Studebaker



Studebaker was a United States automoblie and wagon manufacturer. The company was based in South Bend, Indiana. It was founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company. The company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the military. Studebaker first went into the automobile business in 1902 with the electric car. Although in 1904, Studebaker began producing gas-power cars. When the United States enter WW I, the company offered to make all of its factories open to military production. It made thousands of wagons, trucks, ambulances, tanker trucks, gun carriages and other vehicles for the war effort. The company, once again, earned a reputation for rugged, durable vehicles. The company prospered until the Great Depression, when it went into receivership.

In the late 1930s, the company contracted with Raymond Loewy, a famous French designer. Sales went up due to WW II. After the war though, Studebaker did not invest in new manufacturing equipment caused the company to become less competitive. In 1953, the designs for that year were first called the "Centennial Car". The company did not do proper engineering on many of the panels which caused it to fit poorly. Many other problems were found with the design and the company could not adjust to demands and s sales which caused it to lose money because of the waiting period.

In 1959, the Lark model appeared which kept the company going. However, Studebaker once again the company did poor pre-production engineering. In 1964 production was moved from South Bend to Hamilton, Ontario. Contrary to popular belief, Studebaker did not go bankrupt. It produced many other products, and was a profitable company. It eventually merged with Worthington Industries, which merged with McGraw-Edison, which was taken over by Cooper Industries.

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Citations: "Studebaker Family and Company History." //Jan Studebaker and Cosima Leedom's Place on the Web//. Web. 03 June 2011. . "Studebaker." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 03 June 2011. .

@http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker was used to gather information on the company. Dates, owners, and operations info were found. @http://jemez.org/studebaker_history.htm