The automobile that became the Rockne was developed by Ralph Vail and Roy Cole, two independent automotive engineers from Detroit, Michigan. In early 1930, Vail and Cole were contracted to create a new automobile for the Willys-Overland Corporation of Toledo, Ohio. Two prototypes were built and received an enthusiastic response...

Walter Chrysler was known for his willingness to push the envelope of innovation, and his company’s 1934 Airflow was no exception. Chrysler engineer Carl Breer styled the radical body shape through the use of a wind tunnel. Breer’s colleague, Fred Zeder, created an early ‘unibody’ design consisting of a square...

In 1899, brothers James Ward Packard and William Doud Packard built the first Packard automobile in their native Warren, Ohio. In 1900, they formed the Ohio Automobile Company in partnership with George Weiss, which was soon renamed the Packard Motor Car Company and moved to Detroit, Michigan. The company grew...

Studebaker offered the Coupe-Delivery version of the Champion beginning with that model’s 1939 debut. A small pickup box was substituted for the Champion’s trunk lid to create a quarter-ton pickup truck. Aside from the pickup box, the Coupe Delivery was identical to a Champion Coupe - no heavy-duty or “truck...

Pierce-Arrow was one of the oldest and most respected names in the industry. During the early 1900s, Pierce-Arrow, along with Packard and Peerless (the so-called “Three P’s”) were considered America’s finest luxury automobiles. The company was founded in 1865 by George M. Pierce in Buffalo, New York as a domestic...

To meet Studebaker’s deadline, Loewy and his design team set up shop in a rented bungalow in Palm Springs, California, not far from one of Loewy’s homes. The team consisted of John Ebstein, a longtime Loewy lieutenant who served as the Avanti’s project coordinator, Bob Andrews another Loewy veteran whose...

Sales were slow at Studebaker in early 1961. This was not an unfamiliar position as Studebaker had lost money each of the previous eight years except for one (1959). In an effort to right the ship, Studebaker’s board of directors brought in a new president on February 1, 1961, and...

In the early 1900s, hundreds of Midwest communities were home to startup automobile manufacturers and Ann Arbor, Michigan, was no exception. The Huron River Manufacturing Co. of Ann Arbor believed that rural Americans needed a dual-purpose vehicle to transport the family to church on Sunday and bring products to market...

George Milburn Studebaker was the eldest son of Clement and Anna Studebaker. He was named for his maternal grandfather, Mishawaka wagon maker George Milburn. After graduating from the Pennsylvania Military Academy in 1884, he wed Ms. Ada Mar Lantz, the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William C. Lantz of...

It was the question that plagued Studebaker’s design team: “How can we make the 1963 GT Hawk better than last year?” After noted designer Brooks Stevens captured the essence of previous Studebaker Hawks in a sleek, contemporary body for 1962 that more than doubled Hawk sales, Studebaker engineers racked their...