The Packard Proving Grounds

Out on Van Dyke Avenue in Shelby Township sits a quiet, elegant piece of America’s car history: the Packard Proving Grounds. In the 1920s, Packard was one of the most prestigious luxury carmakers in the country, and it built this place to test its automobiles. It opened in 1928 on about 500 acres of former farmland, designed by the famous Detroit architect Albert Kahn to look as grand as the cars themselves — the landscaping at the entrance was even shaped like Packard’s signature grille. The centerpiece was a smooth, banked 2.5-mile concrete oval track, so well built that drivers could fly around the curves at over 100 mph without touching the steering wheel. At the grand opening, a race driver set a world speed record of nearly 149 mph, and for more than 20 years it was called “the world’s fastest speedway.” Charles Lindbergh even tested a Packard-powered airplane here. Packard tested cars at the grounds until 1956, and during World War II, Chrysler borrowed the site to test tanks. Packard the company eventually disappeared, and the grounds were nearly bulldozed in the 1990s — but local history lovers stepped in, saved about 14 acres, and formed a foundation to restore it.

You can tour the old Tudor-style lodge, garage, and a surviving stretch of the original track by appointment. The Packard Proving Grounds Historic Site is at 49965 Van Dyke Avenue in Shelby Township (packardprovinggrounds.org).