Vintage Vehicle Club

of Australia (1919-1930) Inc.

Studebaker Vehicles - Horse drawn, Electric and Internal Combustion, were built from 1852 to 1966.

The Studebaker Story (Summary)

• 1852 - The company 'H. & C. Studebaker' begins 16th February, with Henry and Clem Studebaker buying a blacksmith shop in South Bend, Indiana, USA.  In their first year, they produced 2 full sized wagons.

• 1870s - The company suffered 2 disastrous fires and recovered to produce 75,000 wagons annually.  Brother John Mohler Studebaker goes west looking for fortunes in the gold fields, and ends up making a small fortune building wheel barrows for the prospectors.  JM (Wheelbarrow Johnny) returns to Southbend with $8,000.00 and buys Henry's share who wants to go back to farming.

• 1902 - First automobile (electric powered).  Electric power was chosen mainly due to JM not liking the smell, noise, or unreliability of the gasoline powered designs.

• 1904 - First gasoline powered vehicle was joint venture with the 2 cylinder, 4 seat Studebaker-Garford tourer.

• 1913 - First all Studebaker vehicle.  Graduating from 2 cyl, to 4, then to 6 with the 'Big Six' in 1917.

• 1920s - Building more than 100,000 vehicles per year under Company President Albert R. Erskine.

• 1929 - Depression strikes hard, forces re-organisation and rationalization in 1933 after struggling to survive.

• 1930s - Raymond Lowey begins designing cars for Studebaker.

• 1942 - War effort causes car production to cease, replaced by aero engines, bomber fuselages, Weasel troop carriers, and the tough 6x6 wheel drive trucks.

• 1947 - Raymond Lowey's design team introduce radical looking Champions, Commanders and the unique Starlight Coupe.

• 1950s - Studebaker develope own automatic transmission, introduce V8 engine, self adjusting brakes, automatic overdrive and Hill-Holder system.  Studebaker is struggling financially to compete with the Big Three auto makers.

• 1953 - Lowey Studios designed Starliner hartop and pillared coupes.  The Starliner is generally hailed as one of the most beautiful cars ever made, and led to the finned Hawk line of cars in 1956.  The supercharged Golden Hawk of 1956-57 was one of the most powerful cars of the time with 275 horsepower V8.

• 1954 - Studebaker merges with Packard in effort to bolster company profits, but creates more problems than it solved.

• 1959 - The successful Lark was released as a down sized car, which led to the rush of 'compact' cars form other makers.  The Lark and Hawk range were locally assembled in Australia, with locally manufactured power brakes and interiors.

• 1960s - The Big Three caught up with their vast range of compacts, resulting in major loss of market share for Studebaker again.  The Lowey, fiberglass bodied Avanti was futuristic in design and technically advanced, it broke many performance records.

• 1964 - The Lark was remodeled and renamed as, 'Challenger', 'Daytona' and 'Cruiser' in a failed attempt to resurrect sales.

• 1966 - After 114 years, Studebaker ceases manufacture and closes down.  Plants were in South Bend, Hamilton and Ontario in Canada.

• Studebaker Corp continued business, after the vehicle manufacturing ceased in March 1966, with it's subsidiaries such as STP, Gravely, Clarke and Onan.

• 1967 - Studebaker purchased the Wagner Electric Corp in mid 1967, then it amalgamated with Worthington Corp in November 1967 to be known as the Studebaker-Worthington Corp.

• 1979 - That survived about 12 years, then it was then taken over by McGraw Edison in 1979.

• 1985 - McGraw Edison was taken over by Cooper Industries of Houston in April 1985.
  Cooper Industries was taken over by.............. not yet, they're still going strong.

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Studebaker still lives in the form of Avanti.  The forward styling of the Avanti has stood the test of time with the Avanti Motor Corp securing the rights to continue manufacture the 'Avanti II'.
Nathan Altman and Leo Newman purchased buildings and equipment from Studebaker and set about producing an exclusive vehicle using Corvette power plants. The rest of the vehicle is essentially was the same as originally built by Studebaker

• 1982 - Here we go again, the Avanti Motor Corp was sold in October.  The new owner retained the company name but made a few changes, reverting back to 'Avanti' and a convertible was new for 1985.

• 1986 - The Avanti Motor Corp was sold in 1986, being re-named to "The New Avanti Motor Corporation". Things began to change quite a bit from here.

• 1987 - Long wheelbase 2 door on a GM chassis and production moved to Youngstown, Ohio.

• 1988 - Company sold and re-named "Avanti Automotive Corporation".

• 1991 - Production ends, after manufacturing coupes, convertibles and 4d sedans.

• 1999 - The remains of the company are obtained by consortium and raised from the ashes.

• 2001 - Now in the full control of Michael Kelly, there are coupes and convertibles being produced.

At the time of closing in 1966, Studebaker was the oldest manufacturer of wheeled vehicles in the USA with 114 years of manufacturing.

Studebaker Lives today in the hearts and memories of many owners, club members and enthusiasts around the world, who appreciate the heritage, the vehicles, and the significant place in automotive history which began so long ago.  To Henry and Clem, thank you.

Compiled by: Steve K.

References; "The Studebaker Century" Hall & Langworth, "Studebaker Cars" Maloney, "The Antique Studebaker Review" Antique Studebaker Club, "Turning Wheels" The Studebaker Drivers Club, hemmings.com.

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