More Than They Promised: The Studebaker StoryThis lavishly illustrated book on the famous automobile manufacturer traces the Studebaker family from its arrival in America in 1736, to the beginnings of the wagon business under John M. Studebaker and his brothers in the nineteenth century, to the family s entry into the automobile industry in 1902, to the last Studebaker automobile to roll off the assembly line in 1966. The book, however, is much more than the story of a family business; it is also, in microcosm, the story of the industrial development of America. The Studebakers had always been industrialists in the sense that they made their living by manufacturing things, albeit on a small scale. When the Industrial Revolution hit the country with full force, spurred on by the Civil War, it transformed America from a rural-agrarian society into an urban-industrial one. The fortunes of the Studebaker family were transformed with it. As the title suggests, the Studebaker story was mostly one of success. Studebaker wagons and carriages were long noted for their quality and popularity, and so, too, were Studebaker automobiles. The 1953 Starliner and the 1963 Avanti, designed under Raymond Loewy s direction, are widely regarded as among the most innovative examples of American industrial design. The book deals in detail with the soaring prosperity of the company in the 1920s, the bankruptcy and miraculous recovery in the 1930s, the stupendous success of the early post-World War II period, and the eventual decline of the company s fortunes in the mid-1950s. It describes the development of such famous models as the Lark, Avanti, and Gran Tourisimo Hawk, with special attention paid to the Avanti II, a surprisingly successful spinoff from the dying company that continued to be produced until 1991. The final chapter, on why Studebaker died, is tightly reasoned and more convincing than previous theories. Throughout, the author has used personal incident and characterization to bring to life the rich, tumultuous history of one of America s longest enduring industrial empires. |
Contents
The Wagon Years | 11 |
The Early Auto Years | 43 |
The Rise of Erskine | 85 |
The Fall of Erskine | 135 |
Back from the Abyss | 177 |
The War Years | 215 |
Studebaker Amnia Vincit | 233 |
The Packard Operation | 277 |
The Lark Ascendant | 313 |
The Swan Song | 349 |
Metamorphosis | 385 |
Postscript | 401 |
Why Studebaker Failed | 437 |
| 473 | |
Index | 479 |
Common terms and phrases
Altman American author's collection automobile automotive operations Avanti II Avanti Motor Corporation Blake body styles build built Cadillac Cafaro cars and trucks cash Champion chassis Chrysler Churchill company's continued Corporation Annual Report cost coupe cubic inch Curtiss-Wright Daimler-Benz Detroit early Egbert electric engine Erskine Erskine's fact factory Flanders Ford four-door franchise Fred Fish Garford Hardig Hawk Henry Hoffman and Vance Hoppe horsepower included labor Lark later Loewy manufacturer Mercedes-Benz Metzger million models months Nance Nash noted offered Packard pany passenger cars percent Pierce-Arrow plant postwar President problems production profit Raymond Loewy roadster Rockne sedan sell sold South Bend standard stockholders Studebaker Avanti Studebaker brothers Studebaker cars Studebaker Champion Studebaker Corporation Studebaker Corporation Annual Studebaker dealers Studebaker Electric Studebaker President Studebaker trucks Studebaker-Garford Studebaker-Packard Studebaker's tion two-door vehicles volume wagon Walter Chrysler wheelbase Willys-Overland workers Zeder