Car owners are assured parts for the next 10 years. But industry notes with regret the passing of a long-time manufacturer with a distinguished record of "firsts."

Studebaker Corporation, one of the oldest and finest names in the competitive history of the automobile has left the industry. In December of 1963, the company closed its plant in South Bend, Indiana, but kept a small link to the automotive business by continuing to build cars in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Studebaker Corporation, parent company for both Studebaker of Canada, the manufacturing operation, and Studebaker Automotive Sales Corporation, the United States distributor, will continue to operate as a profitable business in other enterprises varying from aerospace, refrigeration and tire studs to generators and floor maintenance equipment.

Parts and Service Assured

Studebaker owners were given assurance of a $20 million parts supply and a network of service dealers throughout United States and Canada. Among other things, the company still provides a parts supply for owners of Packard automobiles.

The company's warranty on new cars of 24 months or 24,000 miles will be honored at any authorized Studebaker service dealer. Existing authorized dealers are being signed in most cases to service dealer contracts.

Parts depots are located in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Kansas City, New York, Boston and Atlanta, with South Bend listed as the depot for the Midwest and headquarters for the system.

A planned program of assistance to Studebaker's present group of about 450 active United States dealers is part of the automotive closing operation. Of these dealers, approximately 150 are dualled with other makes of cars and are thus not wholly dependent on Studebaker new car sales. The same assistance program will apply to about 125 active Canadian dealers of which 50 are dualled with other makes. With over one million Studebakers in use today, an added 3,000 are currently in inventory in United States and Canada, which are relatively few and should not cause any great problems in disposal.

The discontinuance of the Hamilton plant will affect about 411 hourly employees and eventually affect 200 salaried employees in Hamilton plus 37 Canadian field employees. There will be 81 employees out of work in South Bend where the sales office of the U.S. distributor is located, plus 47 U.S. field employees. According to Gordon E. Gundy, president of Studebaker of Canada, Ltd., "The skills which the Hamilton and other Canadian employees will bring to the labor market should offer immediate employment opportunities, particularly in the expanding Canadian auto industry." The small number of South Bend and Canadian employees, will be assisted by the company in obtaining new jobs, or will be absorbed into one of the nine other non-automotive divisions of Studebaker.

StudeGrip Tire Stud Division

One of the many successful divisions of Studebaker Corporation was due to the recent boom in the tire stud industry which Studebaker itself was influential in bringing about. StudeGrip Tire Stud Division's president, Joseph DeFranco described its sales growth as "completely beyond our expectations. Studebaker used its full production capacity, then expanded that capacity, and will have to expand it even further in order to meet the demand expected next season."

StudeGrip originated with the acquisition by Studebaker in 1963 of the exclusive U.S. license for the manufacturing of tungsten carbide tire studs. "StudeGrip was the first major producer of this type of stud in United States, and for the past two years has been the largest producer also," according to Clifford Rathmanner, director of sales. Rathmanner reported that the phenomenal growth of sales jumped from 25 million studs sold during the winter of 1964 and 1965 to 275 million in 1965 and 1966 and is anticipated to more than double during 1966 and 1967."

Studebaker can be proud to claim many "firsts" in their life-time. When the company was originated in 1852, it started with an initial capital of $68 and two sets of blacksmith tools. The company's trade was wagon building and a blacksmith's shop. During the Civil War, the firm produced chuck wagons, transports, ambulances and artillery equipment for the Union Army. By 1875 they profited their first $1 million.

The first Studebaker electric car and truck was manufactured in 1902. Twenty cars sold in the first year, with top speeds of 13 miles per hour, and three speeds forward and one in reverse.

Gasoline buggies were manufactured by the company in 1904 and were called the Studebaker-Garford. It was a snappy five passenger, two cylinder, 16 horsepower horseless carriage which sold for $1,600. By 1909 total sales of the horseless vehicles reached $9,500,000. The year 1913 marked Studebaker's fame to produce the first six cylinder car which sold for less than $2,000, and in 1927 Studebaker was the first to use a mechanical fuel pump.

During 1928 the company bought a substantial interest in Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company. With their assistance, Studebaker was able to produce the first carburetor silencer and automatic spark control in 1930. Another first was established a year later when the "free wheeling" was introduced which became the basic principle for overdrive and most automatic transmissions.

As keen competition mounted in the automobile industry around 1935, Studebaker started assembly of passenger cars with the first overdrive transmission. The cars went off the assembly line with another brand new feature never seen ... the six passenger sedan.

Merged with Packard in 1954

When Studebaker Corporation merged with Packard Motor Car Company in 1954, their engineers kept pace with new trends by producing self-centered and self-energizing brakes which quickly caught on with other car manufacturers. The flared fin brake drums were then introduced to minimize "fading" due to heat.

In the early 1960's when the Lark and Avanti were introduced, new records of style and speed were set. The Lark V-8 took first and second place in the 4,100 mile Trans-Canada Rally and was selected as pace car for the 1962 Indianapolis 500 mile race, the first compact ever selected.

The Avanti set new world production car records by traveling two and one quarter miles in 60.8 seconds. Top speed was recorded at 171.10 miles per hour. When the Avanti was introduced at the New York Auto Show of 1962, it caused considerable comment due to the breakaway from traditional exterior lines. The high performance personal prestige automobile boosted Studebaker's annual sales figures for the last time in the company's car history. Over 64,720 cars were manufactured that year. By the end of 1965, sales had dropped to its final plunge of 12, 429.

Two years ago Avanti Motors purchased all dies, tooling and six buildings from Studebaker, after the company had shifted its auto operations to Hamilton. After six months of engineering and styling changes, the company introduced the Avanti II, a luxury car with a Chevrolet engine. The closing of Studebaker will have no effect on Avanti Motors Inc., which is the one car manufacturer left in South Bend.

Profits and Losses of the Auto Division

During the past 13 years, the automotive division of Studebaker has sustained losses of over $130 million. Of the 9,300,00 cars sold in United States last year, only 12-327 were Studebakers, about 0.1% of the market. In Canada last year, of 630,530 sales of United States type cars, excluding European imports to Canada, 6,088 were Studebakers, or 1% of that market. However, in 1959, when the compact Lark series was introduced, the corporation earned $29,544,338 which enabled them to keep out of the red for the single year.

During 1965, the nine non-automotive divisions accounted for 75% of the company's sales total of $200,000,000 and all of its $10,500,000 profit.

 

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