Amerifrends, tell us more about this lost brand - Studebaker.How the fuck did they disappear into nothingness?I heard an oldtimer from Indiana talking about how the studebaker was better than ford/chevy and they had a coupe that did not spontaneously combust on rear end impact unlike mustang and how when the company closed the Mercedes people came and bought all the machinery to bring back home as it was state-of-the-art stuff lol.
>>27983593As an Australian I don't know much about studebaker but there is one thing that sticks in my memory. There was one guy with a manual transmission studebaker who was just taking shit to the limit he had an 11(?) liter engine in the thing and was going for some kind of street car land speed records
WWII, American post-war economy, and the Avanti.Or rather, the press that the Avanti received.
>>27983593Every Studebaker has painfully tiny passenger compartments.I'm not even talking "too small for amerilards" size, they're just extremely cramped.I knew a rich trust fund asshole who owned the Frankenstude for awhile.Cool looking car but completely worthless as a driver.Here's the interior of a Studebaker pickup.If I didn't say it was a truck you might think it was a 60's mini cooper or some other euro shitbox.
>>27983614this doesn't explain anything anon
>>27983614>and the AvantiWas it particularly bad?It was the fastest production car when it was introduced. That's gotta count for something.What did the press say about it?
>>27983679that looks cool as fuck. I thought it was a car from 80s/90s before opening thumbnail. what the fuck bros this makes me feel sadder than it should
>>27983593>and how when the company closed the Mercedes people came and bought all the machinery to bring back home as it was state-of-the-art stuff lol.huh, that's depressing, yet cool story. I can't really comment on their demise, other than they had bought the Paxton Corporation, a supercharger manufacturer, in 1958 until the death of the company at which time they spun off Paxton at the behest of the Trustee. Probably a bad purchase in the first place.
>>27983716They sound good too. I guess one of my neighbors has one of those but I've only seen him around once.
Gotta have that fake jet intake looking thing.
>>27983669>>27983679https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u41lIQaXyH0
>>27984141goddamn Studebakers were so fucking "based," to use the parlance of our times
>>27984141Jesus Christ this is so tragic.We niggers of /o/ will all be driving these in heaven.
>>27983593Small but decent cars with little budget to innovateThey almost joined AMC but tried and failed to stay independentAMC was far more interesting but the necessary introduction of EFI, for combining emissions and fuel economy, which they were unable to execute with zero R&D budget killed them for good
>>27983593>Studebakerdamn these look good. Even the ones that of "my car flies" fashion of the times.
>>27983593>How the fuck did they disappear into nothingness?Ford and GM entered the postwar boom with fuckloads of money and decided to use that in a mutual price-war, driving costs down so far that none of the smaller independent manufacturers could sell at a loss. Studebaker, Packard, Hudson, and Nash figured that the only way to survive was to consolidate. Hudson and Nash started the process to form AMC. Half-way through the process of merging Studebaker and Packard into the company, the CEO died and was replaced by Mitt Romney's dad (not kidding) who decided the deal was off because Packard and Studebaker didn't have finances as strong as Hudson and Nash did.Packard tried to buy Nash to form their own consolidation group and in time they refused to consolidate with AMC either because Studebaker-Packard's CEO wanted to be top dog at the resulting company which Mitt Romney's dad wouldn't allow. Further analysis of Studebaker's finances post-merger made it clear that the company was a dud due to massive operating, labor, and production costs, and S-P was now saddled with a fuckton of overhead. They spent the next 10 years attempting to dig themselves out of that hole, failed, and died.
>>27984764>Packard tried to buy Nashmeant Studebaker here, whoops.
>>27983742They were known for their blown V8s.
>>27984848shit, they were doing superchargers before olds was doing turbos?
>>27984852About the same time. IHC and Olds were both working with turbos, around '62. Buick was gonna do the original turbo work, but Olds grabbed it and Buick went in a different direction, with the all-aluminum 215 V8.
>>27983593i dont know shit about studebaker other than that they look cool as fuck
>>27983593>How the fuck did they disappear into nothingness?Corporate mergers. I'd be driving a Studebaker if they still made them.
>>27983601Studebaker invented supercharging as we know it today. You could buy a factory supercharged Studebaker in the early 50s.
>>27983593Studebaker you say
>>27983636Depends on the model. Their pickups are fine, same with the sedans and Larks.
I went to the museum in South Bend a few days ago. Had no idea of their history as wagon builders before getting into cars, plus that they made EVs before turning to combustion cars
>>27987195
>>27987197
>>27986873Typically was in the form of centrifugal superchargers, but they were extremely common in aircraft by the end of WW2. Kind of a natural extension to factory-built autos.
I just adore the 1953 Studebaker. Such a low and sleek car, without being gaudy like other American cars of it's era
>>27986873>>27987234Nah, that would have been Robert PAXTON McCulloch
>>27986876They're really not.I've driven a pickup.The cab was nearly identical to the one I posted.It felt like a volkswagen beetle.
>>27987195The majority of early cars were EVs, especially in cities, it took concerted effort by O&G to kill them off and make gas the preferred option.
>>27984764excellent post
>>27987482Jesus, that really is slick. It almost kinda feels ahead of its time.
>>27983927God that’s sexy
>>27983593Financial mismanagement. Absorbed into AMC, which eventually got bought by Chrysler, which eventually got bought by Fiat and is now circling the drain again, just as it was in the late 1970s.
>>27990219for '53 it absolutely was, almost everyone domestic still had flared quarter panels and residual running boards at that point
