The pickup truck is a true American icon, embodying versatility, ruggedness, and dependability. It traces its roots to horse drawn farm wagons and delivery vehicles and has evolved into the motor age’s workhorse. Early pickup trucks were often modified passenger cars with makeshift beds replacing the body’s rear section. The...

Henry Studebaker was the eldest of John C. and Rebecca Studebaker’s thirteen children. He was born in East Berlin, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 1821 and moved with the family to Ashland County, Ohio, when he was in his teens. Once in Ohio, Henry learned the blacksmith trade, spending summers at...

Although Studebaker bought larger stampings from outside vendors, it produced many smaller stamped parts, such as hoods, oil pans, gas tanks, and fenders in-house. Huge presses, some capable of generating 750 tons of force, shaped sheets of metal into the necessary components. Studebaker’s stamping plant continued as a automotive production...

The Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow show cars were a radical departure for the luxury brand well known for its conservative engineering and design philosophy. The Silver Arrows were designed by P-A designer Phil Wright and feature Pierce’s signature fender mounted headlamps with an aggressively sloped V-shaped grille. Design elements, such as...

Studebaker returned to the Indy 500 in 1933 with the same five-car team it had in 1932. Four of the five cars received new bodies that were developed with the aid of wind-tunnel testing at the University of Michigan. The engines received some minor tweaks and were relocated in the...

The luxurious 1957 Golden Hawk 400 debuted in April of 1957 as a premium edition of Studebaker’s top Hawk model. Additional 400 features included a leather interior, special paint, and an upholstered trunk. Just 51 1957 Golden Hawk 400’s were built - 10 show cars, and 41 regular production examples....

Peter Studebaker was born April 1, 1836 in Ashland, Ohio. He was the second youngest son of John C. and Rebecca Studebaker’s thirteen children. He moved to South Bend in 1852 and took work in a dry goods store for $15 per month. He started his own business a short...

“The sporty look of a Ferrari, the economy of a Volkswagen, and the appeal of a Thunderbird.” That’s what Ford vice president Lee Iacocca had in mind for his “youth car.” His hand-picked team refined those seemingly contradictory guidelines into more specific goals in early 1961. The new car needed...

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...

“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...