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We can always use another girl.
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Kathleen
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Username: Kathleen

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Posted From: 69.14.122.57
Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 9:49 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

MikeM: That sure does look like a Kahn building. Can you enlighten us about the Parduccis you referred to? I'm trying to picture the area but can't narrow it down to identify the building you are referring to. Thanks.
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Mikem
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Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 10:51 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kathleen, Grosbeck and Hoover run together just south of Eight Mile. On the west side of Hoover, right before the intersection is a Kahn style building with these along the top:

PackardAircraft?

BlacksmithWoman

BalloonAirplane

I speculated that they were Parduccis and I forwarded them to Einar for judgement. Einar had been searching for a couple of Parducci jobs that he couldn't find, one of which was a factory referred to as "Packard Aircraft". We did a little searching and came to the conclusion this was probably it. Packard had developed a diesel engine for use in airplanes and I've found references to test flights at the Packard Proving Grounds. On a post WWII map I have, this factory is shown as "Warner Aircraft", so I'm not 100% certain, but I'm guessing it was originally built for Packard. However, this looks more like an office than a factory.

Now, continue south on Hoover to the first major intersection, 7½ Mile a/k/a E. State Fair, and on your right is the factory pictured in the previous post. Maybe this was the Packard Aircraft factory, and the Parduccis are on the division's office building, just up the street?

(Message edited by MikeM on February 19, 2005)
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Kathleen
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Posted From: 69.14.122.57
Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 10:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

MikeM: Thanks so much for all that info and the photos. I will have to check out those buildings when I get a chance, as well as check the city directories to see what businesses were in the buildings when.
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Mikem
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Post Number: 1152
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Posted From: 68.43.13.146
Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 11:03 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Factory 19925 Hoover
Parduccis 20263 Hoover

Let me know what you find!
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Mikem
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Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 11:27 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Some references to the factory we found:

quote:

Harold Welhusen...attended the Packard Aircraft School in Detroit, where he worked during WWII...



and

quote:

From the New York Herald Tribune Wednesday, May 15, 1929:

Secrecy which Packard officials have thrown about their motor is said to have been motivated purely by economic reasons. "There is no patent obtainable on a Diesel motor which will serve in airplanes. In order to capitalize their solution of the problem, the Packard officials had to make
plans for standard production many months ago. A modern factory, with approximately 300,000 square feet of floor area, is now completion in Detroit. Their plant, it is said, will be used exclusively for the Packard aircraft Diesel engine. The date for the start of production work has not been set.



and

quote:

Packard to Begin Building Diesel Plane Engines Soon
Will Start Construction at Once on New Three
Story Factory to Handle Work
[From Aviation, March 2, 1929, vol. 26, no. 10]

DETROIT, MICH.----Indication that the Diesel type airplane engine, recently developed by Capt. L. M. Woolson, chief aeronautical engineer of the Packard Motor Car Co., will become a commercial reality and possibly a revolutionary factor in airplane design, is seen here in the announcement of the concern that it will begin construction immediately of a $650,000 plant to produce the engines in large quantity for the commercial market.
The new plant, according to the announcement by Hugh J. Ferry, treasurer of the Packard firm, will be completed and in operation within five weeks. Between 600 and 700 men will be employed and, according to the expectations, production will be carried on at the rate of about 500 Diesel engines per month by July.
The Packard Diesel was announced first in October, following experiments covering several years. The original engine was placed in a Stinson-Detroiter, which was flown successfully by Captain Woolson and Walter Lees, Packard pilot. Since that time Captain Woolson has built four of the engines, all of 200 hp. capacity, developing 1 hp. for every 2 lb. of weight.




Stories of the test flights at the proving grounds tell of Lindberg coming to visit, driving up fromthe Detroit diesel factory to the proving grounds.
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Mikem
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Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 8:19 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sven, a source I checked today says the Aerocar factory on Mack was really the Columbia Motor Car factory; however it was originally built for Everitt before he became part of E.M.F.
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Eric_c
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Posted From: 4.165.150.49
Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 9:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The "Aviation" article says consruction on the plant would begin immediately and completed within six weeks. It would be three stories tall and employ between six and seven hundred men. The plant was to produce a cutting-edge technology.

Man, wouldn't that type of announcement be welcome news in today's Detroit? I also note the year the story was written coincides with the beginning of the Great Depression. All ciclical, but oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Off topic, but perhaps appropriate.
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Mikem
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Posted on Saturday, February 19, 2005 - 10:17 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, it certainly would be welcome. I imagine there was a story like this in the papers every month from 1914-1929. I am wondering what happened to production, as the diesel aircraft engine never really took off (he-he-he), although it is being revived lately, mainly in the form of a two-stroker. Did the depression kill the project?

Today, I looked at a business directory from 1940 which listed the building with the Parducci sculptures as Warner Aircraft and the factory at Hoover & State Fair as National Auto Fibers. Here's another view of it and you can see it's not three-stories either. Hmmm. Were either of these ever Packard, sold off soon after construction, or are we looking in the wrong place?

NationalAutoFiber
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Sven1977
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Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 12:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mikem,
Look at the picture on the Hudson site. Even the telephone poles match.

http://home.earthlink.net/~tra y001/hudson/history/history.ht m
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Mikem
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Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 1:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, and I found this too:

1stHudsonPlant

The source claims it's Hudson's first factory on Mack @ Beaufait, formerly Aerocar.

Putting together different sources, I have Aerocar in business only from 1905-1907, during which time they used this factory. Whether they built it or it was pre-existing, I don't know. Next Hudson moved in in 1909. They had such a good first year, they bought land and built a plant on E Jefferson. After they moved to the new plant, B. F. Everitt moved in, but when, for how long, and what he did there, I can't find. (He was out of E.M.F. by that time). Finally Columbia Motor Car moved in after they were organized in 1917. Columbia bought the Liberty Motor Car Co in 1923 but overextended itself and went out of business in 1924. A 1940 city directory still showed them as owners of 6501 Mack.
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Sven1977
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Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 3:23 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Your picture is the same as one in "How Detroit Became The Automotive Capital" which is a great book. You asked about the Briggs factory, the address is 8650 Mt. Elliot. The cross oread is Heintz or Hentz or something like that. I'm a suburbanite and anything on the East Side is an adventure. The manager who explained what it used to be could have been wrong too. It might have been Murray and he got the story wrong which is quite possible when dealing with old stories. My side track from Continental has taken this thread (if that's what this is called)too far away from the original question. I suppose I should start a new one to continue my factory investigations. I'm amazed at how smart everyone is when it comes to old building trivia.
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Mikem
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Posted on Monday, February 21, 2005 - 3:50 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Happens all the time, and if someone wants to follow up on the original question, they will. Everyone may seem smart, but it's really collective knowledge. Szudarek's book is where I got most of the history above.
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Bate
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Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 10:54 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hi, I'm new here and have been following the forums for a while, but just registered recently. I work in the auto industry and travel to Detroit occasionally. I also have become interested in the old Detroit auto factories. A couple of questions on Continental. Does anyone know what year the auto plant was torn down? And was the factory the same site as current Continental Alloys? I work with someone who's father had something to do with a turbine car Continental Aircraft was developing in the late 60's and he mentioned working on it at the Detroit plant.
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Lowell
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Posted From: 66.167.211.78
Posted on Thursday, February 24, 2005 - 11:08 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here is my favorite angle on Continental from a side street just of Jefferson east of Conner. I love such shots because they are so telling. The factory goes and the neighborhood dies thereafter. It also displays a era of Detroit when the urban fabric was tightly interwoven -- worker housing, industry, churches and institutions were all cheek to jowl.

c
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The_rock
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Posted From: 68.42.250.243
Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 8:50 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Great posts EVERYONE on the old Hudson plants. I still have a black and white photo of my Cub Scout troop taken at the Jefferson/Connor plant where I saw the Hudson put together from beginning to end.
Until I visited the Jeep Cherokee being manufactured "across the street" a few years ago, I still assumed that auto engines were lowered into the engine compartment via link chains/pulleys , and then I found out that now they are put in place from underneath, not overhead.
Guess its time to head over to the Rouge and see how Ford does it.
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Jjaba
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Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 5:49 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The Rock brings back great memories of jjaba at Noble School. Each year, our class went to Ford Rouge so we could get ready to become auto workers.
We toured so many plants over the seven grades there; glass, tires, engines, final assy., forge.
They gave each student a map of the Rouge complex, 100,000 workers on one industrial site. Imagine that!

Often, jjaba rode the Wyoming bus and at shift change, the dirty workers crowded the bus with black lunch pails, and that smell of ground metal on their bodies. Imagine that in July!

These photos of the Eastside of Detroit fascinate jjaba. Having never been over there, he thought the Westside was the onliest auto plant. Funny, though, because he knew of Murray Body, Packard, Briggs Radiator, Hudsons, Chalmers, Fisher Body, Studebakers, Locomobile, Marmon, Plymouth, Dodge Main, but just never saw them. Thanks for this thread. It is EXCELLENT!
jjaba, Proudly Westsider.
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Mikem
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Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 12:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bate, from aerial photos, it looks like the main part of the Continental plant was torn down after the Hudson plant (it's main reason for being there in the first place), between '56 and '61. The aluminum smelting part remains but I think it closed in the mid-'60s.

Does anyone know where the Divco truck factory was located? I saw a reference that says it was on Hoover Rd "near" Detroit, but I'm wondering if it was "in" Detroit?
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Carptrash
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Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 2:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

MikeM:
Thanks for bringing me back to Detroit. You certaily know the right bait to catch this carp with.
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Carptrash
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Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 2:18 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

PS:
in the Architect slot of my data base, for the building at 20263 Hoover I have entered "Everett Winters ?" Any one have any idea what that could be for ? eeeeeek
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Mikem
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Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 4:24 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Carp, as I said above, a 1940 city directory lists the address as Warner Aircraft and the owner as Charles(?) Warner. Map from '47:

1947

And for the first time, I noticed the plant just to the south at State Fair is still "Auto Fibre" in '47. Probably made wood parts or leather upholstery for cars. Still need to know if these were originally Packard's or not.
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Aiw
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Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 8:34 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Everett Winters? That's a new one to me... Can't say I've ever come across this one before.
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Bate
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Posted From: 4.247.134.174
Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 2:41 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I was trying to get a time line on Continental regarding this published account from an engineer in the Philadelphia area who was working, with Continental, on a turbine powered car- sometime in 1967-68. I can confirm his name and that 2 examples of the prototype still exsist. This portion is how it relates to the plant and Detroit. I'm sure there are officers in Detroit with similar stories of stopping engineers on joy rides.


"When I took the completed chassis to Continental, they assigned me to the training room (that was considered off limits to the union, so I was not governed by any union regulations) as a place to work. We installed the engine, plumbed and wired the car, completed all that at about 4:00 AM on a Saturday morning. I desperately wanted to drive the thing to see if it worked. There were a bunch of people who in my estimation had spent a lot of money, and I wanted to see if the damned thing worked. The brakes were not yet working, so I chained it to a 57 Ford Station wagon, used the Ford for the brakes so I could drive it through the empty parking lot at Continental. It worked. I went to the motel, got a couple hours of sleep, came back, bled the brakes and now I’ve got to drive the thing. First I’ve got to find a test track or somewhere that I might be allowed to drive the vehicle. It did not seem that this was going to happen easily. Patience was strained and I had all the streets of Detroit at my disposal. So with a Pennsy Dealers tag hung on the back, in the midst of Saturday morning traffic, I set forth from the Continental plant. I merged into moving bumper to bumper traffic. The chase car was unable to merge at the same time. I had no rearview mirror, so I was unaware that the car behind me was a cop. I turned off Kuercheval, a main street, onto a tree-lined one way residential street. I accelerated a city block with absolutely no sensation of speed, it felt like a sick Buick Dynaflow. I had no measure of speed, the only instrument I had to show me anything was a power turbine tachometer, which I had not yet converted to a speedometer, all I knew was how many revs I pulled. Anyway, the cop’s chasing me down the street, this thing sounded like a 727 on final approach you understand, and the exhaust is tilted up out of the back of the car so if you’re behind it you’re looking through it, the world looks all fuzzy. It turns out I did something like a hundred and five miles an hour, and stopped in the city block. I can’t hear the cop’s siren the turbine is right in my ear. I turn right onto a main thoroughfare for the return trip. The cop pulls up alongside. It’s an all black neighborhood, and there’s an age break, say 18; people older than that ran away, scared to death of this thing; younger than that they ran after it to see what it was. So the cop pulls up along side of me and wanted me to stop. I refused, signaled him to follow me back to the Continental plant, stopped and awaited his consternation. He wanted to know what I thought I was doing. I said I just finished the car and had no test track to go to, but I wanted to see if it worked. He said fine, you want to go out on the road again, give us a call and we’ll give you an escort."
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Carptrash
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Username: Carptrash

Post Number: 1144
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 216.31.41.136
Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 2:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

whooops.

Got on the wrong flight. EW is connected to Parducci's "Hartford Terminal" job.

Anyone been to Hartford? eeeeeeeeek
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 1198
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.13.146
Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 4:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hartford?...several times. All I remember about the terminal was the Dunkin Donuts stand, which in that neck of the woods, are like Starbucks.

Bate, that's a fun story. I never knew Continental to make turbines. Did they buy or merge with Lycoming? That would explain the Pennsylvania dealer plates and Lycoming did make turbines for helicopters.
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Mikem
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Username: Mikem

Post Number: 1200
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 68.43.13.146
Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 10:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Bate, I found this tonight: Continental Turboshaft Engine Brochure from Continental Aviation and Engineering Corp, 13700 Kercheval, Detroit, MI.
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Bate
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Username: Bate

Post Number: 6
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 4.247.137.73
Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2005 - 11:57 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The location makes some sense now. Other info...Continental Aviation built the small turbine engines under licence (Turbomecca, France). Car was funded by Howmet Alloys (model Howmet TX). Prototypes were raced in the late 60's and collected dust until recently. One was restored to original condition and raced at the Goodwood Festival 2002.
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Bunkster
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Username: Bunkster

Post Number: 16
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Friday, September 05, 2008 - 10:39 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Mike G: Another great site. The building above with the neat stonework I think was also once a Crawford door factory.

My Dad once worked for them and he used to get a fruit box every year. I now use the boxes to store x-mas stuff in it and I saw the address on the box and two years ago went there to locate the building. If someone wants to see the shipping label I can get a copy of it.
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Cdsypolt
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Username: Cdsypolt

Post Number: 1
Registered: 03-2009
Posted on Sunday, March 08, 2009 - 2:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I worked for Continental Aluminum as a scrap buyer from 1991-1994, and my dad was a manufacturer's rep for them from about 1980-2000, and I thought I might add to the knowledge base, as in its heyday it was a pretty interesting organization.

CA was founded in the late 70's or early eighties by a guy named Ed Strobel. To say that Ed was a colorful figure doesn't really do him justice. I was too young to hear the startup stories, but when I was at CA you would hear snippets of stuff. Let's just say that Ed had a creative approach to accounting.

At some point, Metal Exchange in St. Louis bought a part of CA, and then eventually, the whole thing. They had much stricter standards about accounting.

Back to the name - CA had no connection to Continental Engines, but when they bought the building it made sense to name the company after the former occupant. The company took scrap aluminum, melted it down, and produced aluminum cones, bars, and shot for use in deoxidizing steel.

I'm looking at the Google Maps satellite view and can add a bit of color commentary about what I saw when I was there.

They're gone now, but when I was there there were two construction-type trailers mounted on the SE-facing wall, outside the actual plant which were used for offices. In the same area was our truck scale, which looks like a discolored part of the parking area.

Trucks were unloaded in the SE corner of the building where we had a truck well. As the lowest point, it would regularly fill with water all the way to the top during heavy rains.

Note that we only used about a third of the building (basically, the southern third). The back half was nicknamed the catacombs. I actually never made it back there, but here are some of the things I was told:

- There was a pretty significant tunnel system that was filled with water for reasons I can only guess at.
- You'll notice on the satellite view a bunch of what look like peaked roofs made of steel in the northern third of the building. I was told that those were engine testing rooms and were designed to blow up and out
- During the mid-eighties, the president of Continental (who had replaced Ed Strobel), was actually running a chop shop out of the catacombs.

During my time there, we employed primarily immigrant labor - Yemeni immigrants handled the furnace and production portions of the plant, and Polish immigrants handled all of the maintenance. Looking back, I wish I had picked up more Arabic other than the swear words.

The thing that started this thread was the question about removing the plant. Notwithstanding the environmental issues (there is undoubtedly some contamination, but I'm not sure the nature of it), the biggest problem is that both buildings on the property are heavily reinforced. The main building has walls that are about two feet thick. The second building (the one with the smokestack) has 3 foot thick walls.

Looking at the current Google Maps view, it is amazing to me how green the site is, and it appears that part of the roof has collapsed, roughly around where the furnace was. It appears that nature is reclaiming the plant, one tree at a time. The plant was abandoned in the late 90's when the company moved to a new purpose-built building in Lyon, MI.

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