USS Stethem (DDG 63) VCG/VCG via Getty ImagesThe Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are a serious force in our Navy. They vessels. Navy has been so impressed with their performance that they aren’t even phasing them out for a better destroyer (something they typically do all the time). They are actually building them at the same time. Each class of destroyer has their own distinct advantages, and the Arleigh Burke-class ship is designed for multi-surface warfare; it can attack vessels under, on, or above the sea.Next: Probably the coolest looking ship in the water7.
The Zumwalt-class destroyer. USS Florida (SSGN 728) David Nagle/U.S. Navy/Getty ImagesThe are our intercontinental ballistic missile launch platforms. They are designed for stealth and are a strategic deterrent to other countries wanting to launch nuclear arms against the U.S. Even though these submarines have the capability of destroying entire countries, they are being tamed a bit.
Dear grandfather of Amanda and Murphy Studebaker, Sean and Austin Jablonoski, Hannah and Noah Campanelli; dear brother-in-law of Diane Ingram Studebaker. Committal service with U.S. Navy Honors at.
Due to international treaties, are being converted into guided missile launch platforms, like the USS Florida pictured above.Next: Something like this would likely be used in a D-Day type of scenario.4. Wasp-class amphibious assault ship.
USS Bataan (LHD 5) David C. Mercil/US Navy/Getty ImagesThe Bataan looks like an aircraft carrier, but it is technically a ship in the Wasp-class.
They are amphibious assault ships. Every vehicle on the ship is designed to assist in assault missions. There are Harrier jets, Ospreys, Chinooks, and pretty much every other vertical take-off and landing vehicle you can think of.
And if you need a vehicle to get your armor to the beach, they also have hovercraft to transport heavy assault and support vehicles. The Wasp-class will be replaced with the newer America-class amphibious assault ships soon, but for now, they remain the king of their class.Next: This ship brings new meaning to a cannon.3. The battleship. USS Wisconsin (BB-64) Naval History and Heritage CommandIt is true that the era of battleships in the Navy has come to an end, but that doesn’t change the fact that these were the most powerful ships in the sea for almost two centuries. The Iowa-class battleship had a battery of 16-inch guns that. During the 19th and 20th centuries, if a country wanted superiority on the sea, they needed an accompaniment of these legendary ships.Next: The most advanced carriers in the world2. The Ford-class aircraft carrier.
The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) Gabriel R. Navy via Getty ImagesThe USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort are the military’s two hospital ships.
These massive ships stand 10 stories tall and are the length of three football fields. Hospital ships can be deployed anywhere in the world to treat our soldiers and assist in humanitarian crises.More powerful than any missile, shell, or bullet, is the power of compassion. These ships emulate that kind of compassion.Follow on Facebook!
Studebaker 'turning wheel' badge on cars produced 1912–1934Studebaker (: ) was an American manufacturer based in. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the firm was originally a producer of wagons, buggies, carriages and harnesses. Studebaker continued to manufacture other diversified products after automobile production ceased in 1966.Studebaker entered the automotive business in 1902 with and in 1904 with gasoline vehicles, all sold under the name 'Studebaker Automobile Company'.
Until 1911, its automotive division operated in partnership with the of, and after 1909 with the. The first gasoline automobiles to be fully manufactured by Studebaker were marketed in August 1912.: p231 Over the next 50 years, the company established a reputation for good quality and reliability.After years of financial problems, the company merged in 1954 with luxury carmaker to form the.
However, Studebaker's financial problems were worse than the Packard executives had thought. The Packard marque was phased out, and the company returned to the Studebaker Corporation name in 1962. The South Bend plant ceased production on December 20, 1963, and the last Studebaker automobile rolled off the, Canada, assembly line on March 17, 1966.
Studebaker continued as an independent company until merging with Wagner Electric in May 1967 and then Worthington Corporation in November 1967. Contents.History German forebears The German ancestors of the Studebaker family first arrived in the United States at the port of Philadelphia on September 1, 1736, on the ship Harle, from Rotterdam, Holland. They included Peter Studebaker and his wife Anna Margetha Studebaker, Clement Studebaker (Peter's brother) and his wife, Anna Catherina Studebaker and Heinrich Studebaker (Peter's cousin). 's History of the Studebaker Corporation, recorded that a Peter Studebaker and his father (also named Peter) were taxed in 1798–1799 as wagon-makers.: p11John Studebaker, father of the five brothers who began Studebaker Corporation, was the son of Peter Studebaker, Jr.: 11–13 18th-century colonial family business In 1740, Peter Studebaker built his home on a property known as 'Bakers Lookout'. On Bakers Lookout, Peter, master of the German Cutler Guild, built the first Studebaker home, and the first Studebaker wagon factory, where he began forging and tempering steel and seasoning wood.
Peter Studebaker also built a wagon road, Broadfording Wagon Road, to run through the property, and a bridge over the creek in 1747. In this factory, Peter manufactured many products, including some he had made in Solingen, Germany, and naturally, wagons. Bakers Lookout, the 100-acre near Hagerstown, Maryland, was the first of many land patents to be acquired by Peter Studebaker, who purchased about 1500 acres in what is now Maryland. The home still stands as of 2018 and is proof of the advanced skills of Peter Studebaker.Although Peter Studebaker's life in the colonies was short, less than 18 years, the family business flourished through his descendants and apprentices who expanded the Studebaker family's vast land holdings and wagon-making business. Peter's trade secrets were passed from father to son, generation to generation. The Studebaker family business plan, purchasing, again and again, vast amounts of land, on which they built industrious farms with mills and wagon-making facilities and wagon-selling facilities, each identical to the Bakers Lookout situation, industrious farms, lots of acres, on which one finds the necessary resources, lumber, iron ore, oil shale, and land selected with stream, spring, or river to hydropower factories, mills, and equipment.
Peter's technology resulted in famous wagon designs, including the and prairie schooner. Peter's trade was the stepping-stone that expanded the industrial revolution and the transportation industry. Bonsall wrote: 'Much more than the story of a family business; it is also, in microcosm, the story of the industrial development of America.' Peter Studebaker died in the mid-1750s.The five brothers. The five Studebaker brothers—founders of the Studebaker Corporation: Left to right, (standing) Peter and Jacob; (seated), Henry, andThe five sons were, in order of birth: Henry (1826–1895), (1831–1901), (1833–1917), Peter Everst (1836–1897) and Jacob Franklin (1844–1887). The boys had five sisters.
Photographs of the brothers and their parents are reproduced in the 1918 company history, which was written by Erskine after he became president, in memory of John M.,: p.5 whose portrait appears on the front cover.South Bend operation Clement and Henry Studebaker, Jr., became blacksmiths and in, in February 1852.: p229 They first made metal parts for freight wagons and later expanded into the manufacture of complete wagons. At this time, John M. Was making in. The site of his business is California Historic Landmark #142.The first major expansion in Henry and Clem's South Bend business came from their being in the right place to meet the needs of the that began in 1849. From his wheelbarrow enterprise at Placerville, John M. Had amassed $8,000. In April 1858, he quit and moved out to apply this to financing the vehicle manufacturing of H & C Studebaker, which was already booming because of an order to build wagons for the US Army.
In 1857, they had also built their first carriage—'Fancy, hand-worked iron trim, the kind of courting buggy any boy and girl would be proud to be seen in'.: p.24That was when John M. Bought out Henry's share of the business. Henry was deeply religious and had qualms about building military equipment. The Studebakers were, conservative, a religion that viewed war as evil. Longstreet's official company history simply says, 'Henry was tired of the business. He wanted to farm. The risks of expanding were not for him'.: p.26 Expansion continued from manufacture of wagons for westward, as well as for farming and general transportation.
During the height of westward migration and, half of the wagons used were Studebakers. They made about a quarter of them, and manufactured the metal fittings for other builders in for another quarter-century.The fourth brother, Peter E, was running a successful general store in, which was expanded in 1860 to include a wagon distribution outlet.: p.28 A major leap forward came from supplying wagons for the in the (1861–1865). By 1868, annual sales had reached $350,000.: p229 That year, the three older brothers formed the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company—Clem (president), Peter (secretary), and John M.
(treasurer).: p.38 By this time, the factory had a spur line to the and, with the finished, most wagons were now dispatched by rail and.World's largest vehicle house. Studebaker wagon hauled by eight in, 2009In 1875, the youngest brother, 30-year-old Jacob, was brought into the company to take charge of the carriage factory, making sulkies and five-glass. Following a great fire in 1874, which destroyed two-thirds of the entire works, they had rebuilt in solid brick, covering 20 acres (81,000 m 2) and were now 'The largest vehicle house in the world'.: p.43 Customers could choose from Studebaker,. For $20,000, a for up to a dozen passengers, with red wheels, gold-plated lamps, and yellow trim, could be had.In the 1880s, roads started to be surfaced with tar, gravel, and wooden blocks. In 1884, when times were hard, Jacob opened a carriage sales and service operation in a fine new on Michigan Avenue,. The two granite columns at the main entrance, 3 feet 8 inches (1.12 m) in diameter and 12 feet 10 inches (3.91 m) high, were said to be the largest polished monolithic shafts in the country.
Three years later, Jacob died, the first death among the brothers.In 1889, incoming ordered a full set of Studebaker carriages and harnesses for the White House. 1912 Studebaker busUnder the agreement with Studebaker, Garford would receive completed and drivetrains from Ohio and then mate them with Studebaker-built bodies, which were sold under the brand name at premium prices. Eventually, vehicles with Garford-built began to carry the Studebaker name. Garford also built cars under its own name, and by 1907, attempted to increase production at the expense of Studebaker. Once the Studebakers discovered this, John Mohler Studebaker enforced a primacy clause, forcing Garford back on to the scheduled production quotas. The decision to drop the Garford name was made and the final product rolled off the by 1911, leaving Garford alone until it was acquired by in 1913.E-M-F Studebaker's agreement with the E-M-F Company, made in September 1908,: p47 was a different relationship, one John Studebaker had hoped would give Studebaker a quality product without the entanglements found in the Garford relationship, but this was not to be.
Under the terms of the agreement, E-M-F would manufacture vehicles and Studebaker would distribute them exclusively through its wagon dealers.The E-M-F gasoline-powered cars proved disastrously unreliable, causing wags to say that E-M-F stood for Every Morning Fix-it, Easy Mark's Favorite, and the like.: p231 Compounding the problems was the infighting between E-M-F's principal partners,. Eventually in mid-1909, Everitt and Metzger left to start a new enterprise.: p88 Flanders also quit and joined them in 1912, but the could not be saved from failure by renaming it the.Studebaker's president, Fred Fish, had purchased one-third of the E-M-F stock in 1908 and followed up by acquiring all the remainder from J. Morgan in 1910 and buying E-M-F's manufacturing at, Canada, and across the river in Detroit. The former, located across Brush Street from the old E-M-F plant in the area of Detroit, was purchased from Ford in January 1911 to become Studebaker Plant 10, used for assembly work until 1933.E-M-F was bought out by Studebaker, which formed.
This was followed by E-M-F's products: the E-M-F as the, the Flanders as the Sales of these rebadged models continued through the end of 1912.Studebaker manufactured cars in, from 1912 to 1936.Studebaker marque established in 1911. 1938 Studebaker BusIn 1910, it was decided to refinance and incorporate as the Studebaker Corporation, which was concluded on February 14, 1911 under New Jersey laws.: p.63 The company discontinued making electric vehicles that same year.: p.71 The financing was handled by and who provided board representatives including whose contribution was especially esteemed.: p.76After taking over E-M-F's facilities, Studebaker sought to remedy the customer dissatisfaction by paying to visit each disgruntled owner and replace defective in their vehicles, at a total cost of 1 million. The worst problem was rear-axle failure. Hendry comments that the frenzied testing resulted in Studebaker's aim to design 'for life'—and the consequent emergence of 'a series of really rugged cars.
The famous Big and Special Sixes'.: p231 From that time, Studebaker's own marque was put on all new produced at the former E-M-F facilities as an assurance that the vehicles were well built.Engineering advances from WWI The corporation benefited from enormous orders cabled by the British government at the outbreak of. They included 3,000 transport wagons, 20,000 sets of artillery harness, 60,000 artillery saddles, and ambulances, as well as hundreds of cars purchased through the London office. Similar orders were received from the governments of France and Russia.: p.79The 1913 six-cylinder models were the first cars to employ the important advancement of casting which became associated with a production-economy drive in the years of the war. At that time, a 28-year-old university graduate engineer, was appointed chief engineer.
He was the first of a trio of brilliant technicians, with and, who launched the successful 1918 models, and were known as '.: p234 They left in 1920 to form a consultancy, later to become the nucleus of Engineering. The replacement chief engineer was Guy P. Henry, who introduced steel,: p236 an improved clutch design, and presided over the six-cylinders-only policy favored by new president, who replaced Fred Fish in July 1915.: p234 End of horse-drawn era John M. Studebaker had always viewed the automobile as complementary to the horse-drawn wagon, pointing out that the expense of maintaining a car might be beyond the resources of a small farmer. In 1918, when Erskine's history of the firm was published, the annual capacity of the seven Studebaker plants was 100,000 automobiles, 75,000 horse-drawn vehicles, and about $10,000,000 worth of automobile and vehicle spare parts and harness.: p.85 In the preceding seven years, 466,962 horse-drawn vehicles had been sold, as against 277,035 automobiles,: p.87 but the trend was all too clear. The regular manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles ended when Erskine ordered removal of the last wagon gear in 1919.: p.90 To its range of cars, Studebaker would now add a line to replace the horse-drawn wagons., and even small rail -kits were produced using the same powerful six-cylinder engines.First auto proving ground In 1925, the corporation's most successful distributor and dealer came to South Bend as vice president in charge of sales.
In 1926, Studebaker became the first automobile manufacturer in the United States to open a controlled on which, in 1937, would be planted 5,000 in a pattern that spelled 'STUDEBAKER' when viewed from the air. Also in 1926, the last of the Detroit plant was moved to South Bend under the control of, vice president in charge of production and engineering. That year, a new small car, the was launched in Paris, resulting in 26,000 sales abroad and many more in America.: p.91 By 1929, the sales list had been expanded to 50 models and business was so good that 90% of earnings were being paid out as dividends to shareholders in a highly competitive environment. However, the end of that year ushered in the that resulted in many layoffs and massive national unemployment for several years.Facilities in the 1920s Studebaker's total plant area was 225 acres (0.91 km 2), spread over three locations, with buildings occupying 7.5 million square feet of floor space.
Annual production capacity was 180,000 cars, requiring 23,000 employees.: p237The original South Bend vehicle plant continued to be used for small forgings, springs, and making some body parts. Separate buildings totaling over one million square feet were added in 1922–1923 for the Light, Special, and Big Six models.
At any one time, 5,200 bodies were in process. South Bend's Plant 2 made chassis for the Light Six and had a foundry of 575,000 sq ft (53,400 m 2), producing 600 tons of castings daily.: p236Plant 3 at Detroit made complete chassis for Special and Big Six models in over 750,000 sq ft (70,000 m 2) of floor space. Plant 5 was the service parts store and shipping facility, plus the executive offices of various technical departments.: p236 The Detroit facilities were moved to South Bend in 1926,: p.91 except that the (Plant 10) was retained for assembly of the between 1927 and 1929 and the (1931–1933).Plant 7 was at Walkerville, Ontario, Canada, where complete cars were assembled from components that had been shipped from South Bend and Detroit factories or locally made in Canada. Output was designated for the Canadian (left-hand drive) and British Empire (right-hand drive) trade.
By locating it there, Studebaker could advertise the cars as 'British-built' and qualify for reduced tariffs.: p237 This manufacturing facility had been acquired from E-M-F in 1910 (see above). By 1929, it had been the subject of $1.25 million investment and was providing employment that supported 500 families. Impact of the 1930s depression. Studebaker Champion first generation, 1939Few industrialists were prepared for the of October 1929.
Though Studebaker's production and sales had been booming, the market collapsed and plans were laid for a new, small, low-cost car—the. However, times were too bad to sell even inexpensive cars. Within a year, the firm was cutting wages and laying off workers. Erskine maintained faith in the Rockne and rashly had the directors declare huge dividends in 1930 and 1931. He also acquired 95% of the 's stock at an inflated price and in cash.
By 1933, the banks were owed $6 million, though current assets exceeded that figure. On March 18, 1933, Studebaker entered receivership. Erskine was pushed out of the presidency in favor of more cost-conscious managers. Committed suicide on July 1, 1933, leaving successors and to deal with the problems.: p.96–98By December 1933, the company was back in profit with $5.75 million working capital and 224 new Studebaker dealers.: p.99 With the substantial aid of, full refinancing and reorganization was achieved on March 9, 1935. A new car was put on the drawing boards under chief engineer —the.
Its final styling was designed. The Champion doubled the company's previous-year sales when it was introduced in 1939.: p.109In 1938, the company built a new factory in, which remained in production until 1956. At one time, the facility was producing 65 cars a day. The factory manufactured the, the, and the.World War II From the 1920s to the 1930s, the South Bend company had originated many style and engineering, including the, models, the record-breaking and, followed by the 1939 Champion. During, Studebaker produced the truck in great quantity and the unique cargo and carrier. Studebaker ranked 28th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.
After cessation of hostilities, Studebaker returned to building automobiles that appealed to average.Post-WWII styling. See also:On August 18, 1948, surrounded by more than 400 employees and a battery of reporters, the first vehicle, a blue Champion four-door, rolled off of the Studebaker assembly line in. The company was located in the former Otis-Fenson factory off Burlington Street on, which was built in 1941.
Having previously operated its British Empire export assembly plant at, Studebaker settled on Hamilton as a postwar Canadian manufacturing site because of the city's centrality to the Canadian. Studebaker manufactured cars in Hamilton from 1948 to 1966. After the plant shut, Hamilton was Studebaker's sole factory. Industry price war brings on crisis Studebaker's strong postwar management team including president Paul G Hoffman and Roy Cole (vice president, engineering) had gone by 1949: p252 and was replaced by more cautious executives who failed to meet the competitive challenge brought on by and his.
Massive discounting in a price war between and, which began with Ford's massive increase in production in the spring of 1953—part of Ford's postwar expansion program aimed at restoring it to the position of the largest car maker which GM had held since 1931—could not be equalled by the independent carmakers, for whom the only hope was seen as a merger of Studebaker, and into a fourth giant combine after. This had been unsuccessfully attempted. In this scheme, Studebaker had the disadvantage that its South Bend location would make centralization difficult. Its labor costs were also the highest in the industry.: p254 Merger with Packard Ballooning labor costs (the company had never had an official UAW strike and Studebaker workers and were among the highest paid in the industry), issues, and the new-car sales war between Ford and General Motors in the early 1950s wrought havoc on Studebaker's.: p254-255 Professional financial managers stressed short-term earnings rather than long-term vision.
Momentum was sufficient to keep going for another 10 years, but stiff competition and -cutting by the doomed the enterprise.From 1950, Studebaker declined rapidly, and by 1954, was losing money. It negotiated a strategic takeover by Packard, a smaller but less financially troubled. However, the cash position was worse than it had led Packard to believe, and by 1956, the company (renamed and under the guidance of CEO ) was nearly, though it continued to make and market both Studebaker and Packard cars until 1958.: p254 The 'Packard' element was retained until 1962, when the name reverted to 'Studebaker Corporation'.Contract with Curtiss-Wright A three-year management contract was made by Nance with maker in 1956 with the aim of improving finances. C-W's president, Roy T. Hurley, attempted to cure Studebaker's ruinously lax employment policies. Under C-W's guidance, Studebaker-Packard also sold the old Detroit Packard plant and returned the then-new Packard plant on Conner Avenue (where Packard production had moved in 1954, at the same time Packard took its body-making operations in house after its longtime body supplier, was acquired by Chrysler in late 1953) to its lessor, Chrysler. The company became the American importer for, and automobiles and many Studebaker sold those brands, as well.
C-W gained the use of idle car plants and tax relief on their aircraft profits while Studebaker-Packard received further working capital to continue car production.Last automobiles produced The automobiles that came, including the redesigned (1959) and the (1962), were based on old chassis and engine designs. The Lark, in particular, was based on existing parts to the degree that it even used the central body section of the company's 1953–58 cars, but was a clever enough design to be popular in its first year, selling over 130,000 units and delivering a $28.6 million profit to the automaker.
'S-P rose from 56,920 units in 1958 to 153,844 in 1959.' However, Lark sales began to drop precipitously after the Big Three manufacturers introduced their own compact models in 1960, and the situation became critical once the so-called 'senior compacts' debuted for 1961.
The Lark had provided a temporary reprieve, but nothing proved enough to stop the financial bleeding.A labor strike occurred at the South Bend plant starting on January 1, 1962, and lasting 38 days. The strike came to an end after an agreement was reached between company president and, president of the UAW. Despite a sales uptick in 1962, continuing media reports that Studebaker was about to leave the auto business became a self-fulfilling prophecy as buyers shied away from the company's products for fear of being stuck with an 'orphan'. Reporter made a television program called 'Studebaker—Fight for Survival' which aired on May 18, 1962. By 1963, all of the company's automobiles and trucks were selling poorly.Exit from auto business Closure of South Bend plant, 1963After insufficient initial sales of the 1964 models and the ousting of president Sherwood Egbert, the company announced the closure of the South Bend plant on December 9, 1963, and produced its last car in South Bend on December 20. The shutdown of the plant, whose work force was nearly a quarter African-American, hit that community especially hard. The engine foundry remained open to supply the Canadian plant until the end of the 1964 model year, after which it was also shuttered.
The model name, tooling, and plant space were sold off to Leo Newman and Nate Altman, a longtime South Bend Studebaker-Packard dealership. They revived the car in 1965 under the brand name 'Avanti II'. (See main article.) They likewise purchased the rights and tooling for Studebaker's trucks, along with the company's vast stock of parts and accessories. Trucks ceased to be built after Studebaker fulfilled its remaining orders in early 1964.
Some '1965' model Champ trucks were built in South America using completely knocked-down kits and parts. These models used a different grille from all previous Champ models.Closure of Hamilton plant, 1966.
A 1966 Cruiser four-door sedan, the last Studebaker manufacturedLimited automotive production was consolidated at the company's last remaining production facility in Hamilton, Ontario, which had always been profitable and where Studebaker produced cars until March 1966 under the leadership of. It was projected that the Canadian operation could break even on production of about 20,000 cars a year, and Studebaker's announced goal was 30,000–40,000 1965 models. While 1965 production was just shy of the 20,000 figure, the company's directors felt that the small profits were not enough to justify continued investment. Rejecting Grundy's request for funds to tool up for 1967 models, Studebaker left the automobile business on March 17, 1966, after an announcement on March 4.
A turquoise and white Cruiser sedan was the last of fewer than 9,000 1966 models manufactured (of which 2,045 were built in the 1966 calendar year ). In reality, the move to Canada had been a tactic by which production could be slowly wound down and remaining dealer franchise obligations honored. The 1965 and 1966 Studebaker cars used 'McKinnon' engines sourced from General Motors Canada Limited, which were based on Chevrolet's 230-cubic-inch six-cylinder and 283-cubic-inch V8 engines when Studebaker-built engines were no longer available. The closure adversely affected not only the plant's 700 employees, who had developed a sense of collegiality around group benefits such as employee parties and day trips, but the city of Hamilton as a whole; Studebaker had been Hamilton's 10th-largest employer. Potential link with Nissan and ToyotaGordon Grundy of Studebaker Canada was sent by Studebaker management to Japan to investigate potential links with and, to sell their vehicles badged as Studebakers. While Grundy was negotiating with Nissan, the Studebaker board found out about the and then the attorney representing the board, former United States Vice President, asked Grundy to contact Toyota, as well.
Unfortunately, Toyota was insulted at being Studebaker's second choice, and when word got out to Nissan, they ended negotiations, leaving Grundy empty-handed. Network and other assetsMany of Studebaker's dealers either closed, took on other automakers' product lines, or converted to dealerships following the closure of the Canadian plant. Studebaker's General Products Division, which built vehicles to fulfill defense contracts, was acquired by, which built military and postal vehicles in South Bend. In 1970, (AMC) purchased the division, which still exists today as.The planted on the in 1937, spelling out the Studebaker name, still stands and has proven to be a popular topic on such sites as. The proving grounds were acquired by in 1966 and in 1996.
After Bosch closed its South Bend operation in 2011, a part of the proving ground was retained and, as of April 2013, has been restored to use under the name 'New Carlisle Test Facility'. For many years a rumor persisted of a Studebaker graveyard. The rumor was later confirmed to be fact when the remains of many Studebaker prototype automobiles and a few trucks were discovered at a remote site within the confines of the former Studebaker proving grounds.
A few of the prototypes were rescued and are in private collections. The only example of a never-produced wood-sided Champion station wagon has been restored and is on display at the. Most of the prototypes were left to rot in direct contact with the ground and full exposure to the weather and falling trees. Attempts to remove some of these rusting bodies resulted in the bodies crumbling under their own weight as they were moved, so now they exist only in photographs.In May 1967, Studebaker and its diversified units were merged with Wagner Electric. In November 1967, Studebaker was merged with the to form, a Delaware corporation. The Studebaker name disappeared from the American business scene in 1979, when acquired Studebaker-Worthington, except for the still existing Studebaker Leasing, based in Jericho, NY. McGraw-Edison was itself purchased in 1985 by, which sold off its auto-parts divisions to some years later.
As detailed above, some vehicles were assembled from left-over parts and identified as Studebakers by the purchasers of the brand and surplus material from Studebaker at South Bend.Diversified activities By the early 1960s, Studebaker had begun to diversify away from automobiles. Numerous companies were purchased, bringing Studebaker into such diverse fields as the manufacture of tire studs and missile components.The company's 1963 annual report listed the following divisions:. – Floor Machine Division,. CTL – Missile/Space Technology Division,. Franklin – Appliance Division, (home office; other locations also in Minnesota, Iowa, and Ontario). Manufactured private label kitchen and laundry appliances for major retailers until sold to.
– Tractors Division, and. International – South Bend, Indiana (handled business matters for all divisions doing business overseas).
– Engine/Generator Division,. – automobile.
– Scientifically Treated Products Division,. Produced automotive engine additives.
Studegrip – Tire Stud Division, and. – founded byHaving built the under license during World War II, Studebaker also attempted to build what would perhaps have been the largest aircraft piston engine ever built. With 24 cylinders in an, a bore of 8 in (203 mm) and stroke of 7.75 in (197 mm), displacement would have been 9,349 cubic inches (153.20 L), hence the H-9350 designation.