On my trip to FreedomFest 2022, I stopped by the Studebaker Museum in South Bend, IN.
The museum has a lot of interesting vehicles and exhibits about the Studebaker family’s history. The museum is three floors. One floor has exhibits about the history of the family, the company, and its production up to about the Second World War. Another floor has vehicles and exhibits from after the Second World War. The third floor holds storage for vehicles of various ages and exhibits of Studebaker production for military purposes for both World Wars. Instead of walking through my pictures in the order I took them, I’ll walk you through a selection of those pictures in order of Studebaker’s history.
The Studebakers arrived in Philadelphia from Germany in 1736. They settled in south central Pennsylvania. They were blacksmiths who turned into wagonmakers. Over time, the family moved into Maryland. Peter Studebaker set up a wagon making business in Hagerstown, MD. His son John Clement Studebaker, in the 19th century, moved the family through Ohio into Indiana.
John Clement Studebaker had five sons: Henry, Clement, John Mohler, Peter, and Jacob. Two, Henry and Clement, in the 1850s, opened a blacksmith and carriage shop in South Bend. Later, their brother John Mohler joined the company and bought out Henry’s share. Peter also joined the company.
The brothers exclusively produced carriages until about 1895. John M. Studebaker’s son-in-law Fred Fish encouraged the brothers to produce a practical horseless carriage. When Peter Studebaker died, Fred Fish became Chairman of the Executive Committee in 1897. Afterwards, the company increased its production of automobiles. John M. Studebaker thought that automobile production would supplement the company’s carriage making as farmers might not be able to afford the maintenance of a car. The company’s first cars were electric.
Studebaker started making gasoline powered cars in 1904. Studebaker stopped making electric cars in 1911.
During the First World War, Studebaker made vehicles, both gasoline powered and horse drawn, for the Entente powers. When the US entered the war, Studebaker made vehicles for the US military as well. Studebaker greatly benefited from these orders.
Studebaker stopped making horse drawn carriages in 1919 or 1920. The wikipedia article on Studebaker says they stopped making horse drawn carriages in 1919, but the museum has a 1920 dated horse drawn carriage.
The post-First World War years were boom years for Studebaker. Studebaker opened up the first automobile proving grounds in the United States. Studebaker built new factories in Detroit and in Ontario.
The Great Depression brought changes and hardship to the company. The company entered receivership and underwent a leadership change. The new leadership turned the company around, and by 1933 the company was showing a profit.
During the Second World War, Studebaker produced vehicles, aircraft engines, and aircraft nacelles for the US military.
The post-Second World War era was the beginning of the end for Studebaker. An industry wide price war hurt Studebaker. Because of Studebaker’s high labor costs and unwillingness to cut wages, Studebaker was not able to stay profitable and cut costs like their competitors. In 1956, Studebaker merged with Packard to form the Studebaker-Packard Company.
The merger helped keep the company afloat for a little while longer. After a 1962 strike at the South Bend factory, Studebaker-Packard began winding down operations. In 1963, the company shut down its South Bend factory. In 1966, the company closed its Hamilton, Ontario factory and ceased production of automobiles.
This is just a small fraction of the pictures I took at the museum. There is a lot more to see than what I’ve shown here. If you are near South Bend and like cars, I recommend stopping by.
“A bear in it’s natural habitat – a Studebaker” – Fozzy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6NQcO9KTBY
Thanks very much for the brain worm.
One thing I’m looking forward to is having grandchildren so I can watch the Muppet movies again.
Hey, someone mentioned a Studebaker.
🎵 Happiness–! Miss Piggy…
So damn good.
Regular Car reviews a 1960 Studebaker Lark
I do love old cars, I don’t know much about Studebakers, but they are nice.
The TV show Garage Squad restored a Studebaker truck for a member of the Studebaker family and it was very cool.
It’s picure number 14 on this page:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-garage-squad-season-5-cars-20181030-photogallery.html
I didn’t know all that much about Studebaker going into the museum. I knew they were based in Indiana. I had some older relatives that thought well of their cars.
The museum was quite interesting.
Cool, I had no idea. I need to spend some time in that part of Indiana, I have long lost relatives in Goshen.
Neat.
I had that ’53 Starliner, same color, in 1960 in France. Had some engine problems, had to go to Luxembourg to get it fixed. Sold it shortly after to a GI that said he was a mechanic. Bought a new Opel station wagon and sold that after a few months.
That’s a neat looking car.
I had that ’53 Starliner, same color, in 1960 in France.
🙂
Gorgeous car. How did it drive?
I think it burns gas to drive an engine.
It had a very low roof line, cool to look at but for a taller person not as easy to get in and out. I didn’t get to drive it much, overdrive didn’t work right. I did like it, wished I’d kept some pictures but divorces can be caused for a lot of reasons, pictures get destroyed. I was happy to see it go and recoup some of my money.
Studebaker made some really nice (looking) pickup trucks.
On my drive through central PA to Glibs Gulch for SP’s event, I saw someone driving a Studebaker pickup truck. It was in Cameron or Clearfield County. I don’t remember what Studebaker pickup it was.
Given their (early) history, pickups sound like they’d be in Studebaker’s wheelhouse.
God I love these cars!
Thanks, DEG. I love the history of classic car companies. It’s fascinating how many of them were started by dudes tinkering in the garage.
And I want one of those M29C Weasels!
You’re welcome!
“And I want one of those M29C Weasels!”
Be excellent for rush hour on I25.
With a mounted M2, yes!
Tundra on the way to work.
Yessssss!
On my drive through central PA to Glibs Gulch for SP’s event, I saw someone driving a Studebaker pickup truck. It was in Cameron or Clearfield County. I don’t remember what Studebaker pickup it was.
There was a Studebaker dealer somewhere in the Bozeman/Livingston/ Big timber area who sold a bunch of trucks to the ranchers. There are still a few around.
The Duran guys talk to Patrick Lancaster about the fighting in the Ukraine and Alex at Reporterfly about the gigantic influx of Ukrainian (our) money pouring into Monaco.
https://youtu.be/s6DUVEi5gos
Well, its not our money any more.
M29C Weasel is now on my eBay list.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the only one left.
A quick search suggests that they are really rare, but still around. Looks like Europe is the place to find them.
(our) money pouring into Monaco.
Imposserous!
Thank you DEG! This article turned out great!
You’re welcome!
I went back and forth on how to approach this article. I decided to just include pictures with a little text and a couple of links. This is only a fraction of the pictures I took there. I have pictures of 65 to 70 different vehicles. Buggies, electric vehicles (they had an electric vehicle exhibit mainly of other companies’ vehicles), plus Studebaker made motor vehicles.
Lost in the mail?
Mexican-American drug trafficker Edgar Valdez Villareal, alias “La Barbie,” is “not currently in federal custody” in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Prisons told CNN.
Valdez Villarreal’s name appears as “not in BOP custody” on the agency’s website, CNN confirmed Tuesday. When asked why, bureau spokesperson Benjamin O’Cone declined to give more details and explained there are “several reasons” why this can happen.
“Inmates who were previously in BOP custody and who have not completed their sentence may be outside BOP custody for a period of time for court hearings, medical treatment or for other reasons,” O’Cone said in an email Tuesday. He added that they do not provide specific information on the status of inmates who are not in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons for “safety, security, or privacy reasons.”
Valdez Villareal, a Texan who ascended the ranks of one of Mexico’s most ruthless drug cartels, was sentenced in June 2018 to 49 years and one month in prison and fined $192,000.
Did they check under the bed?
Another museum in IN I’d like to see.
All three brands are arousing.
I’ve been there.
And to the neighboring National Auto Museum.
I think it was Don who mentioned the Auburn-Cord-Duesenburg museum?
I wrote a paper about this place once. https://www.petersen.org/exhibits
Oh my.
Boing!
Thanks! May have to hit that one next time I’m in LA.
wow: what a memory
I’d love to see that one. Cords are one of my favorites.
Is this a backdoor way of you and Tundra making a request for me to put something together with my pictures from that museum?
*whistles innocently*
Well, if you feel like it, you know we’d dig it!
YES
I’ll start a new article soon.
I dithered about making Trey (see Friday evening post slot) drive a Studebaker.
What was the deciding factor?
He’s a Packard man?
1926 Chrysler convertible.
Something mediumly flashy, not too expensive, and not new. Something to go courting in, make an impression, not too much of an impression for someone his age.
Better choice than a Studebaker, though they had some really good looking cars in the 20s.
From the ded-thred re buying down the risk of firearms violence:
There’s no background check, waiting period or license required to get on a plane. Sign me up.
What a moron. I don’t think there’s a single paragraph that doesn’t have a howler or two in it.
He apparently consulted with TSA, so that diminishes his credibility a great deal. Mostly I posted that as a send up, because a REAL risk analysis would land very disproportionately – and completely exempt old white guys like us.
It would be labelled racist and memory holed very quickly.
In all honesty, it would be racist, because the problem is biggest in one racial [and gender] category (and at that – it isn’t at all evenly distributed across sub-groups within that).
On today’s date several years ago, my family and I toured the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky. My son got to “birth” a new Corvette just coming off the line (drive it off, with help). Boy, was my daughter green over that. He even got a “birth certificate.”
1976 Stingray is my go-to dream sports car.
Dodge Ram diesel non-dually with a manual transmission is my other dream vehicle.
Otherwise, I like my 2006 Hyundai Sonata just fine.
#metoo, but I have one. I know yours is an auto, the manuals are scarce.
1970-73 Charger with a souped up 440 is my true dream car.
I don’t really have a dream car, but I did bookmark this beauty.
Design is so important. Too bad it’s dead.
Oh, THAT is lovely!
Ooh, good choice.
Nice
I still think they should make electric cars that look like that.
Not a Lancia, but this may work for you.
Yes! Cool idea.
I didn’t tour the factory, I toured the museum.
The museum has Zora Arkus-Dontuv’s 1974 Stingray. That is a good-looking car.
Husband toured the museum. I was tired and XY was cranky.
I met DEG in the museum parking lot. Only glib I have met in person.
He brought me beer.
I remember that. I went on one of the tours of Mammoth Cave earlier in the day. I don’t remember which of their many tours I went on. Then after the Corvette Museum, I drove on to Nashville.
It was a good day.
Hopefully that beer tasted good. I think it was Beer-It-Forward beer.
I bought a ’91 Corvette ZR-1 in May and drove past the Corvette museum on my back to TX. Unfortunately, it was late evening and closed. Friend of mine bought a ’77 Stingray shortly after we graduated. I loved that car.
My ex BIL has a 79 with like 50K miles on it. They were such a disco car, but groovy nonetheless.
At the factory, they have a place where, for a few (for some definitions of “few”) bucks, you can help assemble your own engine. They told us every Corvette is paid for in advance, with all the options you chose. You can come watch it being built.
You can pick up your new corvette at the museum, if you choose. They park it in the lobby on display and only you are allowed to cross the ropes and get in it. Then they take it outside for you to drive off (after a tour of the museum, of course).
I’m relatively new to driving (It’s a long story). Honestly, I love my 2016 Silverado. I’m not so sure I’d hold up well to manual transmission or diesel.
I worked right next door to the museum and across from the factory.
Always weird getting caught behind about 6 corvettes in a row at a light. I miss seeing vettes on a daily basis.
Were you around when it fell into a sinkhole?
Lol.
I have no idea what’s going on there.
He left Alex Jones speechless. That’s impressive.
Poor baby:
https://www.theblaze.com/news/democrat-megadonor-sam-bankman-fried-says-he-didnt-try-to-commit-fraud-isnt-losing-sleep
So he’s actually dumber than Madoff.
LOL. What else was he going to say?
I’m amazed he got in front of cameras at all. That dude either has enough dirt on enough people that he’ll never get convicted of a speeding ticket, or he’s batshit insane.
If he had that kind of dirt, he’d be dead, and so would his dead-man’s switch.
He’s heavily medicated, anyway. Reportedly, part of their orientation was Sam talking to new hires about what drugs they should consider taking on the job.
https://vimeo.com/162875215
I remember a PSA that went something like that. Wasn’t as entertaining to watch.
If I was his lawyer, I would be losing my mind. He made multiple admissions of negligence, which means he can kiss the rest of his loot good-bye. He probably also made a criminal prosecution a lot easier as well.
If his lawyers haven’t fired him yet, I’d be surprised. I’m also waiting for Sam to decide to represent himself at both the criminal and (any) civil trials.
I would be disappointed if his lawyers didn’t require a very substantial advance retainer from him. Very. Substantial.
I want his parents to be interviewed. And Maxine Waters. And Mitch McConnell. And any number of other recipients of his generosity.
When you’ve built a fortune based on the BS you tell people, there’s a good chance you believe you can keep explaining things in a way that people will accept.
Elizabeth Holmes concurs.
Those 50’s models are pretty
Yes they are good looking cars.
Part of my job as The Three Eyed Firster is assessing who is or isn’t fit to be a member of The Golden Firsters. It is my task to go through ones entire life timeline and see where they Firsted, if ever, and to determine if they are fit to wear the cape.
I think most of you can guess where you stand, outside a couple of delusional and/or heretical ones.
Did anyone else hear that? Sounded like a gnat buzzing around.
Maybe you have a failing flourescent light nearby. I don’t hear anything.
I’m too busy traversing time and inserting critical Firsts into historical events to change the outcome of the Firstpocalypse to deal with this buffoonery.
“The Golden Fisters” sounds like a gay chinese version of the BeeGees.
WTF?
Someone close to him needs to intervene. This is getting sick.
This is like Charlie Sheen all over again. Has he mentioned tiger blood yet?
To be fair, with that thing on his head is anyone certain its Ye? Could be some weird Andy Kaufman-Tony Clifton performance art piece.
+900 for “net and YooHoo” tho
Yeah…I got nothing…
The whole show (minus some edits) will probably appear here after a while, for all fans of dumpster fires.
LOL
Apparently there are competing Packard museums in Ohio: America’s Packard Museum in Dayton (https://www.americaspackardmuseum.org/) and the National Packard Museum in Warren (https://packardmuseum.org/).
Coming soon to Dacron, Ohio – The Museum of Packards of the United States
Where are the computers?
For Pride Month its re-branded as a Hewlett Fudge-Packard
(fun fact- my favorite calculator to use is still my HP-41CX)
At a museum in Hewlett, Ohio.
More museums to visit.
They’re duking it out to be featured on Mysteries at the Museum.
/flaunts Christmas Story House Museum privilege.
We have quite a few nice ones up here as well. One of them I hadn’t been to did a beer fest had a display of stainless steel cars. I can’t picture what one of those would look like after one week of winter driving.
Splitters!
We’re the American Packard Museum not the Packard Museum of America!
OT – Did no one at the studio look at These Helmets and go “Why have all these space marines been attacked by facehuggers?”
Quilted COVID masks??
If I had a Great Unclean One (a demon of pestilence) model, I’d want to see if I could mock up a mash from green stuff (modelling epoxy) and see how people react. But I don’t collect Chaos, so I don’t have any really expensive Chaos models.
To be fair, I suspect from another angle those are supposed to resemble eagle wings, but these helmet sets have a Standard Photography Angle that really doesn’t work with this one.
Fun fact- I went to school with a bunch of Studebakers that claimed lineage to the car company’s founders. They had a small collection, and the eldest daughter (a real cunte) drove an Avanti to school.
‘Because of Studebaker’s high labor costs and unwillingness to cut wages, Studebaker was not able to stay profitable and cut costs like their competitors.’
The old, rather put myself out of a job then take a pay cut strategy. Works everytime.
You can put yourself out of a job when you have enough ca$h to fall back on.
Drudge front page: “MUSK MONKEYS! BRAIN HACKING! HORRIFYING EXPERIMENTS!”
Now do Fauci and his puppies that got their faces eaten off by sand fleas, Drudge.
Holy crap Japan beating Spain and Costa Rica / Germany level.
And really no reason for Spain to win. They can lose and keep Germany out, plus get an easier knockout round opponent.
Just posted the same thing below.
Now CR on top – Spain and Germany could both go out!
The Ticos are going to go bonkers if they win.
OK, Germany on top by 2, but Japan is still ahead.
yeah, my previous comment was assuming Germany don’t lose to CR…which could still happen.
Looks like a pretty cool museum and not to far from me. Thanks DEG.
Here’s a video of a YouTuber that I watch getting a 1925 Studebaker truck running and driving.
https://youtu.be/GLp9V0HEiwI
You’re welcome!
I’ll queue that video up for later viewing. Thanks!
I’m late here because of the latest work crisis, but thanks for this. It was fun read!
Is Spain throwing their match with Japan?
Finishing 2nd in group means they face Morocco instead of Croatia. Plus it eliminates Germany.
and Brazil should be on the other side of the bracket too. A strategic loss, although it could have blown up if CR won.
Japan wins. Germany needs 5 more goals or CR needs 3 goals to eliminate Spain.
And Germany goes final and can head home.
I think it is clear than UEFA has too many teams in the World Cup. In the past, they probably had too few, but the world has caught up.
USA is only CONCACAF team thru to knockouts.
48 teams in 2026 is going to be bad. And we won’t even get a reduction in international breaks for club season.
I have the cowl and windshield frame from a 1927 Sude Touring 6. I got it from the local Studebaker nut. He in his eighties and has a bunch of cool stuff, WWII two ton army truck on down.