Studebaker Born: 1868 Nationality: American
Beginning as a blacksmiths in South Bend, Indiana by Henry and Clement Studebaker, the business grew rapidly after their brother John invested the fortune he'd made from making wheelbarrows for miners in the California Gold Rush. With lucrative army contracts in the Civil War it became a very rich company.
Studebaker introduced an electric car in 1902, and the second one built was bought by electrical scientist Thomas Edison.In 1904 together with the Garford Engineering Company of Ohio, Studebaker produced its first petrol-engined car, marketed as a Studebaker-Garford.
The company amalgamated with a Detroit manufacturer - Everitt-Metzker-Flanders - in 1911, and for another two years sold cars under the EMF and Flanders and Studebaker brands, building all cars in Detroit.
Like so many car manufacturers of the time, Studebaker's management wasn't up to keeping the company going during the Great Depression, and in 1933 it was put into receivership. When it emerged from that, it began in 1936 an association with designers Raymond Loewy Associates who would be responsible for some of the most important cars in the company's history.
The second World War cut car production in favour of the war effort. For Studebaker, this included building engines for the B-17 Flying Fortress, military trucks, and an amphibious tracked troop-carrier, the Weasel.
Pick-up truck production was Studebaker's mainstay after the war, but the company upstaged most of its competitors by coming up with a completely new styling in 1947 in the Starlight Coupe. It set the "wrap-around" rear window style that was to be the "American look" in both the US and Europe for a decade.
In 1950 the "bullet" nose style came along with the Land Cruiser, and a year later the company introduced its first V8 engine. By 1953 the Champion Starliner Hardtop was the flagship, and through the work of RLA Design the company evolved from there the coupe styles of the 1955 Speedster and the Hawk of the following year that would as a model see the brand at arguably its stylistic best until 1964.
In 1954 the company merged with the Packard automobile company. Studebaker set course to replicate the Champion success of two decades earlier by introducing the Lark compact car, outstanding of its derivatives being the Regal Hardtop.
The financially positive period lasted only until 1961, and Studebaker struggled once more. In 1963, despite the production of a Gran Turismo Hawk the year before and the very advanced fibreglass-bodied Avanti, the South Bend plant was closed. Studebaker died as a brand three years later when one of its nondescript Cruiser models was the last to leave its Hamilton plant in Ontario, Canada.
Best Car: The supremely elegant 1953 Commander State Regal Hardtop - but I'd also take the '56 Golden Hawk.
Worst Car: The Cruiser that ended the brand's run had little to recommend it.
Weirdest Car: A 1925 "bus" that was really a car with an elongated wheelbase and a very long subsequent rear overhang