Volunteer Spotlight: David Ziegler

For nearly twenty years, David Ziegler drove past the Packard Proving Grounds, looking through the gates and wondering about the stories resting just inside.

As a self-described lifelong car guy and deep history buff, the pull of the historic site was always there. David ultimately decided it was time to stop wondering, taking the first step by walking through the door to offer his time to help preserve the legacy of a company that built the very fabric of Metro Detroit.

Since then, he has been quietly working in the background, transforming paper archives into digital history—and getting plenty of goosebumps along the way.

From Matchbox Cars to Digital Design

David’s connection to the automotive world goes back as far as he can remember.

“I’ve always been a car person,” David says. “Ever since I was a kid playing with Matchboxes and Hot Wheels on the kitchen floor.“

That early fascination was nurtured by his father, who worked as a model maker in a supplier shop, meticulously crafting prototype car models out of wood. Growing up in an atmosphere surrounded by the industry, David briefly dreamed of designing cars himself. He went on to spend his career in manufacturing, starting with traditional tool drawings in the pre-computer era before transitioning into computer-aided design (CAD) and machining.

When he came to the Proving Grounds, volunteering on the digital preservation team felt like a natural extension of his skills. Using his background in computers, he stepped in to assist the archive team with scanning and preserving historical documents.

Getting Goosebumps in the Archives

For David, scanning isn’t just an administrative task—it is an act of discovery. While some might see a stack of old papers as a project to finish in a few hours, David slows down to read, research, and connect the dots.

“I spend probably half the time discovering things that maybe nobody knew before,” he explains.

While digitizing records from the Joy Automotive Company—a dealership selling Packards in the Midwest during the 1910s—David noticed a recurring name on the sales logs: Mayo. Intrigued, he looked into the records further. Sure enough, he discovered that both entries belonged to the Mayo brothers, the famous doctors who founded the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. Soon after, he spotted the name Weyerhaeuser on the rosters, discovering that the legendary timber tycoon was also a dedicated Packard customer.

More recently, David uncovered a 1935 Packard brochure detailing a specialty locking gas cap. “They were that concerned about gas being stolen and everything,” David smiles, “when it was only 19 cents a gallon.”

It’s these specific, unexpected windows into the past that make the work so rewarding for him.

“Anything to do with car history… it just gives me goosebumps when I read and learn something new about it,” David says. “It’s finding out new things in history that maybe other people haven’t heard about.”

The Human Side of a Hundred Years

David’s love for history is deeply sentimental. Outside of his time at the Proving Grounds, he is an avid photographer, enjoys drawing, and loves hunting for treasures at garage sales in older neighborhoods—especially vintage postcards and old photographs.

To him, history isn’t just data or technical specifications; it is about human experience.

“When you hold that postcard or you hold that photo or anything else that’s almost like 100 years old, you kind of imagine how many other people have either come across this or had this in their life,” David reflects. “You get more of the personal side of things. The things that people went through at that time.”

He brings that same empathy to the Packard archives, reminding himself that the historical figures we see in grainy, unsmiling black-and-white portraits lived vibrant, colorful lives. By digitizing their records, he is helping rescue their stories from being forgotten or reduced to a single image of a dilapidated factory.

Uncovering the Packard Footprint

The deeper David dives into the archives, the more he realizes just how tightly interwoven the Packard name is with the local landscape. He points out local history tidbits that many modern residents drive past every day without realizing it.

For instance, the Eastgate Shopping Center on Gratiot Avenue sits on what used to be Packard Field. Opened in 1919, it was Michigan’s very first commercial airport and was used for early aviation experimentation and testing Packard aircraft engines. Today, that aviation history is commemorated by a dedicated Packard Room in the local public library. He also uncovered the story behind Joy Boulevard near Selfridge Air National Guard Base, named after former Packard President Henry Joy. Joy originally intended to build the company’s proving grounds at that location before ultimately turning the land over to the government for an airfield.

“It’s nice to be able to try to preserve that and try to discover new things about it,” David says. “To preserve it for future generations to learn about how this area was so important.”

Just Walk In and Say Hello

David has found a welcoming, supportive community among his fellow volunteers. “I’ve learned a lot in a short time, and I’ve met a lot of nice people so far,” he says. “Everybody’s been friendly, and it’s just nice to hang around with people with the same interests that I have.”

For anyone else sitting on the fence or driving past the gates wondering what happens behind the scenes, David’s advice is simple: just take the first step.

“Don’t be afraid to just come in and ask where the Proving Grounds might need help,” David says. “You don’t even have to have experience; people always find their way to what fits them best. Just walk in and say, ‘Hello, my name is so-and-so.’”