Event to honor GM's Milford Proving Grounds, help Gleaners feed the needy
Henry PayneThe Milford Proving Grounds helped birth a century of the some of the world’s best known road creations, from four-wheel brakes to supercharged Corvette V-8s to crab-walking GMC Hummer EVs.
This weekend, it will help raise money for Metro Detroit’s neediest residents.
To celebrate MPG’s 100th birthday, the GMPG (General Motors Proving Grounds) Retirees Club is hosting a fundraiser to benefit Gleaners Community Food Bank. The location? The Lingenfelter Collection in Brighton, home of some of GM’s best, most notable Corvettes, Camaros and other performance beasts developed at the proving grounds.
“Gleaner’s is an amazing charity, and when the Proving Ground Retirees Club approached us to do a fundraiser, we were excited to be a partner,” said Ken Lingenfelter, CEO of the Lingenfelter Engineering mod shop that take great GM performance cars and makes them greater. “And, of course, we’re proud to celebrate the Proving Grounds' 100th birthday.”
Both Gleaners and MPG are pioneers.
Founded by Gene Gonya in 1977, Gleaners was one of the country’s first food banks. From its humble, east-side Detroit warehouse beginnings, Gleaner’s has grown to serve Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston and Monroe counties, providing food to nearly 400 shelters, pantries, soup kitchens and schools, while offering direct, drive-up grocery distributions.
GM’s Proving Grounds opened as the world’s first dedicated automaker test facility in 1924 with two buildings and 5.5 miles of test roads on 1,125 acres in rural Metro Detroit. The brainchild of GM President Alfred Sloan, an MIT-educated engineer, it blossomed into a high-powered lab testing the cutting edge of technology. In addition to automotive advances, it has produced breakthroughs in guardrail safety and video technologies. The grounds have since expanded to encompass 150 miles of test roads (including the formidable “Lutz-ring” race track named after GM product guru Bob Lutz) spread over 4,000 acres employing some 4,500 people.
The Lingenfelter Collection houses one of Michigan’s biggest auto collections with hundreds of cars spread across 40,000 square feet in Brighton. It has become a go-to space for charitable benefits everything from Toys to Tots to the Pink Fund fighting cancer.
Among its treasures are vehicles that underwent testing at MPG. Vehicles like the 1990 Rick Mears Edition Corvette ZR1 making 357 horsepower with a top speed of 184 mph. Not bad for its time. And then there is the unique 1957 prototype “Duntov Mule” — the first V8-powered Corvette that hit speeds of 163 mph.
The Charitable Open House revs up from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. No tickets are required and charitable contributions are encouraged at the door.
Every dollar donated to Gleaners provides three meals, with 92% of expenses directly going to Michiganians facing food insecurity.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.