History of Studebaker

The Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company opened in 1852 as a wagon producer in Indiana by five brothers. In 1889, President Harrison ordered a full set of carriages and harnesses for the White House. The Budweiser wagons featured in their commercials are actually Studebaker wagons changed to accommodate beer and were made in about 1900.

In 1895, a Studebaker relative, Fred Fish, was urging for practical horseless carriages. He ended up becoming a chairman in 1897 when one of the brothers died and right away he had the company get started on an electric vehicle. The first one came out in 1902. They started making gas powered in 1904 and electric was discontinued in 1911, when the brand was officially established. In the coming years Studebaker began to produce truck lines, buses, fire engines, and small rail trains.

Sales were absolutely amazing for Studebaker in the 1920s before the Great Depression. The 1930's saw cut wages and layoffs for the company, much like the rest of the country. Studebaker tried to sell a small low cost car but it was too bad of an economy for even that to sell well. By 1933, the company owned the banks six million dollars and the Studebaker president committed suicide. It was only later that year though that the company began picking up again. Sales doubled between 1938 and 1939.

During World War II, they were known for making large amounts of trucks and the unusual M29 Weasel for the war effort. The Studebaker team was well prepared for the market after the war with new cars and a new ad campaign. 

However, this superb post war team was gone by 1949 and the new executives were not prepared for the challenges that General Motors and Ford presented. At this time, Ford and GM were having their price war that individual dealerships could just not compete with. Many independent companies saw this as “Merge or die”. By 1950, sales were dropping quickly and four years later, they were drastically losing money. They planned to have Packard take over Studebaker. 

Studebaker wasn't exactly honest with Packard about just had bad its finances were though. By 1956, they were going bankrupt. They tried to stay afloat with redesigns but it was obvious that the company just couldn't last. Sales continued to drop throughout the 60s and they finally disappeared from the market in 1967.

Sources: Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org ; Military Images, http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/tracked-armoured-armored-vehicles/p17476-m29-weasel-wwii.html ; Remarkable Cars, http://www.remarkablecars.com/main/studebaker/1909-studebaker-electric.html