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Life in early 18th Century Germany had become very
difficult for anyone who valued their personal freedom. Wars, religious
conflicts, rapacious rulers and a stifling guild system tended to make it
difficult for anyone who desired a better life. Hearing of a freer life in
the new world, a family named Staudenbecker decided they wanted to worship
however they chose, and have more freedom for their personal lives. The
Staudenbeckers were blade-makers in the City of Solingen, which was (and
still is) famous for its cutlery. Leaving was not as simple as it might
seem.
Fearful of exporting their blade-making skills, the
cutlers guild required that anyone leaving the guild had to work at
another trade for five years in another city before they could emigrate.
The Staudenbeckers did so, and moved to Hagen, Germany for the required
five years. In 1736 they finally were free to move to the new world. Two
brothers, Clement and Peter, a cousin, Heinrich, and their families
journeyed down the Rhine. Various petty noblemen stopped them every few
miles and forced them to pay "tolls", which amounted to whatever they
could extract from the traveler. An unconfirmed family tradition says that
the highly skilled Staudenbeckers built false sides and bottoms in their
luggage and shipping crates, where they hid the bulk of their money. Once
they reached the sea, they booked passage on the Harle, arriving in
Philadelphia. When they arrived, the immigration clerks, unfamiliar with
German pronunciations, recorded their names as "Studenbecker." Other
records recorded their names as Studebaker, Studibaker, Studabaker and
other variations.
The three families began farming in what were then
frontier lands. At this time, the French were stirring up their Shawnee
and Delaware Indian allies against the English colonies. On March 3, 1756,
they raided Heinrich's farm, south of Welsh Run Creek. Heinrich was killed
almost immediately; his wife and three of his four children were taken
prisoner. Eager to get out of the area before other settlers could come to
the rescue, the Indians began a forced march in which they killed
Heinrich's expectant wife and a baby. Years later, three of the children
were rescued, and two of them eventually married and raised families.
Several of the Studebakers went into blacksmithing and
wagon-making. They settled on a design which became world famous- the
Conestoga wagon. With settlement in Ohio beginning to open up, they found
a ready market for their wagons. Several Studebakers moved west in the
early 1800's with many settling in southwestern Ohio. One of them, John
Studebaker, began a blacksmith shop; he raised five sons who built wagons.
Two of the sons, Clement and Henry, joined together as the Studebaker
Wagon Company.
Another of the sons, John Mohler Studebaker, headed to
California in 1853. Stories had come back to Ohio of men quickly gaining
fabulous fortunes during the 1849 gold rush. When he arrived at what is
now Placerville, California, he quickly realized that all of the good
claims had long been taken. He also realized that an industrious man could
make a better living by serving the needs of the miners than by panning
for gold. John took his wagon-making skills and began making rugged,
durable wheelbarrows. His sturdy wheelbarrows quickly became popular, and
he acquired the nickname, "Wheelbarrow Johnny." When the gold boom
receded, he took his profits and returned to Ohio. At home, the five
brothers agreed to take John's $8,000 nest egg from California, expand
operations as the Studebaker Wagon Corporation and begin building wagons
on a large scale. The Studebaker wagons proved to be extremely durable,
and the Studebaker Wagon Corporation was able to obtain contracts to build
wagons for the Union army. During the Civil War, the reliability and
ruggedness of the Studebaker wagons became legendary, and the Studebaker
Corporation was on its way to a place in history.
In 1902, the company began producing automobiles. At
first the Studebakers concentrated on electrics, but in 1904 began
producing gasoline-powered cars in greater and greater numbers. Upon
America's entrance into WW I, the company immediately wired President
Wilson, offering to make all of its facilities available for war
production. Once again, Studebaker turned out thousands of wagons, trucks,
ambulances, tanker trucks, gun carriages and other vehicles for the war
effort. And once again, the company earned a reputation for rugged,
durable vehicles.
When the war ended, Studebaker's reputation for
reliability led to increased sales, and the company prospered until the
Great Depression. In 1933, in the depths of the depression, the company
went into receivership. Normal practice at the time was to simply sell all
of the company's assets and pay off the creditors as best as possible.
Studebaker however, was able to convince Congress that its real value was
as a going concern, wherein workers would still have jobs and pay taxes.
Bankruptcy law was revised by Congress to let the company put forth a plan
of reorganization and repayment of its debts. The company recovered from
the depression, and by the late 1930's was in financial health again.
The company was rare among major auto producers that it
did not do its styling in-house. In the late 1930's the company contracted
with Raymond Loewy, the famous French designer, to do the styling of their
cars. Soaring sales were interrupted by World War II. Once again, the
company quickly geared up for war production, and again, its vehiles
continued its reputation for reliability.
After the war, Studebaker's failure to invest in new
manufacturing equipment began to make it less competitive. It was still
building its vehicles in the old wagon factory at South Bend, Indiana,
with production processes that were becoming quaint, at best. By the early
1950's, Studebakers that were intended to be competition for Fords,
Chevrolets and Plymouths were priced like a Buick. Fortunately the
innovative and striking designs of Loewy continued to attract buyers to
the showroom, and the distinctive "Is it coming or going?" and
"bullet-nose" cars gave the company a reputation for advanced styling.
In 1953, a number of problems came to a head. That
year's design was initially called its "Centennial Car," but the ad
writers' "European Look," was what caught on with the public. The company
did not do proper engineering on the body panels, many of which fit
poorly. In addition, the design did not permit adequate drainage from
fender wells, and the cars showed a tendency to rust very quickly.
Finally, the company badly misjudged demand, thinking the four-door sedan
would be the most popular model. Instead, the public was clamoring for the
much more rakish-looking two door hardtop. Studebaker was unable to adjust
production quickly enough, and thousands of sales were lost due to long
waiting periods. The old saying that "A good reputation is hard to win,
but easy to lose," was never truer. By the time production problems were
cleared up, the public had become wary of the cars. Sales began sliding,
never to recover, in spite of a merger with Packard in 1957.
The Lark compact model appeared in 1959, and kept the
company going at a reduced rate. Finally in the early 1960's Loewy and
Sherwood Egbert again came up with a striking design: the Avanti. However,
once again the company did poor pre-production engineering, and the Avanti
had to overcome several bugs. In 1964 production was moved from South Bend
to Hamilton, Ontario. and in 1966, production ended. The "what ifs?" are
too many to go into here, but Egbert's last design, the Spectre, was
singularly beautiful, and might have turned the business around with its
simplified production requirements, but the Board of Directors decided to
go out of the auto business.
Contrary to popular belief, Studebaker did not go
bankrupt. It produced many other products, and was a profitable company.
It eventually merged with Worthington Industries, which merged with
McGraw-Edison, which was taken over by Cooper Industries. Cooper still
owns the rights to the Studebaker nameplate, but has said that it has "no
plans to use it in the foreseeable future."
Check out the latest
Studebaker XUV
History compliments of
Studebaker Family National
Association
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