Studebaker

US/ CDN, 1902 – 1966

(1) Studebaker Corp, South Bend, Indiana, 1902 – 1954

(2) Studebaker-Packard Corp, South Bend, Indiana, 1954 – 1964

(3) Studebaker Corp of Canada Ltd, Hamilton, Ontario, 1964 – 1966

The brothers Henry and Clem Studebaker opened a blacksmith’s and wagon-building shop in South Bend in 1852, horse-drawn vehicles of their construction serving in both the American Civil War and World War 1, and production continuing until 1919. Their first Studebaker cars were electrics, made in modest numbers from 1902 to 1912: these Studebaker carwere joined in 1904 by the Model-C petrol Studebaker car, a typically American 16hp flat-twin with amidships engine, 2-speed gearbox, and chain drive. This Studebaker carwas followed a year later by a vertical 4 on more European lines, this Studebaker car was selling for $3.000. For the next few seasons, however, Studebaker electred to act as selling gents for Studebaker cars built to their order, and their more expensive offerings of Studebaker cars were built by Garford of Elyria. The cheaper machines were the EMF and Flanders built by the Everitt-Metzger-Flanders Co, and these two makes accounted for 9.700 Studebaker cars in 1910. 1913 saw a brace of Studebaker cars made at South Bend, both with sv monobloc engines, dual ignition, and electric lighting and starting: the 3-speed gearboxes on the Studebaker cars were mounted in unit with the back axles, and the 6-cylinder Studebaker car was claimed to be the first such car to retail in the USA for less than $2.000. In 1914 there was a smaller, 15/20hp Studebaker car with 3.2-litre 4 with coil ignition only. Studebaker sold over 45.000 Studebaker cars in 1915, and their sixth position in 1916 US sales was matched by a seventh place in 1920. 1919 was the last year for 4-cylinder Studebaker cars, and the 1920 Studebaker cars, while retaining separate gearboxes, abandoned the transaxle layout. Studebaker carmodels available were 6s of 4.7-litres and 5.8-litres, the latter establishing a line of really large 6-cylinder Studebaker cars which survived until 1928. An inexpensive 3.3-litre Studebaker Light 6 joined the range in 1921, and 1923 Studebaker cars had all-metal bodies with welded steel pressings. Balloon tyres were standardized on Studebaker cars in 1925, in which year contracting-type hydraulic front wheel brakes were an option: open Studebaker cars were made with permanent tops of the ‘California’ type and detachable side-curtains. Front wheel brakes were standard on the Studebaker carin 1926, but the Studebaker carcompany reverted to mechanical actuation in 1927, in which year a ‘compact’, the Studebaker Erskine, was marketed. Studebaker cars went after stock-car records in a big way in the later 1920s, an outstanding performance of a Studebaker car being 25.000 miles in 25.000 minutes. The 1929 range Studebaker cars consisted of two 6s, the ‘Studebaker Dictator’ and ‘Studebaker Commander’ (at $1.265 and $1.495 respectively), and a brace of straight-eights of 4-litres’ and 5.5-litres’ capacity. Pierce-Arrow was acquired by the Studebaker car company in 1928, but regained its independence five years later. In 1930 Studebaker cars, with Plymouth, pioneered the free wheel, offered initially on 8-cylinder Studebaker cars alone, but available throughout the range by the latter part of the year, when the cheapest Studebaker car, the Light 6, could be bought in England for £295.

Another compact Studebaker carappeared under the Rockne nameplate in 1932. Special versions of the ‘Studebaker President 8’ distinguished themselves in the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. Cliff Bergere’s Studebaker Special finishing 3rd, while in 1933 6th to 12th places were filled by similar Studebaker cars. Studebaker cars went into receivership in 1933, but came back strongly in 1934 with an unattractively-styled three-model range of Studebaker cars – the 3.4-litre ‘Studebaker Dictator 6’, the 3.6-litre ‘Studebaker Commander 8’, and the 4.1-litre ‘Studebaker President 8 ‘, all with synchromesh, free wheel, and X-braced frames. Subsequent evolution of Studebaker cars followed accepted American lines: transverse independent front suspension, automatic overdrive, and hydraulic brakes once more in 1935: a hill-holder (modernized version of the sprag) in 1936: headlamps half-faired into the wings of the Studebaker car in 1938: and column change in 1939, when Raymond Loewy became responsible for the Studebaker car Corporation’s styling. 1939 was also the first year for one of America’s longest-lived modern economy cars, the 2.7-litre 6-cylinder sv ‘Studebaker Champion’ selling at $765. Fluid couplings was available on the 1942 Studebaker car range, which included Studebaker cars last straight-8s. The revolutionary post-war ‘coming or going’ style with wrap-around rear window on Studebaker cars was launched by Loewy on the 1946/ 1947 Studebaker cars with 2.8-litre and 3.7-litre 6-cylinder engines. Sales climbed to 239.000 Studebaker cars in 1949, and the inevitable ohv V8 – a relatively small one of 3.8-litres – replaced the bigger 6 in 1951 Studebaker cars. Studebaker car companys answer to the big battalions was the low and elegant line of the 1953 Studebaker cars, which unfortunately became more cluttered down the years, and finances were not impoved by the merger of the Studebaker car company with Packard in 1954. An interesting departure was the sporting ‘Studebaker Hawk’ coupé powered by Packard’s V8 engine and Ultramatic transmission in 1956: 1957 versions had blown Studebaker car engines, the only example of a factory-equipped super-charger (save the 1954 Kaiser) since the Graham. The Studebaker car company managed to get their ‘Studebaker Lark’ compact sedan tooled and into production in ten months in 1959, and this descendant of the old sv ‘Champion’ was the only Studebaker car now offered with the exception of the ‘Studebaker Hawk’. The small 6 Studebaker car achieved ohv at long last in 1961, and 1962 saw the exciting fiberglass-bodied ‘Studebaker Avanti’ coupé with disc brakes on the front wheels, a 4-speed gearbox, and optional supercharger. The Studebaker car annexed 29 stock-car records, including a flying mile at 168.15mph, but neither this nor the continuing ‘Lark’ range could save Studebaker cars. A wide choice of Studebaker car models – two 6s and three 8s – was listed for 1964, but early in the season South Bend stopped making Studebaker cars, and production was transferred to the Canadian plant which had been assembling Studebaker cars since 1912. Even as an ‘import’, the Studebaker car did not sell well: the last examples of the Studebaker car marque had 3.2-litre 6-cylinder and 4.7-litre 8-cylinder Chevrolet engines, but even these were abandoned in the spring of 1966. Production of the ‘Studebaker Avanti’ was continued on a small scale by an independent factory in South Bend.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS 

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com

Vauxhall

GB, 1903 to date

(1) Vauxhall Iron Works Ltd, London, 1903 – 1904

(2) Vauxhall Iron Works Ltd, Luton, Beds., 1905 – 1906

(3) Vauxhall and West Hydraulic Engineering Co Ltd, Luton, Beds., 1906 – 1907

(4) Vauxhall Motors Ltd, Luton, Beds., 1907 to date

This marine engineering concern’s first Vauxhall cars were horizontal-engined single-cylinder runabouts in the American idiom with chain drive and tiller steering, rated at 6hp and the first Vauxhall car was selling for £150. In 1904, when 76 Vauxhall cars were sold, wheel steering and a reverse gear featured in the specification, and the singles were joined by 3-cylinder models Vauxhall cars of 1.4- and 2.4-litres’ capacity, with mechanically-operated inlet valves and vestigial flutes on their bonnets. In 1905 the Vauxhall car works were moved to Luton, and the first attempt at competitions was made with the entry in the Tourist Tophy of a 3-cylinder Vauxhall car with overdrive gearbox. The classic Vauxhall radiator with its flutes appeared on a 3.3-litre T-head 4-cylinder Vauxhall car introduced in 1906. This Vauxhall car was followed by a smaller shaft-drive 12/16, still T-headed, and the Pomeroy-designed L-head 20hp, which gave 40bhp and this Vauxhall car won the 2.000 Mile Trial of 1908. Pomeroy’s 4-cylinder Vauxhall cars were among the classic British designs of the next six years, boasting 5-bearing crankshafts and monobloc engines, and, from 1912, Hele-Shaw multi-plate clutches. In 1910 the first of the Prince Henry Vauxhall cars with 3-litre engine won its spurs in the German Trials of that name: these round-nose sporting Vauxhall cars later grew up into 4-litres’ with 70bhp, capable of 75mph and this Vauxhall car was selling for only £615 in 1913. The Vauxhall car company’s bread-and-butter car was the smaller and staider A-type on similar lines, joined in 1913 by a 4-litre D-type Vauxhall car with close affinities to the Prince Henry Vauxhall cars, while the B-type, a 6-cylinder formal Vauxhall carriage with its cylinders cast in threes, was made in small numbers from 1910 onwards. A Linley preselective gearbox was listed as an option on Vauxhall cars in 1911, in which year Vauxhall cars started racing in earnest. Already a 3-litre Vauxhall car with single-seater streamlined bodywork had recorded 100.08mph over the flying kilometer, and Vauxhall cars were entered for the Coupe de l’Auto voiturette races of 1911, 1912 an 1913. These Vauxhall cars were followed by twin-ohc designs in 1914 for the French Grand Prix and the Tourist Trophy. The GP models Vauxhall cars with 4½-litre engines developed 130bhp. The prototype of Vauxhall cars best known sporting model, the Vauxhall 30/98, appeared in 1913. The capacity of the Vauxhall car was 4½-litres and it was listed at £925 in 1915, though only 13 Vauxhall 30/98 cars were made before the outbreak of World War 1.

D-types Vauxhall car were made at the rate of eight a week for the Fighting Services during the war years, and both this model Vauxhall car and the E-type Vauxhall 30/98 were available again in 1919 with full electrical equipment. The latter Vauxhall carwas one of the greatest of all fast tourers, this Vauxhall car was offering superb flexibility and a top speed of over 80mph for £1.600, though brakes were never its strong suit. 1922 saw Vauxhall, like Sunbeam, offering a smaller and cheaper Vauxhall car, the 2.3-litre M-type 14/40 Vauxhall car with detachable head, 3-speed unit gearbox in place of the 4-speed separate type on the big Vauxhall cars, single-plate clutch and all brakes on the rear wheels (supplanting a foot transmission brake), at £750. The last serious competition Vauxhall cars were a team of 3-litre twin ohc machines for the 1922 Tourist Trophy, which Vauxhall cars had 110bhp and air-pressure operated brakes, but could manage no better than a 3rd place. Both the D- and E-types Vauxhall cars acquired overhead valves in the summer of 1922, the later emerging as the 120bhp OE which had 4-wheel brakes of rather dubious efficacy by 1923. Capacity of the engine was now 4.2-litres. Vauxhall sold 1.400 Vauxhall cars in 1924. 1925 Vauxhall 14/40hp models had 4 forward speeds, but finances were uncertain, and the Vauxhall car company was bought by General Motors in December of that year. 1926 Vauxhall cars were still on traditional lines, the Vauxhall 14/40 acquiring front wheel brakes, and being supplemented by a new luxury 6-cylinder Vauxhall car, the S-type with 3.9-litre single-sleeve valve engine and hydraulic brakes at £1.250. The Vauxhall 30/98 survived into 1927, also now with hydraulics: only about 600 of both types Vauxhall cars, the E and OE were made, and three-fifths of these Vauxhall cars were exported to Australia. The Vauxhall 14/40 in its last year could be had with a Wilson preselective gearbox. The first GM Vauxhall car was introduced for 1928: this Vauxhall car was a rather American-looking 20/60hp ohv six with coil-ignition and central change, but the Vauxhall car was still with a 4-speed box, at £475. This R-type Vauxhall car was steadily increased in capacity, ending its production run as the 3.3-litre T80 in 1932. A really inexpensive Vauxhall Six, the 2-litre Cadet at £280, was offered in 1931, in which year a range of Chevrolet-based Bedford trucks helped to boost Vauxhall Motors’ overall sales. The Vauxhall Cadet pioneered synchromesh in Britain in 1932, a few months ahead of Rolls-Royce, but the need for smaller horsepower cars resulted in the introduction of a couple of light sixes Vauxhall cars of 12 and 14hp in the summer of 1933. These Vauxhall cars and their companion 2.4-litre and 3.2-litre Big Sixes of 1934 had Fisher no-draught ventilation, but boasted 4-forward speeds in place of the Cadet’s 3. Prices of the smaller Vauxhall cars started at £195, and in 1935, in which year a record 25.000 Vauxhall cars were sold, they also had General Motors’ ‘knee action’ independent front suspension. In 1937 the Big Six Vauxhall car gave way to a 3.2-litre, 80bhp 25 with independent front-suspension and hydraulic brakes, selling for £298, and also available in long-chassis limousine form. All 1937 Vauxhall cars had stylized grilles in place of radiators, with headlamps attached to the shell, though the flutes survived until 1962. In 1938 came the 1.2-litre Vauxhall Ten with 3-speed gearbox and unitary construction, also made as a coupé with separate chassis, while the 25 Vauxhall car now had a 3-speed box as well. Hydraulic brakes were standard on all Vauxhall cars in 1939, in which year the 12/60 Vauxhall car gave way to a unitary-construction 3-speed 4-cylinder Vauxhall car at £189, and the 14 also went over to unitary construction.

With the discontinuation of the Vauxhall 25 after World War 2, Vauxhall cars with separate chassis were no longer made for the home market, though certain export versions Vauxhall cars were thus made until 1954. Post-war production of Vauxhall cars started with revised editions of the 1940 model Vauxhall Ten, Vauxhall Twelve, and Vauxhall Fourteen, but in 1948 a new model Vauxhall car with bigger boot, a standardized hull, and steering-column change was introduced, with a choice of two long-stroke ohv engines – the Vauxhall Velox had a 54bhp 2.3-litre 6-cylinder unit, and the Wyvern the old 35bhp Twelve Vauxhall car of 1.4-litres’ capacity. Lowered and restyled versions Vauxhall cars with hypoid back axles were introduced for 1952, short-stroke engines replacing the earlier type during the season. These Vauxhall cars were in production until 1957 with relatively little change, though a de luxe 6-cylinder edition, the Vauxhall Cresta, appeared in 1955. A very American 1½-litre Vauxhall car saloon, the Vauxhall Victor, with Chevrolet-like wrap-around windscreen and 3-speed all-synchromesh gearbox, was announced in 1957 at £729, and the 6-cylinder Vauxhall car received similar treatment in 1958. Though the styling of these Vauxhall cars was critically received, this was a record year for the Vauxhall car company, with 114.177 Vauxhall cars sold. Overdrive was an option on the 1959 6-cylinder line Vauxhall cars, followed by automatic in 1960, while the flutes were gone from the 1962 Vauxhall Victor, a better-looking Vauxhall car with a 56bhp engine, and the choice of a 3- or 4-speed box. A faster twin-carburettor 71bhp version, the VX 4/90, had front disc brakes. The Vauxhall Velox and Vauxhall Cresta were restyled on similar lines in 1963, also with discs at the front, and power of the Vauxhall car was increased in 1965, Vauxhall Victors having 1.6-litres and 70bhp, and the 6-cylinder engines being enlarged to 3.3-litres. 1964 produced a new small Vauxhall car, the 1.057cc Vauxhall Viva which was almost identical with the German Opel Kadett. The Vauxhall car sold for £566, but by 1967 had been replaced by the more attractive 1.159cc HB series Vauxhall car, with such options as a 69bhp SL model and automatic transmission. The van-based Beford Beagle estate Vauxhall car, however, retained the original HA shape into 1973. In 1966 there was a prestige version of the Vauxhall Cresta, the Vauxhall Viscount at £1.483, on which automatic transmission, power windows and a vinyl roof were standard.

A new phase in Vauxhall car design was heralded in 1968 by an all-new Vauxhall Victor. The 4-cylinder engines of the Vauxhall car, of 1.599cc and 1.975cc, had 5-bearing crankshafts and belt-driven ohc, and also featured were 4-speed gearboxes, rack-and-pinion steering, and all-coil suspension with rigid axles at the rear. The costliest estate-car version used the 3.3-litre 6-cylinder engine, as did a new sports-compact introduced during the year, the Vauxhall Ventora saloon. Next to appear was a Vauxhall Viva GT, combining a Viva hull with 2-litre Victor mehcanics and, in 1970, an updated version of the sporting VX 4/90. In 1971 came Vauxhall cars answer to the best-selling Ford Capri, the Vauxhall Firenza coupé with front disc brakes and a choice of Viva or Victor engine. The former unit of the Vauxhall car was enlarged to 1.256cc for 1972, and in the spring of that year came new, more elegant Vauxhall Victors and Vauxhall Ventoras, the fours now having 1.8-litre or 2.3-litre engines. Twin-carburettor editions of the latter now developed 122bhp. They were fitted to the Sport SL Firenza Vauxhall car as well as to the VX 4/90, which came with overdrive as standard and to the fiercest of the Viva family, retailing for £1.218 in 2-door saloon form. Top of the range of Vauxhall cars was now the Ventora. The Cresta and Viscount, unchanged since 1966, disappeared in September 1972. Viva mechanical elements were used in the Grumett, a Uruguayan coupé-utility in the Australian-Japanese idiom, and also in a new light truck evolved in 1972 by the parent General Motors for sale in emergent countries. In 1972 Vauxhall car of the Viva/ Firenza range with 2-litre ohc engines were sold under the name Pontiac Firenza by General Motors of Canada.

Source: Georgano, encyclopedia of motorcar; MCS   

The information is written with the greatest of care. However, if you have any suggested amendments please contact us at office@prewarcar.com