Museum News

TOP OF THE LINE: STUDEBAKER PRESIDENT The Golden Age: 1926-1933In the mid-1920s Studebaker was looking to refresh its model lineup and expand its market.   A new slate of model names was introduced:  The former Standard Six was now the Dictator, the Special Six and certain Big Six models evolved into...

Powering Masters of the Air: Studebaker & the B17 Flying Fortress Each B17 Flying Fortress was powered by four Wright-Cyclone R1820 radial engines.Studebaker built over 60,000 R1820 engines at the new Chippewa Avenue plant in South Bend supplemented by additional factories in Fort Wayne and Chicago. While the basic engine...

The term “station wagon” has its roots in the nineteenth century, when horse-drawn carts or wagons were used to ferry people and luggage to and from railway stations. The early automobile age yielded similar utilitarian vehicles, but the traditional station wagon body style did not appear until the 1920s. In...

Many are surprised to learn that Studebaker produced automobiles in Canada over 44 years, which was one year longer than Studebakers were made in South Bend. Studebaker operated a plant in Walkerville, Ontario, from 1910-1936, and later in Hamilton, Ontario, from 1948-1966. Studebaker rapidly expanded its automotive market share in...

Ford’s commercial vehicles of this era lagged several years behind contemporary styling trends and were notably spartan in appointments. While Ford sourced many components in-house, its truck cabs were produced by Budd Manufacturing Company, an innovator of all-steel body construction. This truck features Ford’s diminutive 60-horsepower V8 engine that debuted...

Czechoslovakian automaker Tatra licensed aerodynamicist Paul Jaray’s streamlined designs beginning in the early 1930s. Tatra chief engineer Hans Ledwinka was a champion of streamlining and rear-engine cars, as he believed these two features provided both fuel efficiency and increased speed. To facilitate an air-cooled engine, body designer Erich Ubelacker incorporated...

Henry Joy, President of Packard Motor Car Company, believed that the road should be named after Abraham Lincoln. He urged Fisher to write a letter of protest to Congress, which was considering spending $1.7 million on a marble memorial to Lincoln. Joy thought a good road across the country would...

When the Studebaker Corporation and the Packard Motor Car Company joined forces in the fall of 1954, the newly-formed Studebaker-Packard Corporation aimed to become America’s fourth full-line automobile manufacturer and compete head-to-head with Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. This goal ultimately went unfulfilled, as Studebaker-Packard struggled for survival amidst financial...

This 1949 Studebaker 2R-5 was a part of the 2R series.  Studebaker debuted its new 2R-Series truck line in mid-1948 to much fanfare. The 2R’s styling was penned by Studebaker designer Robert Bourke, who later designed the 1953 Studebaker Starliner hardtop. The 2R was offered in a wide variety of...

The Rockne was initially developed by freelance automotive engineers Roy Cole and Ralph Vail as a project for Willys-Overland. When Willy’s declined the car, Cole approached Studebaker President Albert Erskine who bought the design and retained Cole and Vail as engineers. The new car was built by the newly formed...