Museum News

The History Museum and the Studebaker National Museum are excited to offer special visit opportunities for groups of up to 20. Groups may reserve a two-hour block of time with exclusive access to the galleries of the Studebaker National Museum and The History Museum.  Enjoy having the Museums to yourself...

“We at Studebaker are pleased to welcome you as our guest on this trip through our South Bend plants. We earnestly hope that you will enjoy your visit with us, and that it will give you some conception of the care and accuracy employed it the mass production of Studebaker...

Studebaker’s Machine Shop covered over nine acres and turned rough castings and forgings into finished parts. Many of the processes were handled by automated machinery. Engine blocks, for example, travelled through a series of machines that milled and finished mating surfaces and drilled and tapped over 100 holes. Each process...

The Bendix car was developed as a ‘car-of-the-future’ by Bendix engineers Victor Kliesrath and Alfred Ney and styled by William Ortwig, formerly of the Fisher Body Co. Ortwig eliminated the customary running boards and moved the fuel and water filler caps under the hood to allow for unblemished body panels....

Clement Studebaker, the second eldest son of John C. and Rebecca Studebaker was born March 12, 1831 in Adams County, Pennsylvania. At age four he moved with his family to Ashland, Ohio, where he learned blacksmithing and wagon making from his father. In 1850, Clement moved to South Bend, Indiana...

The Golden Hawk was Studebaker’s flagship model in 1956. It featured Packard’s 275-horsepower 352 cubic-inch V8 engine and was one of the fastest cars on the road that year.  The 1956 Golden Hawk was the first Studebaker automobile to feature tail fins. The ‘56 Golden Hawk’s fins were made of...

Buoyed by the success of the privately-entered Studebaker-powered racers at the 1931 Indianapolis 500, the Studebaker Corporation fielded a factory-backed five-car team for the 1932 Indy 500. The Studebaker cars were patterned after the Hunt Special and featured chassis and bodies built by Indianapolis race car builder Herman Rigling. Most...

John Mohler “J.M.” Studebaker was born October 10, 1833 in Adams County, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Ashland, Ohio, when he was a small boy, and like his brothers Henry and Clement he learned the blacksmith and wagon making trades from his father. He arrived in South Bend in the...

The Citroën DS 19 was one of the most innovative production vehicles of the 20th century. It’s “glass escargot” design evoked French philosopher Roland Barthes to remark in 1957 that the DS 19 had “obviously fallen from the sky.” The DS 19’s origins can be traced to back to the...

The Indianapolis 500 is considered by many to be America’s greatest racing spectacle. Many legendary names have competed on the 2.5 mile oval on Indianapolis’ west side. In the early 1930s, the Studebaker Corporation entered the Brickyard fray. Through much of the 1920s, the ‘500 was dominated by expensive purpose-built...